2007 in review: Men’s Middle Distance

The end of the year is traditionally a period to spend time with friends and family and reflect on the ups and downs of the year that has passed. So as we enter 2008, European Athletics invites you to spend some time with your athletic family, reflecting on what has been a successful year for our sport in Europe.

Next in our '2007 in review' series, is a discipline that proved to be something of a slow burner in 2007. However, two European’s delivered some brave performances worth celebrating. Today’s discipline is not a Marathon or a Sprint but the most tactical of all the running distances… men’s Middle Distance

Yuriy Borzakovskiy (RUS) and Mehdi Baala (FRA) continued as the best European Middle Distance runners in their respective events (800m and 1500m). The 26-year-old Russian, and reigning Olympic Champion, added another Major Championship medal to his collection when he picked up bronze in Osaka.

In terms of results, 2007 was not a famous season for either distance; Borzakovskiy’s season’s best of 1:44.38 was his slowest since 1999, and in the 1500m no runner in the world managed to break the 3:30 barrier this season. Mehdi Baala’s season’s best result of 3:31.01 placed him as the third fastest 1500m runner in the world this summer.

800m

Borzakovskiy will enter the 2008 Olympic season in a strong position. The Russian has taken medals in five successive Major Championships: silver at the 2003 World Championships in Paris, gold at the Athens Olympics, another World Championship silver in Helsinki 2005, bronze at the World Indoor Championships in Moscow 2006 and his final bronze in Osaka this year.

The Russian rocket had a relatively small racing schedule during the 2007 season. From only ten finals he recorded four wins and two second places, clocking a season’s best of 1:44.38 in Athens at the start of July.

Another notable European in the 800m distance was Latvian, Dmitrijs Milkevics, who was also the fastest European of the year with a 1:44.37 season’s best recorded in Monaco in July. But the Latvian, who has a strong personal best of 1:43.67 from 2006, faded later in the season and failed to qualify for the final in Osaka.

29-year-old Baala was again clearly the best in his event in Europe. The reigning European Champion, who also has a World Championship bronze from Paris 2003, raced little in 2007, concentrating all his efforts on Osaka. He took part in only three races before the World Championships, winning the slow European Cup Super League race in Munich and then ran two fast races in France, first winning in 3:31.05 in his native Strasbourg, then finishing second in a season’s best of 3:31.01 at the Golden League meeting in Paris.

However Baala failed to qualify for the Osaka finals because of some poor race tactics in the semi-final, where he had the choice to run in the outer lanes but he stayed inside and got trapped in the front straight and decided to push his way to the final, colliding with the runners around him. Although he would have made the final with his fourth place finish in the semi-final, Baala was rightly disqualified and his World Championship dreams were over.

The Frenchman bounced back nicely for the rest of the season, where he won at the IAAF Golden League meeting in Weltklasse, Zürich, and then finished second at the World Athletics Final in Stuttgart.

Spain’s Artur Casado was the best performing European in Osaka, finishing in seventh place ahead of Britain’s Andy Baddeley in ninth and two other Spanish runners Sergio Gallardo and Juan Carlos Higuero completed the European participation in the World Championships final.

Notable Statistics

800m
Head to head stats between best Europeans
Competitors
Scores
Yuriy Borzakovskiy RUS – Dmtrijs Milkevics LAT
3-0

1500m
Head to head stats between best Europeans
Competitors
Scores
Mehdi Baala FRA – Artur Casado ESP
1-1
Juan Carlos Higuero ESP – Sergio Gallardo ESP
4-2
Juan Carlos Higuero ESP – Artur Casado ESP
5-2
Sergio Gallardo ESP – Artur Casado ESP
6-4

Source/Courtesy
European Athletics (EAA)
https://www.european-athletics.org/
EAA