Ethiopian Meseret Defar Finishes First in Women’s 3000m

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Croatia Athletics — Ethiopia's Meseret Defar competes in the 3,000 meters during the IAAF Continental Cup in Split, Croatia, Saturday, Sept. 4, 2010. Defar won the event. Photo: AP

Below are the teams standings after first day of competition in IAAF Continental Cup in Split, Croatia:

Team Standings (after 20 of 40 events), 1. day of competition:

1. Americas, 219 points.

2. Europe, 210.

3. Africa, 148.

4. Asia-Pacific, 134.

From, Sportal.com: Britain’s David Greene shocked reigning world champion Bershawn Jackson to claim the 400m hurdles at the IAAF Continental Cup in Split.

Greene clocked a personal-best time of 47.88secs and seized on an error by Jackson, who struck his final hurdle, to grab an upset win and US$30,000 in prize money at the Poljud Stadium on Saturday.

Puerto Rico’s Javier Culson came second in 48.08secs, while Jackson was forced to settle for third in 48.62secs, 1.3 seconds slower than his world-leading best.

Jackson came into the race on the back of six straight wins and few predicted anything other than another emphatic win for the American, with Greene’s victory surprising everyone, including the Brit himself.

“When I felt Jackson go past me so soon, I felt annoyed, but I had a feeling the race would pan out like that because he’s done that several times throughout the season,” Greene said.

“I just tried to stick to my own race and when I changed down my stride pattern I felt really smooth.”

“I’ve been fighting for a time like that all season, and it came when I least expected it to.”

Tyson Gay led an all-star Team Americas line-up to victory in the men’s 4x100m relay in 38.35secs ahead of Japan representing Asia/Pacific.

Team Americas also took out the women’s 4x100m relay in 43.07secs ahead of the national teams of Ukraine and Japan, who were representing Europe and Asia/Pacific respectively.

Frenchman Christophe Lemaitre won the men’s 100m in 10.06secs for Team Europe ahead of Antigua’s Daniel Bailey.

Kelly-Ann Baptiste of Trinidad and Tobago won the women’s 100m in 10.84secs, Shalonda Solomon of the US coming in behind her to make it a one-two finish for Team Americas.

Ethiopian Meseret Defar strolled the women’s 3000m in 9min03.33secs from Belgian Alemitu Bekele and American Shannon Rowbury.

Olympic champion Asbel Kiprop finished a disappointing sixth as Moroccan Amine Laalou triumphed in the men’s 1500m with a time of 3:35.49 ahead of Ethiopia’s Mekonnen Gebremedhin.

Russian Mariya Abakumova threw a huge 68.14m in the women’s javelin, for her third throw over 68m this year.