byLarry Eder
Here is the release on the 100 meters, men and women and the 200 meters as well! Running to plane to PDX, watch for more tonight from Portland!
SPEED COMES TO TRACK TOWN USA
Carmelita Jeter ranked No. 1 in the
world last year in the 100 Meters, yet she may not be the favorite in this
Saturday Prefontaine Classic women’s century. Jeter, the bronze medalist in the
2007 and 2009 World Championships, will square off against Jamaican Shelly-Ann Fraser, the reigning Olympic
and World Championships gold medalist. This will be the first meeting of the
two since the 2009 season, when Jeter was first ranked No. 1 in the world by Track Field News magazine, but Fraser was the World Champion in Berlin.
They will
be challenged by World Championships silver medalist Kerron Stewart, Olympic silver medalist Sherone Simpson, World Championships silver medalist Lauryn Williams, No. 4-ranked Marshevet Myers and No. 6-ranked Blessing Okagbare, the only woman to
win both the NCAA 100 and Long Jump. This is without question the deepest field
in the 37 years of the Prefontaine Classic women’s 100 meters.
VISA 100 METERS
Carmelita Jeter
Shelly-Ann Fraser (Jamaica)
Kerron Stewart (Jamaica)
Sherone Simpson (Jamaica)
Lauryn Williams
(USA)
Blessing Okagbare (Nigeria)
Marshevet Myers (USA)
Alex Anderson
(USA)
With 4 athletes ranked in the
top 10 in the world by Track & Field
News, one might expect the attention to be focused on Nesta Carter (No. 4), Richard
Thompson (No. 6), Michael Frater (No. 8) or Mike Rodgers (No. 9). But likely, most
eyes will be on unranked former Olympic and World Championships gold medalist Justin Gatlin. Gatlin has finished a 4
year doping suspension and is back seeking to claim the title of World Fastest
Human. It will be a tall order for the 29-year-old, as Carter enjoyed a
breakout season in 2010, running a lifetime best of 9.78. With Olympic silver
medalist Thompson and World Championships silver medalists Frater and Darvis Patton
backing him up, Gatlin will face an uphill battle to rejoin the world’s elite
sprinters.
100 METERS
Nesta Carter
Justin Gatlin
Michael Frater (Jamaica)
Mike Rodgers
Darvis Patton
Richard Thompson (Trinidad)
Steve Mullings (Jamaica)
Walter Dix, 2010’s No. 1 ranked
sprinter at 200 Meters, appears poised to defend his ranking and to contest for
the gold in this summer’s World Championships in Daegu, South Korea.
Dix dominated the Samsung Diamond League series last year, winning four times,
including the Prefontaine Classic in a Hayward Field record of 19.72. The
25-year-old double bronze medalist at the 2008 Olympic Games in the 100 &
200 will try to beat back the challenges of world rankers Xavier “X-Man” Carter (No. 8) and Churandy Martina (No. 10). And
don’t count out ever-green Shawn
Crawford, the 2004 Olympic 200 Champion and 2001 World Championships bronze
medalist a decade ago. At the other end of the spectrum, Trinidad’s
Rondel Sorrillo won the NCAA Championships at Hayward Field just last year. In
the 200 Meters, anything can happen!
200 METERS
Walter Dix
Xavier Carter
Churandy Martina (Netherlands)
Shawn Crawford
Jaysama Ndure (Norway)
Rondel Sorrillo (Trinidad & Tobago)
Ivory Williams (USA)
Emmanuel Callender (Trinidad)
