Confident Cragg ready for title defence after easing into final

ALISTAIR CRAGG faces one of the most important assignments of his career when defending his European indoor 3,000m title in Birmingham this afternoon (3.40pm).

The defending champion eased his way through to the final in third place behind Jesus Espana (Spain) and Gunther Weidlinger (Austria) with another medal favourite, Mo Farah, having to wait for a place among the fastest qualifiers after falling at half way.

All the big guns are safely through although the European leader and new French record holder, Bouabdellah Tahri, also had to settle for third place in the second heat won by Halil Akkas of Turkey from the Italian, Cosimo Caliandro.

Said Cragg: “I am not scared of anyone in the final. But in view of what has happened in the past I know I will be pretty scared.

“I am more scared of myself than the other athletes.

“But if I go there and I give it 100% and run the race of my life and I finish fifth I’ll be happy.”

The final field is strewn with talent. Espana, won the European outdoor 5,000m title last year; Akkas holds a number of Turkish records; Caliandro is a former European junior 1,500m champion and Weidlinger, a former European under-23 champion, was a finalist two years ago.

Yesterday all the attention was focused on Farah as he battled his way up from an impossible position to finish sixth and qualify among the fastest losers but it remains to be seen how much the effort has taken out of him.

He and the Austrian, Gunther Weidlinger, became entangled at half way as he worked his way up from the back of the field and he ended up on the ground.

“Then, when I got up, I started running in the opposite direction,” he said. “And that cost me more time.”

The heat was won by Espana in 7:52.50 with the Austrian second in 7:53.04 and Cragg third in 7:53.18.

It was not spectacular in terms of time but it should be remembered that the first 1,500m was run in 4:04 and the second in a smart 3:48. The early pace was set by Laroslav Musinchi, an 8:06 runner from Moldova, leading through the opening kilometre in a modest 2:40.98 but they stepped up the pace when Farah fell and Espana, Weidlinger and Cragg assembled at the front.

“I was alongside Mo when he fell but I was in no danger and it did not interfere with me. He hit the ground hard,” Cragg recalled.

“Then Espana came around and it was clear he was trying to make it hard for Mo Farah to get back up. At first I did not want to do it. But I saw him on the screen and when he got up I knew everything was normal and I knew he would be in the final tomorrow. We cranked it up a little bit.”

Cragg led again going into the last 400m with the Russian, Sergey Ivanov, joining them at the front.

“It’s always nice going into the last quarter to see that there are just four or five there and knowing that you don’t have to kick,” Cragg said.

When Espana passed him he glanced each side and saw that his place in the final was safe and eased down.

“I am not going to say it was a walk in the park or anything like that,” he said. “In a race like this there are a lot of strange feelings and awkward running. In Europe people make stupid moves like getting to the front and then stopping so I never quite got a rhythm until I actually took the lead.

“How I run the final remains to be seen but I don’t see myself leading all the way and I don’t think it will be decided in the last 50m.

“John (McDonnell) is confident with my speed and I am confident with my speed but a move from a long way out is an option.”

Unlike two years ago, Cragg won’t have the assistance of Mark Carroll in today’s final. The 35-year-old Corkman finished 10th in yesterday’s second semi-final in 8:12.62 while Mark Christie, having only his third race indoors, was back in 12th place after running into oxygen debt.