GEBRE IS READY

ADDIS ABABA (ETH): Legendary Haile Gebrselassie is ready
for Vienna Half Marathon on April 17. He confirmed that via his twitter:
“Feeling great, no problems with my knee anymore and eager to race again. Vienna half marathon will
be my next race on 17th of April.”

GERMAN TV DEAL FINALISED

MONTE CARLO (MON): After long negotiations IAAF announced
the conclusion of a broadcasting deal in Germany
for the 2011 IAAF World Championships in Daegu,
Korea. The
agreement was concluded between Sport A, the sports buying rights agency of
German public service broadcasters ARD/ZDF, and IEC in Sports, the IAAF’s
exclusive media agency for European and African rights for the IAAF World
Athletic Series. Under the terms ARD/ZDF, who had been the IAAF partner in this
territory through the previous EBU broadcasting deal, will televise the IAAF
World Championships in Daegu. The issue of broadcasting Daegu was also
discussed in German Parliament, athletes sent support letters and special website
www.kein-wm-blackout.org
was created to support the broadcast.

RETURN OF PITTMAN-RAWLINSON

PERTH (AUS, Apr 1): Jana Pittman-Rawlinson has made a triumphant return to
the track in Perth as she clocked 55.75 to win
the women’s 400m hurdles at the Go for 2&5 Australian Athletics Tour Final
in Perth. It
was her first hurdles race since July 2009 in Luzern. “It’s great to back doing what
I love and I can’t wait to compete for Australia again, next year is so
important and I know that,” Pittman-Rawlinson said for Athletics Australia. Her
next competition will be the 89th Australian Athletics Championships &
Selection Trials in two weeks time. Second Lauren Boden was also fast with
55.97. The sprints/hurdles winner’s cheque heads home with Sally Pearson,
however, with the Queenslander winning the women’s 200m in a time of 23.22
(-0.5) to finish with 25 points overall. National hurdles champion Brendan Cole
posted sub 50 in
men´s race (49.94). The distance crown was won by Tamsyn Lewis after the
15-time national champion clocked 2:01.44 to win the women’s 800m and take her
point score total to 22. Local favourite Ben Offereins (45.85) clocked his
first sub-46 400m of the year to win ahead of Sean Wroe (second, 46.26).
Clocking 10.38 (-0.3), national champion Aaron Rouge-Serret won the men’s 100 m. Meanwhile on the
runway, Mitchell Watt soared 8.21m (-1.1), yet another world championships
qualifier, to win the men’s long jump and claim the 2011 Australian Athletics
Tour jumps crown with 31 points. Set to duel with Commonwealth champion Fabrice
Lapierre at the start of competition, the jump-off did not eventuate with Lapierre
placing 4th (748, first meet of the year). Rounding out the Australian
Athletics Tour division champions is Kim Mickle, with the Commonwealth Games
silver medallist taking home the throws crown after impressing in front of her
home crowd with a 59.46m throw to win the women’s javelin throw.

TOP FIELDS FOR PARIS
MARATHON

PARIS (FRA): Elite fields are
announced for the 35th Paris Marathon to
be held on April 10. In
total 40 000 runners are registered. Last year Ethiopian Atsede Bayisa
achieved
new women course record 2:22:04, the best male time is 2:05:47 by
Vincent
Kipruto from 2009. In
total 19 runners are having sub 2:10 best and six of them are coming
from sub
2:08 region. Heading the list is Ethiopian Eshetu Wondimu with 2:06:46
from
Dubai 2010 (3rd), Kenyan Bernard Kipyego who is former World CC medalist
has
2:07:01, his team-mates Alfred Kering 2:07:11, Benjamin Kiptoo 2:07:17
and
Jackson Kipkoech 2:07:30. Last is Ethiopian Wodajo Terefe 2:07:45.
French Simon
Munyutu is the top European with 2:09:24 best, also to note Russian
Grigory
Andreyev (2:11:00). Interesting debuting runners will be French
half-marathon
champion Abdellatif Meftah, Kenyan Erick Kibet and Ethiopian Fikadu
Habtamu.
Agnes Kiprop (2:24:07, winner in the past in Torino and Frankurt) and
Priscah
Jeptoo (2:27:02, last year Torino winner) are
the top Kenyan women but they will have it tough against a strong
Ethiopian
group. Mamitu Daska has 2:24:18 and is winner in Dubai 2010 and Houston
2011.
Koren Yal 2:24:33 and Ashu Kasim 2:25:49 are the other members of the
group. Eastern Europe will be represented by Ukrainian Kateryna
Stetsenko and Russian Margarita Plaksina, both with sub 2:30 bests.
Ethiopian
Mestewet Tufa is the most important debuting runner, her half best is
impressive 1:08:48.

KIPCHOGE AIMS FOR WR

CARLSBAD (USA):
Kenyan defending champion Eliud Kipchoge is returning to the Carlsbad 5 kilometres race on
Sunday determined to smash the world record. Writes David Martin. Kipchoge is
convinced he is in the right shape to lower the mark of exactly 13 minutes
which fellow Kenyan Sammy Kipketer twice achieved over the course in 2000 and
the following year.  “He was very
disappointed he didn’t do it last year,” said Matt Turnbull, Elite Athlete
Coordinator for the meeting.  “He was in
good shape, but it was very windy at the start. Now, he knows what the course
is all about. He’s been training hard for it.” Organisers report the weather
forecast for Sunday calls for ideal running conditions with the temperature in
the low to mid-60s and a little cloud cover which makes the first ever “sub-13” clocking a possibility.
Among his opponents will be Ethiopian Dejene Gebremeskel, Australian Ben St. Lawrence
and American Bobby Curtis.

OTHER NEWS

SENDAI (JPN): Sendai Half marathon, originally
scheduled on May 8, is cancelled. Informs Ken Nakamura.

GAINESVILLE (USA): Flotrack informs that former
world champion and olympic gold medalist Justin Gatlin has pulled out from the
Florida Relyas and will not compete this weekend.

ZURICH (SUI): European marathon champion Viktor
Rothlin is a last-minute addition into the Swiss Championships in the 10 km on the road this
Saturday in Lyss. It is part of his preparation for London Marathon.

DUBLIN (IRL): Dublin Marathon will get for first time
in 20 years live TV coverage  with RTE
Deal. New main sponsor of the event is The National Lottery. The race will be
held on October 31.

AMSTERDAM (NED): Dutch heptathlete Jolanda Keizer will
focus on the World Championships in Daegu as she continues her preparation in Sweden
in the training group of Carolina Kluft. Keizer
managed 8th at the 2008 Olympic Games but was set back with injuries in the
last 2 years. The group will prepare the summer season with a four week
training camp in San Diego, after that Keizer will open her season in Götzis.

LONDON (GBR): Mark Lewis-Francis confirmed he is
still in high spirits following the injury he sustained during the Aviva Grand
Prix indoor meeting in Birmingham.
Lewis-Francis has toned down his training over the last weeks but remains
confident as it is a long season in 2011. He believes he will be back in time
of the British Trials at the end of July (29-31) and the World championships in
Daegu he said for BBC sport.

KINGSTON (JAM): Asafa Powell still believes he can beat
Usain Bolt in 2011. In
an interview with The Mirror Powell admits he has not yet fulfilled his full
potential and blames injuries rather than mental weakness for coming up short
against the likes of Usain Bolt. Powell added training is going well and he
will be in 100% top shape by the time of the World championships in Daegu where
he believes he can win the gold. It is expected he will open the season at
Jamaica Invitational on May 7 (IAAF World Challenge).

NEW YORK (USA):
While pregnant with her first child Kara Goucher worked in writing a book that
will be released on April 5th in the United States. The book ‘Kara
Goucher’s Running for women’ is a collection of tips and advice for women
runners, especially beginners, and covers every topic from getting started to
diet, motivation and injury prevention.

LONDON (GBR): Denis Oswald, the chairman of the IOC
Coordination Commission has praised the works being carried out on the Olympic
Park by London 2012. The praise from Oswald came as the Olympic Delivery
Authority (ODA) announced that work on the first residential plot has been
completed.

AMSTERDAM (NED): Sprinter Churandy Martina wants to
compete for The Netherlands during the 2012 London Olympic Games. The
Netherlands Antilles are no long recognised by the IOC and therefore Martina
feels he has no other choice than to run for The Netherlands if he wants to
compete in London.
Curaçao’s Prime Minister is disappointed but understands Martina’s decision.

CAPE TOWN (RSA):  A record field
of close to 23 000 runners are expected to line up for the 42nd Old Mutual Two
Oceans road races on April 23, the organisers said on Friday. The half-marathon
race has attracted the biggest field in the event’s history, with just over 14
000 participants taking part. The 56km ultra-marathon has also attracted a
large field, with just under 9000 entrants. Writes Supersports.com. A total of
1269 runners from foreign countries will take part in the event.

MANCHESTER (GBR): World sprinting star Usain Bolt is
interviewed in latest Football United Fanzine about his support for Manchester
United.

ATHENS (GER): Greek Athletics Federation SEGAS
informed its associations, clubs and athletes that it is unable to meet its
financial obligations. Greek media are informing. The economic situation in
athletics is dramatic and SEGAS representatives appealed to the state to ensure
regular flow of support grants.

RESULTS

KINGSTON (JAM, Mar 31): During second day of Schools
Championships the best result came from discus thrower Travis Smikle. He
improved the continental junior record with 1.75 kg implement to
excellent 66.88 m.
It is also third best mark ever in this category. Also to note the fastest
times from 200 m
semifinals. In boys oldest C1 category Devano Williams achieved 21.05 (-1.1)
and in the girls races younger U17 runner was the fastest Sherieka Jackson with
23.90 (-1.2).