by Larry Eder
I am off to the train now, heading to Paris for the AREVA Paris meeting. I will be at AVIVA Birmingham on Sunday. The World Youth Champs is tremendous and should be on all track fans vacation plans in future! Lille Metropole has been tremendous, more on that on the train!
Bolt in Paris
Usain Bolt arrived to Paris on Tuesday and was guest of Laurence Ferrari
in TF1 prime time show. His main rivals in the 200 m at the new track
of Stade de France should be French European champion Christophe
Lemaitre, Daegu bound Darvis Patton of USA, his training partner
recently improved Mario Forsythe and Berlin medalist Alonso Edward of
Panama.
Mutai for Italy
CASTELBUONO (ITA): Boston marathon winner Geoffrey Mutai will run 86th
Castelbuono road race (11.3 km on a challenging course) in Italy
on July 26. Already earlier confirmed for that race was US marathon
record holder Ryan Hall.
Urech, Perry for Luzern
LUZERN (SUI): The 25th Spitzen Leichtathletik meet of Luzern (July 21,
EA Classic) announced top field for women´s 100 m hurdles. Fresh
national record holder and European leader Lisa Urech leads the list.
Comeback race is announced by former double world champion Michelle
Perry who returns after baby break. Also in the race former world indoor
champion Derval O´Rourke, NCAA Champion Nia Ali and British record
holder Tiffany Porter. New tribune is also ready after last year because
of the stadium works the meet was held in Nottwil. More stars are
expected to be announced soon.
Dix for Canada
HALIFAX (CAN): The Aileen Meagher International Classic in Halifax on
July 10 and the 2011 Toronto International Track and Field Games in
Toronto on July 13 have added American sprinter Walter Dix to their
respective 100-metre fields. Dix, double bronze medalist at the 2008
Olympic Games, is excited about returning to Canada to chase Usain
Bolt’s Varsity Centre stadium record of 10.00 set in 2009 at the
Festival of Excellence. The Florida native raced in, and won, the
100-metres at last year’s Aileen Meagher. It will be first competitions
for Dix after winning double at US Nationals. Dix will line up against
Canada’s fastest men including current NTL 100-metre points leader
Justyn Warner and Bryan Barnett. Also in the field Commonwealth games
gold medalist Lerone Clarke of Jamaica.
Hooker for Germany
LEVERKUSEN (GER): Olympic and world winner in the pole vault Steven
Hooker confirmed his participation at the 2nd Pole Vault Classic in
Leverkusen on July 30. He will meet returning home star Danny Ecker,
Korean Kim Yoo-Suk and Jason Wurster of Canada.
Top fields for Birmingham
BIRMINGHAM (GBR): The Aviva Birmingham Grand Prix will host a field of
international
and domestic stars as the number one global athletics tour roars
into the West Midlands on Sunday. Of the 17 disciplines on show at
the Birmingham Alexander Stadium 15
of them will contain a World or Olympic champion with more than 40
global medallists set to line up, enhancing the event’s status as
one of the strongest in world athletics this year. Organizers are
informing in a release. In the 100m, Asafa Powell, who set a
world-leading time of 9.78secs
en route to victory on the Lausanne leg of the Samsung Diamond
League last month, joins a star-studded line-up featuring an
astonishing nine athletes who have run 9.99secs or faster. In other
track action at Birmingham Alexander Stadium this Sunday,
the world’s fastest woman of the year so far, Carmelita Jeter, will
line up in the 200m. The American has six victories in Britain over
the last two years to her name and will hope for a seventh when she
faces Marshevet Myers, who will contest the 100m for the USA at the
IAAF World Championships in Daegu next month. Plenty of eyes will be
on the triple jump, where Britain’s World and
European champion Phillips Idowu takes on the 22-year-old Parisian
taking the discipline by storm, current World Indoor champion and
World Indoor Record holder Teddy Tamgho. In the 5000 m, double
European gold medallist Mo Farah, the world
number one over 10,000m, attempts to break his own British record of
12:57.94 he set last year in Zurich. He lines up against reigning
Samsung Diamond League champion Imane
Merga, the world number one over this distance, and Dejen
Gebremeskel, the last person to beat Farah – and in astonishing
fashion – having lost a shoe in the Boston Indoor Grand Prix in
February. Domestic hopes will be on Welsh 400m hurdler Dai Greene,
who
attempts to break Kriss Akabusi’s 21-year stronghold on the British
record and reigning World bronze medallist Jenny Meadows, who
competes in the 800m. Fresh from her success in Germany at the
weekend, where she set a
new British record of 4.70m, 19-year-old pole vaulter Holly
Bleasdale will line up against Silke Spiegelburg, World Indoor
champion Fabiana Murer and European champion Svetlana Feofanova. One
of the strongest competitions of the day will be the 100m
hurdles, with the terrific field being headed by the world’s top
four athletes: Commonwealth champion Sally Pearson, Olympic champion
Dawn Harper, current world’s fastest Kellie Wells and Tiffany
Ofili-Porter, who will look to better her own British record.
Meanwhile, no less than four 22m throwers will line up in the shot
put, with Olympic champion Thomas Majewski to battle it out with the
event favourite, Canada’s Commonwealth champion Dylan Armstrong.
Javelin thrower Andreas Thorkildsen, dubbed athletics’ answer to
David Beckham and holder of all major international titles, has
fully recovered from injury and aims to re-claim the world number
one ranking from Vadim Vasilevskis, the Ukrainian Olympic silver
medallist. Botswanan Amantle Montsho will look to challenge the
50-second
barrier and continue her winning run over Sanya Richards-Ross in the
400m, while long jumper Brittney Reese makes her long-awaited debut
in Great Britain having just leapt 7.19m, the world’s best jump for
four years. Embarking on a thrilling high jump competition will be
Croat Blanka
Vlasic, the two-time World champion and Olympic silver medallist
tipped to be the first person ever to jump more than two metres at
the Birmingham Alexander Stadium. Finally, Brits Christine Ohuruogu
and Chris Thompson will miss the
event through injury.
OTHER NEWS
DURBAN (RSA): The outcome of potentially decisive first round of
voting
in the 2018 Winter Olympics and Paralympics race here may be
determined by fewer than 95 voters. As bid strategists scurried
around Durban’s luxury hotel lobbies in
pursuit of the 110 International Olympic Committee (IOC) members who
constitute the electorate in this high-stakes contest, it emerged
that at least six of them would not be coming to South Africa for
various reasons. These are: Guinea’s Alpha Ibrahim Diallo, Saudi
Arabia’s Prince
Nawaf Faisal Fahd Abdulaziz, the United States James Easton,
Brazil’s Joao Havelange, Egypt’s General Mounir Sabet and India’s
Raja Randhir Singh. In addition, at time of writing, there was still
a question-mark
over the presence of Samih Moudallal, the Syrian IOC member, whose
country is in a state of political unrest at present. In addition to
these definite or possible absentees, six further
members will not cast a vote because they come from the same country
as one of the three bidding cities – Annecy, Munich and Pyeongchang.
These are: Thomas Bach and Claudia Bokel from Germany, Guy Drut and
Jean-Claude Killy from France and Dae Sung Moon and Kun-Hee Lee from
South Korea. It is also thought a number of members including
Jacques Rogge, the
IOC President, from Belgium, Switzerland’s Denis Oswald and,
possibly, Britain’s Princess Anne may abstain. The list of
absentions could grow even further after Cameroon’s Issa
Hayatou was taken to hospital. Writes insidethegames.
LONDON (GBR) : IAAF Vice-President and Lonon 2012 boss Sebastion Coe has secretly wed his long-time girlfriend
Carole Annett. The father of four children by his first marriage to
equestrienne Nicky McIrvine, Coe, kept the news of his second marriage
to a very small circle of family and close friends. Writes
Telegraph.co.uk.
LILLE (FRA): Jamaica Gleaner informs that already depleted after the
withdrawal of world youth-leading 100m sprinter, Jazeel Murphy,
Jamaica’s team at the IAAF World Youth Championships suffered another
major blow after Youth Olympic 100m champion, Odean Skeen, was also
pulled from the event – a day before the start of the championships –
due to a reccurring hamstring strain. Skeen, the third-fastest youth in
the world with a best of 10.41 seconds this year, has been dogged by the
injury all season, but recovered in time for the Jamaica Athletics
Administrative Association/Supreme Ventures Limited National Junior
Championships, where he finished second in both the 100m and 200m. It is
hoped that he will feel better in time to compete in the 200m, which
starts on Friday, two days after today’s start to the 100m preliminary
rounds.
TOKYO (JPN): Tokyo Governor Shintaro Ishihara said that the Japanese
capital city will bid to host the 2020 Summer Olympic Games, the Kyodo
News reported. According to the Japanese newspaper, Tokyo is ready to
host the Olympics “at any cost”.
ROME (ITA): European indoor high jump champion Antonietta Di Martino
continues her rehabilitation of an injury on her take off foot. Di
Martino is still unsure about the date of her return to competition but
is still hopeful that she will make it to the World Championships in
Daegu. In 2007 Di Martino made a similar return to competition at the
IAAF World Championships in Osaka and still managed a 3rd place. Informs
FIDAL website.
DRESDEN (GER): World high jump medalist Raul Spank announced his next
competition plans. He will jump on Friday in Paris at AREVA DL, then
Eberstadt special HJ meet on July 17, German Championships in Kassel and
DN-Galan in Stockholm on July 29.
RESULTS
CELLE LIGURE (ITA, Jul 5): Cuban 400 m hurdles record holder Omar
Cisneros clocked 49.28 to win his event at the 23rd Arcobaleno meet.
South African Thuso Mpuang won the 200 m in 20.85 (+0.8) and another
good sprint result was the 45.70 of Briton Richard Strachan in the 400
m. National record holder Diego Ferrin of Ecuador cleared 227 in the
high jump. On the women side Souma Fatou of Senegal improved her 400 m
best to 51.67 and Italian Manuela Gentili clocked 56.83 in the 400 m
hurdles.
RAKVERE (EST, Jul 5): New personal best for Estonian discus thrower Priidu Niit 60.69 m when winning the national U23 title.
