HOT DUELS AT CRYSTAL PALACE

LONDON (GBR): Preview of first day action at Aviva
London Grand Prix. Highlights two duels: Rudisha vs. Kaki and Robles vs.
Oliver. Other tops Powell, Farah and great fields in men´s long jump and women pole
vault.

Event by event

Men

100 m (non-DL): Asafa in his last test before Daegu
against tough opposition – Blake, Carter in first row and Bledman, Rodgers in
the second. Heats and final.

400 m: Kirani James making his European debut against Gonzales, Ch.
Brown, Bartholomew and K. Borlee. Tough and even group, not to forget home
champion Rooney.

800 m (non-DL): Top duel number 1: Rudisha vs. Kaki.
Meet record is tough 1:43.25 by Vebjorn Rodal from 1996 but possible to get.

110mH: Top duel number 2: Oliver vs. Robles. But Turner is also hungry
and we should not forget Stockholm
winner Richardson. Another chance to break MR 13.06.

Steeple (non-DL): Kenyan Willy Komen as the top entry. But the top
Kenyans must be already in the camp.

5000 m (non-DL): Chris Thompson going for Daegu
standard after the injury.

3000 m (non-DL): Home star Farah is set for another
stellar performance.

LJ: The field of the day, everybody in, only Germans missing. WL Watt,
WChamp Phillips, Olychamp Saladino,
US Champ
Goodwin, Mokoena and home stars Tomlinson and Rutherford.

Women

200 m (non-DL): World leader Solomon to test her
shape against Bianca Knight but crowds will support young star Jodie Williams.

800 m: Sinclair in another solo? Meadows will plan to change it. Will
they attack the meet record of 1:58.22 ?

400mH: World leader Hejnova with Spencer and Walker, and home star Shakes-Drayton. Meet
record 53.65 should go.

TJ: Saladukha is the top entry, but Rypakova comes from national champs
and her top mark.

PV: Except of Yelena everybody here, Bleasdale, Feofanova, Suhr,
Germans, Murer.

JT: Spotakova vs. Obergfoll, another clash of this two.

4×100 m: USA vs. Jamaica, but
not top compositions expected.

POWELL HOPES FOR FAST DAEGU TEST

LONDON (GBR): Asafa Powell, the fastest man on the
planet this year, has hailed tomorrow’s Aviva London Grand Prix as the launch
of a huge 12 months of athletics in the capital. Powell’s claims came as six of
the world’s greatest athletes gathered in London
today to preview two days of blistering action in store at Crystal Palace.
Former World Record holder Powell, who heads to Daegu in search of the elusive
World Championship title, said: “It’s the last competition before the World
Championships so the key will be staying injury free. Everything about the meet
is brilliant. We’ve always had good weather, although maybe not today, the
support is here and there’s loads of Jamaicans here. It’s like a mini Jamaica.
Excitement has been going on ever since we heard that the Olympics was going to
be in London.
It’s a long way to go but we are focusing on this year first and then next year
we can really focus on the Olympics.”

HURDLERS CLASH IS READY

LONDON (GBR): American hurdler David Oliver said: “My
ambitions are to keep going out there executing what I’m trying do. This is
just another springboard to the World Championships which is the most important
thing this year. Of course things change from year to year and I just want to
make sure I go out there and put in a strong performance for the fans and have
a good time. I love competing in the Samsung Diamond League out here in London and I feel a
performance tomorrow night will give me something to build on. This opportunity
gives me something to build on for next month.” His Cuban rival Dayron Robles
agreed: “We’ve [he and Oliver] had a rivalry for a number of years and now it’s
just a game to see who’s going to be best on this particular evening. We’re
forming a great rivalry, but it’s not just the two of us; there’s also Liu
Xiang and some other great hurdlers around the world. So we cannot just forget
about them and just focus on us two. I have nothing to discuss about the race
in Paris, that
was in the past, it’s over. Everybody’s training to win, David’s training to
win, I’m training to win and may the best man come out on top tomorrow
evening.”

RUDISHA HOPES FOR 1:42

LONDON (GBR): Also on the start list for London is IAAF World
Athlete of the Year and 800m World Record holder David Rudisha. The Kenyan
faces his old rival Abubaker Kaki for the first time this year, in what will be
his first time ever to compete in the UK. The fastest 800m time to be set
on these shores is Steve Cram’s 1.43:22 back at the Edinburgh Commonwealth
Games, but Kaki admits this record might not last for long. He said: “I’m really
happy to be in London
for the first time and to run against Abubaker Kaki for the first time this
year. It’s going to be a very exciting evening tomorrow. I had an injury at the
beginning of the season, but I’m starting to pick up some shape. I expect to
run something like 1.42secs and I would be happy with this.”

BAN BUT DAEGU YES

PARIS (FRA): French runners Mehdi Baala and Mahiedine Mekhissi were
banned from meetings abroad for the next ten months, but may participate in
Daegu at the World Championships. That is the decision of the disciplinary
committee of French Athletics Federation after their brawl after Monaco 1500 m race. The two
athletes will also perform 50 hours of community service and fined 1500 euros.
The final selection of French team will be announced later.

OTHER NEWS

BRUSSELS (BEL): Like last year runners are flocking to
run the Brussels Marathon & Half Marathon on October 2. With runners
representing thirty different nationalities registered so far there also seems
to be considerable interest from abroad. In total already 4000 registered.

LEUVEN (BEL) : The Flanders Cup meeting in Leuven, Belgium
on August 13th will serve as the trials for the Belgian 4x400m relay team.
Jonathan and Kevin Borlée have already been confirmed on the team as well as
Antoine Gillet and Nils Duerinck. The 2 remaining places will be awarded on
Saturday writes losseveter.nl.

BERLIN (GER): Leichtatletik.de announced the DLV
lounge has now over 5000 members on facebook. The page on the social network
has been open since January.

LONDON (GBR): Dow Chemical is to sponsor the 11
million dollar wrap around the London 2012 Olympic Stadium writes
Insidethegames. Worldwide Olympic partner Dow will produce a sustainable,
fabric wrap that will encircle the Stadium during the Olympic and Paralympic
Games. “The Stadium will look spectacular at Games time and having the wrap is
the icing on the cake,” said Sebastian Coe, the chairman of London 2012.

HOUSTON (USA):
Houston now has
an indoor marathon. The Reliant Stadium Indoor Marathon is scheduled for
November 19th and it will be the first-ever indoor marathon in Texas.The
challenging course starts and finishes on a playing field and takes the runners
up and down the ramps to three levels of the stadium. The course is 1.2 miles. There will
also be a half-marathon.

CORK (IRL): Berlin
fourth placer and former world indoor hurdles champion Derval O’Rourke claimed
she is ready for the Daegu World Championships. The Irish athlete will compete
at the London Diamond League on Saturday and then again at the Irish national
championships on Sunday. O’Rourke is confident she could make it again to a
world championships final writes The Irish Examiners.

ELDORET (KEN): Kenyan athlete Janet Jepkosgei believes it’s finally the
right time to put things straight at this month’s World Championships in Daegu.
Jepkosgei who won in 2007 missed missed out on the gold medal both in 2009 but
now she believes she is currently on form after winning at the highly
competitive national championships trials last month at Nyayo national Stadium
to book a ticket to South
Korea. “I am ready to bring back what I
missed in Berlin
two years ago and I believe I am in a very good position to do that at the
moment,” said Jepkosgei to The Standard.

PROVIDENCE (USA): She is the fastest woman to
ever run 13.1 miles
on US. soil, and on August 7 Providence College grad Kim Smith of New Zealand
will lead the pack at the inaugural Rock’n’Roll Providence Half Marathon
reports Running USA. Smith holds the US All-Comers record for the half-marathon
with 1:07.36 at the Rock ‘n’ Roll Mardi Gras Half Marathon last February.

LONDON (GBR): It may be less than a year to the
biggest track and field meeting of her life but Jessica Ennis has other
pressing matters ahead of the London Olympics. The World and European
heptathlon champion marries construction worker Andy Hill in the spring of
2013. “Because 2012 will be so busy I am doing all my preparations this year,”
explains Ennis in the Manchester Evening news.”You name it, I’m doing it:
researching venues, looking at dresses, buying bridal magazines-all those sort
of things. It’s actually nice to have the distraction as it is something I can
plan in my spare time that doesn’t take away from my rest period.” Ennis was
quoted.

MADRID (ESP): Double world record holder Usain Bolt
is quite hopeful about starting a football career after he retires from Track
and field. “I am serious, I believe I could be good at football, I think I
could compete well,” the 24-year-old Jamaican said in an interview, published
on Wednesday in Spanish sports daily, Marca. In the past, Bolt has talked about
playing as a “left-sided defensive midfielder” when he was in high school, but
now it’s quite evident that he’s seriously talking about his future as a
footballer and not just his past.

LONDON (GBR): The British bobsleigh team have been in
Dallas undergoing pre-season training at the
Michael Johnson Performance Centre in McKinney.
As the team gears up for the new season, they trained for 10 days at the
centre, which is owned by four-time Olympic gold medallist Michael Johnson,
using its state of the art facilities and world-class coaches.

RESULTS

DONETSK (UKR, Aug 4): In expected 800 m final Yuliya Krevsun
beat in 2:00.11 the former world indoor medalist Tetyana Petlyuk 2:00.49 during
third day of Ukrainian Championships. Third Olha Zavhorodnaya 2:00.55 and
fourth Natalya Lupu 2:00.59 ahead of Anzhela Shevchenko 2:01.41, 1500 m specialist Anna
Mishchenko 2:02:44 and young Anastasiya Tkachuk 2:03.24 are showing the
impressive depth of this event in Ukraine. Multiple European CC
Champion Serhiy Lebid won the 5000
m in 13:34.42. Stanislav Melnykov got the expected 400 m hurdles title in 49.68,
in women´s hurdles Anastasiya Rabchenyuk after fast heat did not run the final,
win for Anastasiya Lebid 59.01. In the 200 m Ihor Bodrov won the 200 m in 20.81 (-0.8) and
Oleksandr Osmolovych the 800 m
in 1:47.64. Fast 200 m
winner was Hrystyna Stuy in 22.93 (+1.7) ahead of European medalist Yelizaveta
Bryzgina 23.27. Svitlana Schmidt won the steeple 9:46.91. In technical events
of the day no top mark was registered. European U23 Champion Bohdan Bondarenko
cleared 228 to win the high jump, Denis Yurchenko had 542 to win the pole vault
and Oleksiy Sokyrskyy 75.32
in the hammer. Oleksandr Pyatnytsa was the best in
javelin 78.64 over national record holder Roman Avramenko 76.94. Vira Rebryk
got the javelin 58.97 and Nataliya Zolotukhina 68.17 in the hammer.