No Dietzch for Olympics, Ritz Takes third in Nike NY Half, EME News by Alfons Juck, Notes by Larry Eder

EME NEWS (JULY 27, 2008)

Dietzsch no for Olympics

FRANKFURT (GER): Discus world champion Franka Dietzsch who struggled this year with different health and injury problems announced that she will not compete at Olympic Games in Beijing. "For me it is clear. I m not going. I can´t wait for a miracle. For me it is over. The Olympics will happen without me," she was quoted by German Media. She was included into the team and given the chance to achieve enough shape to compete at highest level.

LATEST RESULTS: World best at 10 000 m track walking, National discus records for Spain and Poland

SANTA CRUZ DE TENERIFE (ESP, July 27): Two great marks during second day of 88th Spanish Championships. European walking champion Francisco Javier Fernandez achieved 37:53.09 in 10 000 m track race what is new world best. His 5 km split was 18:57.31. The former one by Italian Olympic champion Ivano Brugnetti was 37:58.6 in Sesto San Giovanni on July 23, 2005. Benjamin Sanchez was second 39:23.88 and Juan Manuel Molina third 39:55.69.

In fourth round of discus competition Mario Pestano improved his national record to 69.50, third best mark of the year. Frank Casanas also high quality 65.56 as second. In distances finals tactical battles. At 1500 m Arturo Casado (3:51.51) beat Reyes Estevez (3:51.76) and fastest on paper Juan Carlos Higuero (3:51.90). The 5000 m saw a win by European Champion Jesus Espana (14:11.70). New championships best for Josephine Onyia at 100 m Hurdles (12.77, +1.8). Concepcion Montaner got the long jump title with 668 (+2.2, legal 661 0.0). In combined events titles for David Gomez (7736) and Maria Peinado (5772).

SOPOT (POL, July 27): The 11th Janusz Sidlo Memorial had a special highlight in men´s discus competition. Piotr Malachowski achieved in second round new national record 68.65 m. His former record from May this year in Halle, Germany was 66.65 so he improved exactly by 2 metres. Lukasz Chyla clocked 10.42 (-0.1) to win the 100 m and Ukrainian Mykola Labovskyy registered a solid 3000 m win in 7:57.78. On the women side Roza Kasprzak cleared 430 in pole Vault. German Denise Hinrichs won the Shot Put (18.01). Good marks for home female discus throwers as Joanna Wisniewska got 62.27 and Wioletta Potepa 61.19. Beijing-bound Urszula Piwnicka registered 59.04 in javelin.

TAMPERE (FIN, July 27): Sensation at Finnish Championships. Tero Jarvenpaa improved to 86.68 and beat world champion Tero Pitkamaki (82.28). Frants Kruger won the discus (61.59), Visa Hongisto clocked 20.88 (0.0) at 200 m. Nice battle in High Jump as Oskari Frosen was better on count-back as Osku Torro and both cleared 227 cm.

VALMIERA (LAT, July 26): 87th Latvian Championships were without some top athletes. Olympic medalist Vadim Vasilevskis achieved 82.36 in javelin, Maris Urtans 19.48 in Shot Put. Good double for Maris Grenins at 100 m (10.57) and in Long Jump (780).

KAMPALA (UGA, July 26): World Junior Championships silver medallist Benjamin Kiplagat won the 3000m Steeplechase battle at the Ugandan senior championships with 8:28.8. Informs IAAF.

REYKJAVIK (ISL, July 26-27): Best results at 82nd national championships of Iceland at Laugandsvollur for Bergur Petturson in hammer (72.92) on the men side and Silja Ulfarsdottir at 200 m (24.75) as the best women result.

ASHFORD (GBR, July 26-27): Great Britain won combined events match for categories U20 and U23 with final score of 72 473 points. Second place for Netherlands (71 161) ahead of France (70 572) and Switzerland (62 549). Dutch Ingmar Vos won the U23 decathlon with 7786 points, Yassmina Omrani of France was the best in U23 heptathlon (5662). Swiss Lea Sprunger scored 5603 to win U20 heptathlon.

LEIRIA (POR, July 26-27): At two days test meeting in throws Cubans showed impressive shape. World medallist Yarelis Barrios achieved new PB 66.13 (fourth best mark of the year) and beat Yania Ferales clearly (60.88). On second day all was opposite. Ferales won with 62.97 beating Barrios (62.16). Arasay Thondike got on second day 70.17 in hammer.

TRIESTE (ITA, July 27): New national pole vault record by Ana Giordano Bruno who cleared here 441 cm. Her previous mark 440 was from the same meet last year.

DILLINGEN (GER, July 27): Sebastian Bayer leaped at national meet to 807 (0.0) in Long Jump with 22 years old Beatrice Marscheck improving to 662 (+1.2) in women category.

RECKLINGHAUSEN (GER, July 26-27): Top marks at 65th German U23 Championships (they are calling it Junior Championships) by Stefan Schwab at 100 m (10.33, +0.4), Robin Schembera (1:53.22 in tactical 800 m), Alexander John at 110 m Hurdles with 13.68 (-0.2). In women category Meike Kroger went over 191 in High Jump and Nadine Hildebrand clocked 13.08 (0.0) at 100 m Hurdles.

TRIKALA (GRE, July 26): During first day of Greek U23 Championships Konstantinos Douvalidis achieved the best mark with 13.72 (+0.5) at 110m Hurdles. Emanuel Koutsouklakis clocked 10.44 (+0.7) at 100 m and Antonios Mastoras 221 to win the High Jump (new national junior record).

NEW YORK (USA, July 27): Catherine Ndereba of Kenya and Tadesse Tola of Ethiopia both won the third edition of the NYC Half-Marathon presented by NIKE here today in convincing fashion. For Ndereba, the course record holder, it was second win here, while for Tola it was his first. Informs Race Results Weekly. A thunderstorm which commenced just one hour before the 7:00 a.m. start cleared, leaving the conditions relatively cool but very humid. That didn't slow Tola who, along with 2007 IAAF World Road Running Championships silver medalist Patrick Makau of Kenya, broke away from the strong field and quickly turned the competition into a two-man race. The two were alone by the 10 km mark and were on a one-hour finish pace. Got his the biggest win of career in 1:00:58, just one second up on Makau. US Dathan Ritzenhein, who will contest the Olympic Marathon in Beijing, ran a strong third in 1:01:38, just a little off of his personal best time. Ndereba won in 1:10:18. Mexican Madai Perez, who is bound for the Beijing Olympic Marathon like Ndereba, got second in 1:10:26, much to the delight of coach German Silva. Japan Yuri Kano, the winner of last month's Sapporo International Marathon, got third in 1:10:31. Both Ndereba and Tola won $10,000 in prize money, part of a $70,000 prize money purse. Race organizers, New York Road Runners, reported that 10,506 runners finished the race, a race record.

CARDIFF (GBR, July 27): Course records from African stars Rita Jeptoo and Eshetu Wondimu highlighted the second staging of the Bupa Great Wales Run in Cardiff on Sunday. Informs David Martin. With the temperature approaching 30 degrees in the Welsh capital, the Kenyan and Ethiopian victors posted even hotter world class performances as they destroyed the talented opposition in their respective races. The former Boston marathon champion who is Beijing-bound to compete for her country there in three weeks time, kept her foot on the accelerator to score a great victory in 31:36. Amy Rudolph a two-time US Olympian just held off Aniko Kalovics of Hungary, the pair sharing the same mark of 32:21. The men's race also saw a course record from African 10000m bronze medallist Eshetu Wondimu who struck a huge 51sec from the the mark set last July by Kenyan Francis Kibiwott - fourth on this occasion (28:26) - with a very quick time of 27:45. Qatar's Ahmed Hassan Abdullah and Kenyan Titus Mbishei recorded marks of 27:57 and 28:19 as second and third. Ireland´s Mark Fagan was best European as fifth (28:48). Former track world champion Ismael Kirui ended 15th (29:48).

PALERMO (ITA, July 27): Reigning World junior Cross Country champion Ibrahim Jeilan became the first Ethiopian to win the Giro di Castelbuono. The race, held in a little town near Palermo in Sicily, is one of the oldest races in the world, as it was first run in 1912 and celebrated its 83rd edition. Informs IAAF. Jeilan clocked 34:43 at 11.3 km to beat Kenya's Paul Malakwen Kosgei by three seconds (34:46). Uganda's Martin Toroitich finished third (34:58) ahead of last year's winner José Manuel Martinez from Spain (35:03) and multiple European CC Champion Sergiy Lebid (35:06). Best Italian Daniele Meucci sixth (35:35).

OLYMPIC TEAMS

INDIA: Three men and 14 women are in the Indian Olympic Team. The biggest number for women 4x400 m relay and another strong event is heptathlon with 3 entries.

Men: Vikas Gowda (Discus), Renjith Maheswary (Triple Jump), Surender Singh (10000m)

Women: Anju Bobby George (Long Jump), Krishna Poonia (Discus), Harwant Kaur (Discus), Preeja Sreedharan (10,000m), Manjit Kaur (400m), Chitra Soman (4x400m relay), Sini Jose (4x400m relay), MR Poovamma (4x400m relay), Mandeep Kaur (4x400m relay), S Geeta (4x400m relay), K Mridula (4x400m relay), J. J. Shobha (Heptathlon), Sushmita Singh Roy (Heptathlon), G. G. Pramila (Heptathlon)

ZAMBIA: African Zambia will be sending just two athletes to Beijing, both teenagers. Tonny Wamulwa, 19 on August 3, will run in the men's 5,000m and Racheal Nachula, 18, will contest the women's 400m. Co-incidently, both athletes were their country's representatives at the World Junior Championships in Poland earlier this month where Wamulwa finished fifth and Nachula fourth.

CORRECTIONS

OORDEGEM (BEL): The High jump winner Anna Iljustsenko is from Estonia, not Russia. She is student of Tartu University. Her mark 191 is new national record. The correct name of 1500 m race winner is Kenyan Daniel Salel, the World Youth Champion'07 in the 3000m. He is born 1990 so still a junior.

ALBI (FRA): In the long jump top two were not with the same top mark. Antoinette Nana Djimou had 661 and Eunice Barber 660, both wind assisted.

Used with permission of Alfons Juck, publisher, EME news.