by Larry EderIn an unofficial survey over the past four days, it is my belief that Eugene 2008 is setting the standard by which all trials and nationals should be judged. The treatment and placement of the Media, from the tent, to the meals, to the information is outstanding. The festival atmosphere is being enjoyed by young and old alike, and the quality of the presentation has never been reached before, in the twenty eight years I have attended nationals or Olympic Trials.
The truth is, track & field should be celebrated like this. Families are here, young track fans, old track fans, in betweeners. Geeks to casual fans. I walk everywhere in town, or grab a taxi and that has been no problem.
Looking forward to a great Day 4!
EME NEWS (JUNE 30, 2008)
Top names in Poland: Vlasic, Kanter, Borzakovskiy
BYDGOSZCZ (POL): Fresh new blue track at Bydgoszcz stadium will see before next weeks World Junior Championships the European Athletics Premium Meet on Tuesday. Under the name Tamex Cup the eighth edition of the meet offers superstars like Croatian high jump world champion Blanka Vlasic (she jumps also in Madrid over the weekend before next Golden League outing in Rome), discus world champion Gerd Kanter of Estonia and 800 m Olympic winner Yuriy Borzakovskiy of Russia. Around 20 000 spectators are expected as the weather forecast promises sunny and warm climate. Three weeks ago the works in the stadium finished and the total capacity was enlarged to 23 000. High quality is expected from World Indoor Champion Philips Idowu of Great Britain in Triple Jump (in duel with Slovak record holder Dmitrij Valukevic). Great field in men hammer with Osaka bronze medalist Libor Charfreitag of Slovakia and Hungarian Krisztian Pars. Home World medalists will compete at 400 m Hurdles Anna Jesien and Marek Plawgo. In women race initially also Jana Rawlinson was expected but due to her injury she postponed her season begin for London Grand Prix on July 25. Plawgo will face strong South African trio Alwyn Myburgh, Peter De Villiers and Ockert Cilliers. Home wins could be expected also in hurdles sprints by Aurelia Trywianska and Artur Noga. 400 m world champion Christine Ohuruogu of Great Britain runs the 200 m. Another top british sprinter Tyrone Edgar (10.06 this year) will compete at 200 m (with Alex Nelson and Christian Malcolm). Great Pole Vault field with World indoor champion Yevgeniy Lukyanenko of Russia, Australians Steve Hooker and Paul Burgess and German Tim Lobinger. Taher Mubarak of Bahrain and Abdelkader Hachlaf from Morroco are the steeple favorites and Poland female 800 m runners want to attack the 2 minutes Olympic standard (Evelyna Setowska, Anna Rostkowska) in duel with British Marilyn Okoro and Svetlana Usovich of Belarus.
Japanese Team named
TOKIO (JPN): After National Championships Japanese Olympic team was named. The leaders reigning Olympic champions Koji Murofushi (hammer) and Mizuki Noguchi (marathon). With her Reiko Tosa and Yurika Nakamura will be running in highly anticipated race. In men´s marathon the trio is Atsushi Sato, Satoshi Osaki and Tsuyoshi Ogata. Other distance runners in the team are Takayuki Matsumiya (5000 and 10 000 m), Kensuke Takezawa (5000 m) and Yoshitaka Iwamizu (steeple). Very strong the women group here with Kayoko Fukushi doubling (5000 m, 10 000 m). Also running Yuriko Kobayashi at 5000 m and Yoko Shibui and Yukiko Akaba at 10 000 m. Minori Hayakari will be the steeple entry. Interestingly strong group of walkers, with Yuki Yamazaki (20 km and 50 km), Koichiro Morioka (20 km) and Takayuki Tanii (50 km) on the men side and Mayumi Kawasaki with Sachiko Konishi on the women (20 km). No other women were chosen (throws, jumps, sprints). In the men part the only jumper is Pole Vaulter Daichi Sawano and the second thrower is Yukifumi Murakami for javelin. The remaining are the sprinters who will compete also at 4×100 m. Naoki Tsukahara and Nobuharu Asahara will run 100 m individually and Shinji Takahira with Shingo Suetsugu the 200 m. Yuzo Kanemaru is the 400 m entry, Masato Naito at 110 m Hurdles and strong duo Dai Tamesue and Kenji Narisako at 400 m Hurdles. For 4×100 m the alternates will be Hitoshi Saito and Mitsuhiro Abiko.
Wilson, new emerging coach
KINGSTON (JAM): Maurice Wilson, the coach of the productive Holmwood Technical High School girls team, winners at the Jamaican HS Championships for the past 6 years, has taken his skills to another level. His girls finished 1,5, 6 at 400 m championships final. Wilson lectures at the college/school, and he has his girls there, resuming their workouts, now at the senior level.
RESULTS
RIO DE JANEIRO (BRA, June 29): Home winners at Rio de Janeiro Marathon. Domingos Nonato da Silva clocked PB 2:17:20 and Ilaine Wandscheer 2:49:00.
SUZHOU (CHN, June 29): During last day of Chinese Olympic Trials new name emerged for Olympic squad in men triple jump with Li Yanxi improving his PB to 17.20 (+0.7). High qualify also the 4:06.14 by Liu Xing at women´s 1500 m and second junior Xue Fei also clocking PB 4:08.87. Liu qualified for the Games, Xue will run the 5000 m. In the 10 000 m former champion Sun Yingjie did not find her shape and finished 8th (36:17.29), the win went to Zhu Yingying (34:22.37).
ISTANBUL (TUR, June 29): At third Enka Grand Prix meet Alemitu Bekele (30, Ethiopian representing Turkey since 1999) improved to excellent 4:06.32 at 1500 m. Junior runner Merve Aydin clocked after PB on Saturday at EA Permit meet 2:01.28 again sub 2:02 with 2:01.81. Russian Irina Glavatskikh went over 191 in High Jump and Romanian Ionela Tirlea clocked 52.88 at 400 m.
200 m additions
As Winfried Kramer points out Ruqaya Al-Ghasra improvement at Tunis meet at 200 m (22.45) was wind-aided by +3.1. That means no new Bahraini record. But to Jamaican trials there is to add that winning Veronica Campbell-Brown clocked with 21.91 new personal best, she improved her four years old time 22.05 from winning at the Olympic Games in Athens.
EUROPEAN CUP COMBINED EVENTS – SUMMARY
HENGELO (NED): World leading 8585 by Andrey Kravchenko was the highlight of Super League in Hengelo. He achieved on Sunday 14.17-41.85-520-64.09-4:29.92. It is also his second best after 8617 last year in Gotzis. Belarus with him and third Aleksandr Parkhomenko (7943) retained the title with 24 160 points. French Romain Barras was second 7974 and Estonian Anders Raja improved his best as third to 7964. Relegated were Spain and Belgium. In heptathlon Ukraine dominated because Hana Melnychenko won individually with PB of 6306 (634-41.89-2:15.38 on Sunday) and Lyudmyla Yosypenko was fourth (6094). The final score of the Ukraine 18 187 ahead of Russia 17 980 and France 17 482, in the men final ranking second Netherlands 23 367 and third France 23 268. In women competition relegation for Switzerland and Greece. Individually in heptathlon second French Antoinette Djimou with PB 6204 and third home Jolanda Keizer also scoring PB 6105. Over 6000 also fifth Russian Yana Panteleyeva (6019) with Poland´s best perfomer Kamila Chudzik sixth (5995).
JYVASKYLA (FIN): Swede Nicklas Wiberg won the decathlon in the First League due to huge 70.79 in javelin and final score 8040 his new personal best. Overnight leader Oleksiy Kasyanov of Ukraine was second (7874) and Briton Daniel Awde remained third (7751 PB). Women ranking did not change in comparison with first day. Osaka sixth placer Austra Skujyte of Lithuania won with 6101 ahead of Sweden´s Jessica Samuelson (6057) and Italian Francesca Doveri (5885 PB). Sweden got two promotions as men won with 22 752 (with Ukraine 22 346) and women were second (16 892) behind Italy (17 062). Relegated into Second League men of Hungary and Norway and women of Hungary and Lithuania (despite Skujyte winning).
MARIBOR (SLO): Latvian decathletes scored excellent 22 928 final score to win the Second League and Edgar Erins was the individual best with 7789. That score would be also enough to win the First League and even be number five in Super League. Second overall was Swiss David Gervasi (7726) and third Austrian Roland Schwarzl who with 7690 could not attack the Olympic standard. Overnight leader Slovak Slaven Dizdarevic was fifth with new PB 7547. Switzerland was promoted with Latvia as second. Women competition had only three teams and it was clear with promotion for Spain (16 719) and Latvia (15 600). Spain´s score would be enough for sixth in Super League and First League. Aige Grabuste was the best for Latvia with 5974 points ahead of two Spanish athletes Maria Peinado (5724) and Cristina Barcena (5520 PB).
Final Rankings
Super League
Men: 1. Belarus 24 160, 2. Netherlands 23 367, 3. France 23 268, 4. Estonia 23 031, 5. Russia 22 888, 6. Poland 22 376, 7. Spain 22 052, Belgium no score
Women: 1. Ukraine 18 187, 2. Russia 17 980, 3. France 17 482, 4. Netherlands 17 027, 5. Great Britain 16 873, 6. Poland 15 798, 7. Switzerland 15 775, 8. Greece 15 700
First League
Men: 1. Sweden 22 752, 2. Ukraine 22 346, 3. Great Britain 22 288, 4. Czech Republic 21 720, 5. Finland 21 616, 6. Italy 21 394, 7. Hungary 21 086, Norway no score
Women: 1. Italy 17 062, 2. Sweden 16 892, 3. Czech Republic 16 667, 4. Belarus 16 646, 5. Finland 16 386, 6. Estonia 16 100, 7. Hungary 15 966, 8. Lithuania 15 134
Second League
Men: 1. Latvia 22 928, 2. Switzerland 22 113, 3. Austria 21 357, 4. Serbia 20 614, 5. Greece 20 325, 6. Portugal 19 923, 7. Lithuania 18 801, 8. Turkey 17 702, 9. Croatia 14 644
Women: 1. Spain 16 719, 2. Latvia 15 600, 3. Slovenia 12 793
Total ranking (based on points score)
Men: 1. Belarus, 2. Netherlands, 3. France, 4. Estonia, 5. Latvia, 6. Russia, 7. Sweden, 8. Poland, 9. Ukraine, 10. Great Britain, 11. Switzerland, 12. Spain, 13. Czech Republic, 14. Finland, 15. Italy, 16. Austria, 17. Hungary, 18. Serbia, 19. Greece, 20. Portugal, 21. Lithuania, 22. Turkey, 23. Croatia
Women: 1. Ukraine, 2. Russia, 3. France, 4. Italy, 5. Netherlands, 6. Sweden, 7. Great Britain, 8. Spain, 9. Czech Republic, 10. Belarus, 11. Finland, 12. Estonia, 13. Hungary, 14. Poland, 15. Switzerland, 16. Greece, 17. Latvia, 18. Lithuania, 19. Slovenia
EME NEWS (JUNE 30, 2008) CORRECTION
To Bydgoszcz preview please correct that Jana Rawlinson will compete in her first 400 m hurdles of the year, Christine Ohuruogu not and also Tyrone Edgar is late withdrawal because he injured his back when colliding with a short putter in warm up in Lille on Friday and needs a few days rest.
Used with permission of Alfons Juck, the publisher, the man about the globe.
