Bernard Lagat, Nike Pre 2009, photo by PhotoRun.net.

RBR spoke to Ricky Simms, manager of Usain Bolt last night. His injury is slight, and he will be able to start running most likely next week. Tyson Gay had a good MRI, but the sciatica pain is there, which came back after his 19.41 for the straight 200 meters. Yesterday, when Allyson Felix was asked about the straight 200 meters she ran last month in the UK, she said, “It was very long!”.

Bernard Lagat told us that he was recovered from his 5,000 meter AR. And Matt Tegenkamp and Evan Jager are also in the 1,500 meters with Bernard! 

EME NEWS (JUNE 11, 2010)

BOLT WILL BE IN NY, BUT NOT RUNNING

NEW YORK (USA): Fastest man on
earth Usain Bolt will be a special guest at Saturday´s adidas Grand Prix
in New York. Because of his small achilles injury he is unable to compete, but
will „be there to support his team-mates.” It was also reported he should strat
with training early next week in order to be ready for his next planned
competition in Lausanne on July 8 at 200 m. In order to accommodate the in-depth
fields of more than 200 athletes from across the globe, the starting time of
the meet (adidas Grand Prix in NYC) has been pushed up to 3pm this Saturday.
The meet will still conclude shortly after 6.30 pm local time as previously
scheduled. Australia´s olympic medalist Sally Pearson will open her Diamond
League 100 m
hurdles season. After a race against time to have her entry to the USA
approved, Australian Eloise Wellings will touch down in New York just hours
before the starter’s gun sounds and will run the 5000 m. Czech best pole
vaulter and Doha 6th placer Michal Balner will be forced to rely on help of his
jumping colleagues. His poles were not allowed in the plane from Prague to Big
Apple.

ROME FOLLOW-UP

ROMA (ITA): In
All-Athletics.com one day meeting rankings Golden Gala of Rome is number two
with 92 433 total score. Oslo Bislett Games is leading with 92 527 only 94
points more. Third Doha has 91 877 and fourth Shanghai 90 509. Ostrava leads
the IAAF World Challenge meets as fifth in the current rankings (88 561). More
details at www.all-athletics.com.
Interesting from the background of the meet is the strange reason when Jermaine
Gonzales and David Neville did not finish the 400 m race. They were
hindered by the overhead camera taking shots approaching the final bend, writes
TrackAlerts. Another interesting point is about the French sprintig talent
Christophe Lemaitre (being second in 10.09) as he forgot to pack his spikes and
only discovered the mistake four hours before the meeting started.

PREVIEWS

TORINO (ITA): 11th Memorial
Primo Nebiolo (EA Premium meet) will have world record holder Dayron Robles at 110 m hurdles as a top
star. He will come to run on Saturday as the fresh winner from Golden Gala.
Another highlight will be men´s 800
m with second fastest man in the world this year,
Abubaker Kaki of Sudan. Relay world record holder Michael Frater of Jamaica
will face in the 100 m
home stars Fabio Cerutti and Simone Collio. Interesting also triple jump as
Fabrizio Donato and Daniele Greco will compete against Jadel Gregorio and Cuban
David Girat. Nicola Vizzoni is the hammer star and the 5000 m will have strong
Kenyan and Ethiopian presence with Italians Daniele Meucci and Andrea Lalli. In
women´s 400 m
Libania Grenot competes against Britain´s Nicola Sanders. Beijing olympic
silver medalist US Sheena Tosta is the top name of women´s 400 m hurdles. Italian top
middle distance runner Elisa Cusma is switching to 1500 m.

ISTANBUL (TUR): 65th edition of
Cezmi Or Memorial (he was 10.6 and 22.4 sprinter in the fourties) in Istanbul
(EA Classic meet) is building its promotion on the presence of world indoor
champion Dwain Chambers running the 100 m. Because of injuries his main rivals
(Ramil Guliyev and Steve Mullings) withdrew. Good quality on Saturday in men´s
high jump where Russian Aleksandr Shustov is the co-world leader with 233.
Latvian Maris Urtans is the shot put favorite and in hammer Turkish record
holder Esref Apak will clash with Hungarian Krisztian Pars. Strong field in
women´s 1500 m
where European leader Anna Mishchenko of Ukraine will face in-shape Romanian
Liliana Barbulescu and Turkish European Indoor champion Alemitu Bekele. Nevin
Yanit the Turkish 100 m
hurdles record holder is the top name in her event. Ukrainian world junior
record holder Vira Rebryk has the same status in women javelin. Russians
(Kayukova, Kutyakova, Kulik) are the favorites in triple jump. Solid
international fields also in women steeple and 400 m race.

PRAGUE (CZE): 17th Josef
Odlozil Memorial (EA Premium) on Monday (June 14) will have as best athletes
Czech stars. Juliska Stadium (home of army Dukla Praha club) will cheer mainly
for javelin world record holder Barbora Spotakova coming from Golden Gala win
in Rome. Another top name from Roma Zuzana Hejnova (new natinal record 54.13)
will run the 400 m
hurdles against Romanian Angela Morosanu and Belgian Elodie Ouedraogo. Sprint
revelation of the year, former multi-eventer and long jumper Denisa Rosolova
runs the 200 m
(against 4×100 m olympic winner Russian Yulia Chermoshanskaya) with the aim to
attack the 23 seconds barrier. Hurdler Petr Svoboda wants to make for Rome
disappointment before the home crowd, but will have tough rivals in US hurdlers
(Akins, Wilson, Porter) and European Champion Stanislav Olijars of Latvia. In
the main event 1500 m
(where Josef Odlozil competed) Jakub Holusa is facing strong Africans and Saudi
Arabian record holder Mohamed Shahween with German Wolfram Muller. For local
public Lenka Masna wants to offer something in the women 800 m (in the field also
Ukrainian Petlyuk and Slovak Klocova) and coming into shape is olympic finalist
Roman Novotny in long jump (last weekend 806). His main opponents will be
Ignisious Gaisah of Ghana, Morten Jensen, the Danish record holder. Strong field
as usual in men´s steeple with group of Kenyans (Elijah Chelimo, James Kosgei,
Collins Kosgei) with Europeans, for example Pieter Desmet of Belgium. German
world junior record holder David Storl with Latvian Maris Urtans are the shot
put favorites. In the 400 m
hurdles Jamaican Berlin participant Josef Robertson will fight for top place,
improvement is expected from Czech Josef Prorok who recently bettered his flat
PB to 46.48.

NEW YORK (USA): adidas Grand
Prix preview, fifth leg of IAAF Diamond League, event by event (15 Diamond race
events, four more events added).

Men

100 m: D. Bailey, Blake were not
in Europe so far, all best US sprinters there, but super-stars are injured, sub
10 still possible.

800 m: World Champ Mulaudzi in
clash with in-shape Kiprop.

1500 m: World indoor champ
Mekonnen against Bernard Lagat, who will run his first 1500 m this year outdoors
coming from 3 in
Ostrava and 5 in
Oslo. This is not Diamond race event.

Steeple: Paul Kipsiele Koech can
attack the world lead, good pacing permitting.

400mH: This is the field of the
meet, world leader Culson, world champ Clement, former world champ Jackson, not
to forget Trinidad´s super talent Gordon.

High Jump: Jonas, Manson, world
champ 2007 Thomas, but also Swedish Thornblad favorites in this open contest.

Pole Vault: Oslo winner
Lavillenie is full of energy, will Hooker finally attack the top position?

Triple Jump: World champ Idowu,
world leader Tamgho, season opener for 2004 oly winner Olsson.

Javelin Throw: Thorkildsen vs.
Pitkamäki, how the young Czech Frydrych will mix the cards this time?

Women

200 m: Female clash of the day
Felix vs. Campbell-Brown, what will show the surprise world leader at 100 m Baptiste.

400 m: African Amantle Montsho
has another chance to win, this is not Diamond race event.

800 m: Non Diamond race event,
with US runners.

1500 m: Great field, unbeaten
Langat, Burka, all top US runners and do not forget Meseret Defar.

5000 m: Season track debut of
Tirunesh Dibaba, will she go for a fast one?

100mHurdles: Lolo vs. Priscilla,
another one. Crawford, Pearson and return of Kallur also there.

3-event: Ennis vs. Fountain, in
shot put, long jump, over the hurdles

Pole Vault: Return of Jenny Suhr,
but this is not Diamond event.

Long Jump: Kucherenko clear
favorite.

Shot Put: Vili should win, what
will be the shape of Mikhnevich (no competitions since March)

Discus Throw: Sandra Perkovic
with a chance against US throwers.

OTHER NEWS

INDIANAPOLIS (USA): USATF and
RunnerSpace.com agreed to stream US national championships. The event will be
held during last weekend of June in Des Moines.

LAUSANNE (SUI): European
Athletics has announced there is a wide interest from TV partners across
Europe to broadcast the SPAR European Team Championships. The event will take
place the weekend of June 19th and 20th in Bergen, Norway and interested
partners include the BBC (UK), TVE (Spain), YLE (Finland) and NRK (Norway). On
top of that, Eurosport will cover the event in 12 countries while Dubai Sports
Channel will televise in the Middle East and Eurosport Asia and ESPN Star
Sports across Asia. In the top league Germany will defend its title against
other favorites Great Britain and Russia. On the same weekend the European Team
Championships 1st League will take place in Budapest, Hungary, 2nd League in
Belgrade, Serbia, and 3rd League in Marsa, Malta.

NEW YORK (USA): American 100m
record holder Tyson Gay has made it clear he will not quit the sport until he
ran 9.5 over the 100m. Gay currently holds a personal best of 9.69 which
he ran last year in the final of the IAAF World championships. “I want to run
9.5, I think I can. That’s what my goal is and I won’t quit
until I’m able to reach that goal.” Gay was quoted by sportinglife.com. Gay is
currently struggling with hamstring problem. The Guardian writes that he has
been told by a specialist that he may be „running too fast for his body”
after his latest injury setback.  „It’s
been bothering me ever since Manchester. It is something coming from my back,
something that happened to me years ago – sciatica – something with my nerve,
that is causing my hamstring to tighten up,” he was quoted by the Guardian. It
remains to be seen whether he would be able to compete at US Nationals as next
target.

NASSAU (BAH): 10 years after
winning the Olympic silver medal in the 200m during the Sydney Olympic games
Bahamian Pauline Davis-Thompson received the 200m gold medal during an official
ceremony in her home country. Davis-Thompson receives her medal after Marion
Jones admitted using performance enhancing drugs at the time of the 2000
Olympic Games.

MOSCOW (RUS): Russian Athletics
Federation informed that the national U23 Championships will not be held in
Kazan but in Cheboksary in July (2-4).

RESULTS

EUGENE (USA, Jun 10): Second
day of NCAA Championships saw excellent decathlon start of world indoor record
holder Ashton Eaton. He clocked 10.37 (+0.5), jumped 790 (+1.1), poor 12.60 in the shot, high
jump 202 and excellent 46.28
in the 400
m. In total massive 4500 points. It is 30th best ever first
day and could be well at 87-88 level at the end. 400 m is his overall PB and
100 with long jump decathlon PB´s. Canadian Brianne Theisen improved her best
to 6094 points and successfully defended her title. In other women finals
European wins for Slovak Nikola Lomnicka in the hammer (65.57) and Portugal´s
Patricia Mamona (14.01, +1.3, new national record) in the triple jump. Male
finals had more average winning marks. Jordan Scott with 540 in pole vault (571
jumper Jason Colwick no-heighted at 530), Craig Kinsley 76.29 (PB) in javelin
and Kenyan Sam Chelanga 28:37.40 in the 10 000 m. In prelims fast
13.32 (+1.1) by Ronnie Ash at 110
m hurdles, Queen Harrison 12.68 (+1.6) in women 100 m hurdles, Porscha Lucas
22.49 (+1.1) in the 200 m
(third fastest in the world 2010) and Florida in men´s 4×400 m (3:03.34).
Curtis Mitchell was the fastest in men´s 200 m heats (20.59, +1.1) with Maurice Mitchell
(a 20.24 performer this year) being a non-qualifier.