World Athletics Championships 1997/3000 m obstacle men

6th World Athletics Championships
discipline	3000 meter obstacle course
gender	Men
Attendees	33 athletes from 23 countries
venue	Athens
Competition location	Olympic Stadium
Competition phase	August 3rd (preliminary) August 4th (semi-finals) August 6th (final)
Medalist Wilson Boit Kipketer ( KEN )   Moses Kiptanui ( KEN )   Bernard Barmasai ( KEN )

The Athens Olympic Stadium in 2014

The men's 3000 meter obstacle course at the 1997 World Athletics Championships was held from August 3 to 6, 1997 in the Olympic Stadium in the Greek capital, Athens .

In this competition there was a triple success of the Kenyan obstacle runners , who had set themselves apart from the rest of the field. Wilson Boit Kipketer became world champion . He won ahead of its predecessor, the three-time world champion ( 1991 / 1993 / 1995 ), Olympic II of 1996 and world record holder Moses Kiptanui . Bronze went to Bernard Barmasai , winner of the 1995 African Games .

The decision between silver and bronze was extremely tight, both runners reached the finish line within a hundredth of a second. A difference in the thousandth of a second range could only be seen through the target photo.

Existing records

World record	7: 59.18 min	Moses Kiptanui	Zurich , Switzerland	August 16, 1995
World Cup record	8: 04.16 min		World Cup 1995 in Gothenburg , Sweden	August 11, 1995

The existing world championship record was not set and not improved at these world championships.

In the final, the seventh-placed Norwegian Jim Svenøy set a new national record with 8: 14.80 minutes.

Preliminary round

The preliminary round was carried out in three runs. The first six athletes per run - highlighted in light blue - as well as the six fastest runners - highlighted in light green - qualified for the semi-finals.

Forward 1

August 3, 1997, 8:30 a.m.

space	Surname	nation	Time (min)
1	Rafał Wójcik	Poland	8: 24.93
2	Brahim Boulami	Morocco	8: 24.95
3	Moses Kiptanui	Kenya	8: 25.80
4th	Vladimir Pronin	Russia	8: 25.95
5	Mark Croghan	United States	8: 25.95
6th	Alessandro Lambruschini	Italy	8: 26.35
7th	Michael Buchleitner	Austria	8: 26.76
8th	Florin Ionescu	Romania	8: 27.39
9	Robert Hough	Great Britain	8: 28.54
10	Stathis Stasi	Cyprus	8: 28.85
11	Christopher Unthank	Australia	8: 32.02

Forward 2

Michał Bartoszak had no chance in his lead

August 3, 1997, 8:42 am

space	Surname	nation	Time (min)
1	Saad Shaddad Al-Asmari	Saudi Arabia	8: 25.23
2	Mark Ostendarp	Germany	8: 25.97
3	Bernard Barmasai	Kenya	8: 26.62
4th	Simon Vroemen	Netherlands	8: 28.96
5	Elarbi Khattabi	Morocco	8: 32.70
6th	Thomas Nohilly	United States	8: 32.77
7th	Million wolde	Ethiopia	8: 33.35
8th	Abderrahmane Daas	Algeria	8: 33.35
9	Giuseppe Maffei	Italy	8: 37.12
10	Vítor Almeida	Portugal	8: 40.75
11	Michał Bartoszak	Poland	8: 47.01

Forward 3

August 3, 1997, 8:54 am

space	Surname	nation	Time (min)
1	Wilson Boit Kipketer	Kenya	8: 29.40
2	Jim Svenøy	Norway	8: 29.65
3	Hicham Bouaouiche	Morocco	8: 29.67
4th	Angelo Carosi	Italy	8: 29.92
5	Ramiro Moran	Spain	8: 29.98
6th	Marcel Laros	Netherlands	8: 30.24
7th	Wander do Prado Moura	Brazil	8: 30.70
8th	Adam Dobrzyński	Poland	8: 31.69
9	Antonios Vouzis	Greece	8: 33.51
10	Stéphane Desaulty	France	8: 33.56
11	Hector Begeo	Philippines	9: 17.82

Semifinals

In each of the two semi-finals, the first five athletes - highlighted in light blue - and the two fastest runners - highlighted in light green - qualified for the final.

Semi-final run 1

Simon Vroemen, later very successful especially on the European level, was eliminated in the semifinals in tenth place in his race

August 4, 1997, 7:00 p.m.

space	Surname	nation	Time (min)
1	Saad Shaddad Al-Asmari	Saudi Arabia	8: 20.18
2	Mark Ostendarp	Germany	8: 20.40
3	Moses Kiptanui	Kenya	8: 20.76
4th	Hicham Bouaouiche	Morocco	8: 20.88
5	Elarbi Khattabi	Morocco	8: 20.94
6th	Jim Svenøy	Norway	8: 21.16
7th	Vladimir Pronin	Russia	8: 29.39
8th	Ramiro Moran	Spain	8: 31.73
9	Rafał Wójcik	Poland	8: 33.28
10	Simon Vroemen	Netherlands	8: 48.66
DNF	Thomas Nohilly	United States
	Alessandro Lambruschini	Italy

Semi-final run 2

For Michael Buchleitner (white jersey) it was not quite enough to make it into the final in seventh place in his semi-final run

August 4, 1997, 7:15 p.m.

space	Surname	nation	Time (min)
1	Bernard Barmasai	Kenya	8: 17.95
2	Wilson Boit Kipketer	Kenya	8: 18.92
3	Mark Croghan	United States	8: 19.98
4th	Angelo Carosi	Italy	8: 20.82
5	Brahim Boulami	Morocco	8: 21.99
6th	Florin Ionescu	Romania	8: 22.35
7th	Michael Buchleitner	Austria	8: 26.22
8th	Wander do Prado Moura	Brazil	8: 35.01
9	Stathis Stasi	Cyprus	8: 35.73
10	Marcel Laros	Netherlands	8: 36.12
11	Adam Dobrzyński	Poland	8: 38.58
12	Robert Hough	Great Britain	8: 59.24

final

• 

  Bronze medalist Bernard Barmasai (right) at the  2006 Amsterdam Marathon

• 

  With a Norwegian national record, Jim Svenøy reached seventh place

August 6, 1997, 7:30 p.m.

space	Surname	nation	Time (min)
1	Wilson Boit Kipketer	Kenya	8: 05.84
2	Moses Kiptanui	Kenya	8: 06.04
3	Bernard Barmasai	Kenya	8: 06.04
4th	Saad Shaddad Al-Asmari	Saudi Arabia	8: 13.87
5	Hicham Bouaouiche	Morocco	8: 14.04
6th	Mark Croghan	United States	8: 14.09
7th	Jim Svenøy	Norway	8: 14.80 NO
8th	Angelo Carosi	Italy	8: 16.01
9	Mark Ostendarp	Germany	8: 18.49
10	Brahim Boulami	Morocco	8: 23.34
11	Elarbi Khattabi	Morocco	8: 29.43
12	Florin Ionescu	Romania	8: 39.67

Video

• Men's 3000m Steeplechase World Athletics Championships Athens 1997 (incorrectly named "Athens 1987" on the website) on youtube.com, accessed June 13, 2020

Web links

• 6th IAAF World Championships In Athletics , accessed June 18, 2020
• Men 3000m Steeplechase Athletics VI World Championship 1997 Athens (GRE) on todor66.com, accessed June 18, 2020
• Results in the IAAF Statistics Handbook for the 2019 World Cup in Doha, Men 3000m Steeplechase, Athens 1997, p. 143 (PDF; 10.3 MB), English, accessed on June 18, 2020

References and comments

1. ↑ IAAF world records. 3000 m obstacle men on rekorde-im-sport.de, accessed on June 18, 2020