Mary Moraa finishes fourth in indoor debut, Collins Kipruto second

800m Commonwealth champion Mary Moraa marked her first appearance in an Indoor meet by finishing fourth in the two-lap race at the Orlen Copernicus Cup Lodz Indoor event in Atlas Arena, Poland yesternight.

In what had been built up as an exciting match-up; pitting Moraa and the Olympics and World silver medalist Keely Hodgkinson, it was the latter that reigned supreme, clocking an impressive 1:57.87 on her 800m season debut.

Keely’s time was her second fastest, only behind her British record time of 1:57.20 in last year’s indoor meet in Birmingham. Her finish also broke the meeting record.

Benin’s Noelie Yarigo had a strong start to the race; going with the pacemakers as Keely Hodgkinson decided to stay back for a strong finish. Hodgkinson then upped her tempo after the bell overtaking Yarigo on the back straight to clinch the all important victory - her second this year after clocking 1:23.41 in the 600m event in Manchester last month.

Yarigo finished second with Slovenia’s Anita Horvat closing out the podium places with a time of 2:01.42.

Mary Moraa, a world bronze medalist, came fourth (2:01.61) with Ugandan Halima Nakaayi clocking 2:01.64 in fifth position.

“This track brings back some good memories for me.” Hodgkinson said after her win. “The crowd was really loud and that carried me today. It was good to get a decent first 800m of the season but to be honest, I am a bit disappointed with the time.”

Moraa is expected to have her diary full, with upcoming indoor events coming up in Hauts-de-France Pas de Calais on February 15 before the World Indoor Tour Madrid trip on February 22.

Omanyala breaks own national 60m record in Mondeville

Elsewhere, Kenya’s Collins Kipruto finished second in the men’s 800m race at the same venue, finishing behind the race favorite – Sweden’s Andreas Kramer in a time of 1:46.82.

Spain’s Adrian Ben finished third – just 0.14 seconds behind Kipruto.

Gudaf Tsegay of Ethiopia, aiming to break Genzebe Dibaba’s record mile mark of 4:13.31, won the mile race in Orlen, dipping just below the target as she timed 4:16.16 for the second indoor all-time finish over the distance.

Poland’s Weronika Lizakowska finished second, with Jamaica’s Adelle Tracy finishing third (4:30.17).