Ryan Hall Sets U.S. 20K Record at World Championships
Tadesse, Kiplagat Win World 20K Titles in Hungary

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Posted Tuesday, 10 October, 2006

From Jim Estes, USATF

DEBRECEN, Hungary - (October 8, 2006) - Ryan Hall (Woodside, Calif.) set a new U.S. 20K record of 57 minutes, 54 seconds on Sunday at the inaugural IAAF World Road Running Championships in Debrecen. Hall's performance led the U.S. men's squad to a sixth place team finish with a cumulative time of 2:58:32. The five members of Team USA will split $3000 for the team performance. The previous U.S. record was 58:42 by Abdi Abdirahman at the 2005 NewAlliance New Haven Road Race.

Zersenay Tadesse, the 2004 Olympic 10,000m bronze medalist from Eritrea, won his first world title, falling just 13 seconds short of the 20K world record set by Haile Gebrselassie at the 2006 P.F. Chang's Rock 'n' Roll Arizona. Running 56:01, #2 all-time, Tadesse convincingly won the men's title plus $30,000. Robert Kipchumba and Wilson Kebenei finished in 56:41 and 57:15 for second and third respectively to lead Kenya to the team title ($15,000) with a total time of 2:51:18. Eritrea and Ethiopia were second and third, 2:53:19 and 2:54:17, respectively.

The event was contested on a 5000 meter criterium loop through the streets of Debrecen, with Hall, a Team Running USA athlete, completing the first loop in 38th place before gradually working his way through the field to an 11th place finish.

Andrew Carlson (St. Paul, Minn.) ran second for the U.S. team, running 1:00:12 to finish 30th while Max King (Bend, Ore.) rounded out the team scoring for Team USA in 1:00:26 for 34th place. Joe Driscoll (Blowing Rock, N.C.) was 55th in 1:02:11 and Fernando Cabada (Bristol, Va.) finished 72nd in 1:03:52.

In the women's race, Lornah Kiplagat of the Netherlands was pushed hard by Constantina Tomescu-Dita of Romania before pulling away from the 2005 World Half-Marathon champion in the last 5K. Kiplagat was timed in 1:03:21 for a two second win over Tomescu-Dita as they both bettered the 20K world record - 1:03:26 - set by Paula Radcliffe in 2001.

Team USA's Annie Bersagel (Minneapolis, Minn.) led the U.S. to a 10th place team finish, running 1:11:25 for 40th place. Teammate Ann Alyanak (Bellbrook, Ohio) quickly followed running 1:11:48 for 41st and Erin Nehus (Indianapolis, Ind.) completed the team scoring in 42nd, running 1:11:51. Desiree Davila (Rochester Hills, Mich.) finished 43rd in 1:11:56 and Sonja Friend-Uhl (West Palm Beach, Fla.) was 48th in 1:12:41. Kenya won the women's team title with a cumulative time of 3:15:55, followed by Ethiopia (3:18:50) and Japan (3:19:00).

Inaugural IAAF World Road Running Championships: 20K
Debrecen, Hungary, Sunday, October 8, 2006

MEN
1) Zersenay Tadesse, ERI, 56:01
2) Robert Kipchumba, KEN, 56:41
3) Wilson Kebenei, KEN, 57:15
4) Wilson Busienei, UGA, 57:21
5) Wilfred Taragon, KEN, 57:22
6) Deriba Ejigu, ETH, 57:27
7) Tadesse Tola, ETH, 57:27
8) Mubarak Hassan Shami, QAT, 57:33
9) Dieudonné Disi, RWA, 57:42
10) Yonas Kifle, ERI, 57:49
11) Ryan Hall, USA / CA, 57:54*
*pending U.S. record

TEAM
1) Kenya, 2:51:18
2) Eritrea, 2:53:19
3) Ethiopia, 2:54:17
6) USA, 2:58:32

WOMEN
1) Lornah Kiplagat, NED, 1:03:21*
2) Constantina Tomescu-Dita, ROM, 1:03:23
3) Rita Jeptoo, KEN, 1:03:47
4) Dire Tune, ETH, 1:05:16
5) Edith Masai, KEN, 1:05:21
6) Kayoko Fukushi, JPN, 1:05:32
7) Yurika Nakamura, JPN, 1:05:36
8) Nataliya Berkut, UKR, 1:05:42
9) Souad Aït Salem, ALG, 1:06:11
10) Teyba Erkesso, ETH, 1:06:15
*pending world record

TEAM
1) Kenya, 3:15:55
2) Ethiopia, 3:18:50
3) Japan, 3:19:00
10) USA, 3:35:04

Complete results at: IAAF.org

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