Kipketer finishes third again in Rieti

RIETI, Italy (AP) -- Wilson Kipketer failed to earn a farewell victory when he repeated his bronze-medal performance at the Olympics in the Rieti Grand Prix 800 meters on Sunday.

Exactly one week after the Athens Games finished, Kipketer again lost a lead after the final turn and finished third.

Kenya's Joseph Mutua won in 1:43.35, Youssef Saad Kamel of Bahrain was second in 1:43.43, and Kipketer, the Kenyan-born world record-holder who competes for Denmark, finished third in 1:43.89.

Kipketer was positioned well at halfway and launched himself into the lead after 500 meters, but he appeared to run out of steam and was overtaken on the final straight.

"The race was good, the only thing that was a mistake was that I stayed behind for a long time," he said. "This might be my second-to-last race. I don't think this will be my last race."

A three-time world champion, Kipketer had indicated this could have been his final race.

In Athens, he lost speed after the final turn and again failed to win the gold medal he'd been seeking in two Olympics. He won silver at the 2000 Sydney Games.

Kipketer, one of 13 Athens medalists competing in Rieti, said he would likely close his career after one more meet.

"I don't know how I'll run," he said. "My body today is good, tomorrow bad."

Kenya's William Yiampoy, the African champion, did not finish the 800.

In the 3,000-meter steeplechase, Russia's Gulnara Samitova was ahead of her own world record pace after one kilometer, but slowed in the final two-thirds of the race. She still won in 9:21.40, far off her record time of 9:01.59 at a pre-Olympic meet in Greece in July. She was unable to compete in the event in Athens because it wasn't part of the Olympic program.

Fellow Russian Lyubov Ivanova was second in 9:28.02.

Samitova's manager, Pavel Voronkov, said she had been sick since the Olympics.

"She didn't expect the record in her condition," he said. "I wasn't sure she would run, but for the first kilometer, she went for the record."

Jamaicans swept the men's and women's 100-meter dashes.

Asafa Powell followed up his fast win (9.87) at the Van Damme Memorial on Friday in Brussels with a 10.18 to take the Rieti crown.

Abdul Aziz Zakari of Ghana was the runner-up in 10.20 and another Jamaican, Dwight Thomas, finished third in 10.30.

There was a -1.3 wind factor, which attributed to the relatively slow times.

"The wind was really strong," Powell said. "I've never run that hard. I started slow, but I just drive and drive until I passed them all and then I started relaxing."

Powell, a pre-Olympic favorite, finished fifth in Athens.

Reigning world champion Kim Collins of St. Kitts and Nevis came fifth on Sunday.

Aleen Bailey won the women's 100 in 11.34 in even tougher conditions. The race was delayed for several minutes due to a breeze blowing directly in the runners' faces, and the final results carried a -3.0 wind factor.

Bailey was one of three members of Jamaica's 400 relay championship team from Athens. The other two members, Tanya Lawrence and Sherone Simpson, came fourth and fifth, respectively.

"It's wonderful racing them," Bailey said. "I love my teammates and being around them. If it wasn't for the wind maybe it would have been better."

Olympic champion Timothy Mack of the United States kept up his good form with another pole vault victory.

Mack was the only competitor to clear 5.71 meters. World champion and local favorite Giuseppe Gibilisco, the bronze medalist in Athens, tied Austria's Dmitriy Markov for fourth at 5.51.

Italy's Nicola Ciotti won the high jump at 2.26 meters, beating brother Giulio Ciotti, who tied for second with American Matt Hemingway at 2.22.

Hemingway, the silver medalist in Athens, was hoping for more.

"I'm definitely a little disappointed after jumping well at the games. I would have like to do better," he said, adding that all the post-Olympic attention may have hindered him.

"I've never been in this position. My whole world has been turned inside out and upside down," he said.

In the 400, Jamaica's Michael Blackwood beat Athens silver medalist Otis Harris in a photo finish. Blackwood won in 44.80 and Harris clocked 44.86.

"I'm tired from the Olympics. I've been in Europe for two months," Harris said. "I'm heading home and I'm looking forward to that."

Alex Kipchircher won the 1,500 in 3:33.83. Fellow Kenyan Daniel Komen came fourth in 3:34.68. Komen was a surprise -- and welcome _ last-minute starter. Rieti fans are still fond of him for setting the world record of 7:20.67 in the 3,000 here in 1996. The record still stands.

In the 3,000, Augustine Kiprono Choge sprinted away from his only main challenger, countryman Boniface Songok, 200 meters from the finish and won in 7:36.82. Songok was second in 7:39.25. Ethiopian Tariku Bekele, the younger brother of Kenenisa Bekele who has won both races at the cross-country world championships the past three years, did not finish.