Jeremy Wariner, 2011 adidas Grand Prix NYC, photo by PhotoRun.net

Jeremy Wariner has withdrawn from the 2011 World Championships due to a torn toe ligament. The most dominant 400 meter runner from 2004-2010, Wariner had run 44.88 this season. While many think this puts the 400 meters way open, RBR considers that LaShawn Merritt may be the one to take up Wariner’s mantle.

Jenn Suhr, 2011 NB GP, photo by PhotoRun.net

Meb Keflezighi, 2011 RNR San Diego Half, photo by PhotoRun.net

And Meb Keflezighi has signed with the shoe company Skechers, as a sponsored athlete. Skechers is one of the most creative and marketing driven footwear companies, with huge support among women with the “toner” type shoe.

GREEK TEAM

ATHENS (GRE): Greece is sending 12 athletes to
Daegu. They are 7 men and 5 women. 110mH: Konstadínos Douvalídis, HJ: Dimítrios
Hondrokoúkis, Konstadínos Baniótis, PV: Konstadínos Filippídis, LJ: Loúis
Tsátoumas, JT: Yervásios Filippídis, Spirídon Lebésis. Women – 3000m steeple:
Iríni Kokkinaríou, PV: Nikoléta Kiriakopoúlou, TJ: Paraskeví Papahrístou, Níki
Panéta, HT: Alexándra Papayeoryíou. Thirteen athletes in total achieved during
2011 the standards set by the Greek Federation (SEGAS), roughly the average of
the A- and B-IAAF figures, but European U23 champion Likoúrgos-Stéfanos
Tsákonas decided to skip the World Championships, as his main focus of the
season was the European U23 200m title, in addition to nursing injuries that
force him to take a rest.

WARINER IS OUT

WACO (USA):
Former world and olympic winner at 400 m Jeremy Wariner is out of World
Championships due to a foot injury. Media are reporting. That means he will be
replaced in US
team by national championships fourth placer Jamaal Torrance. In the team title
defender LaShawn Merritt, national champion Tony McQuay and third placer Greg
Nixon. Wariner already missed last week DN Galan in Stockholm.

CYPRUS WITH IOANNOU

NICOSIA (CYP): Cyprus will send to Daegu 2
athletes. World medalist in high jump Kyriakos Ioannou and one woman yet to be
named.

JODIE WILLIAMS ADDED

LONDON (GBR): World Junior champion Jodie Williams is hoping to build on
her double European Junior Championships triumph when she makes her debut at
the Aviva London Grand Prix this Friday. And fresh from the success in Estonia,
Williams admits she is now chomping at the bit to line up in the 200m which
features fellow former age-group World champions, Bianca Knight and Shalonda
Solomon. Organizers are informing. While Williams takes to the track on Friday,
spectators at Crystal Palace National Sports Centre on Saturday will witness
the return of the much-loved Aviva Legends Relay, in which four of Britain’s
finest Olympians will each lead a team of the next generation of athletics
stars in a 4x100m relay. Jason Gardener, John Regis, Kath Merry and Liz
McColgan have all dusted off their spikes to lead the teams in the contest,
with the aim of raising awareness for Railway Children, a foundation that supports
the estimated 100,000 children who run away from home or care every year.

ANGELO TAYLOR WITH TWO
APPEARANCES

LONDON (GBR): Reigning Olympic 400m hurdles champion
Angelo Taylor and Jamaican sprint star Yohan Blake have joined the star-studded
line-up set to descend on Crystal
Palace for the Aviva
London Grand Prix this Friday. Organizers are writing in a release. With more
than 40 Olympic and World medallists on show already, Taylor’s inclusion increases the count of
reigning Olympic champions competing in the capital this weekend to 13, with
ten current World champions also taking part in what will be the 12th leg of
the Samsung Diamond League tour. Taylor lines up in an enthralling 400m
competition against newly-crowned British champion Martyn Rooney and World
Junior champion Kirani James, and then comes back the next day to run the 400m
hurdles, while Jamaican Blake competes in the 100m against former World Record
holder Asafa Powell, the fastest man on the planet this year, who he narrowly
lost to at the Jamaican Championships. Meanwhile, Dai Greene has withdrawn from
the Aviva London Grand Prix to concentrate on his training and final
preparations leading into the World Championships. Also not running is Jack
Green and they both will be replaced by Nathan Woodward and Richard Davenport.

CZECH TEAM FOR DAEGU: SPOTAKOVA,
HEJNOVA WORLD LEADERS

PRAHA (CZE): Czech Athletics Federation selected 21 athletes for World
Championships in Daegu. 20 of them fulfilled the criteria and European 23 200 m medalist Pavel
Maslak got a wild card (he has the IAAF standard of course but is missing the
Czech standard). Coach Jan Zelezny is having five athletes in the team. World
leader Barbora Spotakova is joined by Jarmila Klimesova in women javelin and
Petr Frydrych with Vitezslav Vesely and Jakub Vadlejch will be the male trio.
Another world leader is Zuzana Hejnova at 400 m hurdles, European indoor champion Denisa
Rosolova runs the 400 m.
They will be joined by Zuzana Bergrova and Jitka Bartonickova in the 4×400 m
relay. Legendary Roman Sebrle will compete in decathlon at his 8th World
Championships, also in the team high jump record holder Jaroslav Baba. In
discus Vera Cechlova (2005 world medalist) and Jan Marcell on the men side
(also has the standard in the shot put). Also in the team Jirina Ptacnikova in
the pole vault, Lucie Skrobakova at 100 m hurdles, Marcela Lustigova in the steeple
and walkers Zuzana Schindlerova with Lucie Pelantova. Jan Kudlicka is entered
in the pole vault and European U23 silver winner Katerina Cachova is selected
for the heptathlon. Due to injuries the season is over for hurdler Petr
Svoboda, 800 m
runners Jakub Holusa and Lenka Masna and pole vaulter Michal Balner.

AUSTRALIA CONFIRMED WITH 47 ATHLETES

MELBOURNE (AUS): Athletics Australia have named a 47-strong
Flame team for the IAAF world championships in Daegu later this month. The team
will be led by reigning world champions Steve Hooker and Dani Samuels. Other
medal hopes are new national record holders Mitchell Watt and Sally Pearson, as
well as dual Olympic medallist Jared Tallent.

OTHER NEWS

MIAMI (USA):
Sporting Alert writes that Jamaican Daegu-bound sprinter Steve Mullings says
he’s still on heavy lifting, despite still blazing the track as he continues
his preparation for the upcoming IAAF World Championships. The Jamaican
sprinter, who trains in Orlando,
Fla. under the guidance of Lance
Brauman, paced to a sprint double at Terra Sarda athletics meeting in Arzana on
Saturday. “Me and coach are still working on it (getting ready),” Mullings
said. “I am still under heavy training so I don’t know how fast I can go.”

PHILIPSBURG (USA):
Local media are informing that 400
m hurdles runner Justin Gaymon is changing coaches
Living in Atlanta
full-time now, Gaymon had been guided by his hurdles coach at Georgia, Jon
Stuart. But he’s making the transition to Nat Page, the sprint coach at Georgia
Tech. “Mostly, I’ve been running in the low 49s,” Gaymon said. “If you ask me
if I’m happy about my ranking, I’d have to tell you no. I want to be No. 1.”

NEW YORK (USA):
Skechers, a Manhattan Beach,
Calif., company which makes
fitness and leisure footwear and apparel, has signed Olympic Marathon silver
medallist Meb Keflezighi to an endorsement deal. The company said through a
press release today that Keflezighi would endorse “fitness performance footwear
and apparel in a worldwide multiple-medium marketing campaign.” The deal
extends through August, 2012, so it would include the London Olympics and
provide the company with global exposure if Keflezighi makes his third Olympic
team. Informs RRW. Keflezighi will wear Skechers shoes in the ING New York City
Marathon on Sunday, November 6,
a race he committed to last April.

COLUMBIA (USA): The Mizzou track and field program and head coach Brett
Halter have announced the hiring of former three-time Olympian Kareem
Streete-Thompson as the program’s new assistant coach. Streete-Thompson will
serve as the Tigers’ jumps and short sprints coach and he brings to Mizzou a
very impressive résumé as both a coach and athlete. Streete-Thompson spent the
last three years at Florida
State, serving as a
volunteer assistant coach, helping the Seminole women to a fifth-place finish
in the Terry Crawford’s Program of the Year Award competition. Informs the
university web.

BERLIN (GER): In form Christina Obergföll talked to
leichtathletik.de about her impressive season and admitted she has been the
owner of a specially devised machine that helps her simulate the javelin
technique. Obergföll and her coach have been able to build the machine with the
help of investments by her sponsors.

CAPE TOWN (RSA): World 800 metres champion
Caster Semenya says she has her sights set on the 800m and 1 500m world
records. In a campaign document labelled “Quest for Double Glory”, released by
her public relations team Semenya listed her short-term and long-term goals. “I
am not defeated and am definitely not dejected,” Semenya said in the statement.

LAS VEGAS (USA):
Le Edge USA, the official
Distributor of the Le Edge ‘All Over Body’ Exfoliation Tool, in the USA, Canada
and Mexico
announced that Olympic decathlon champion Bryan Clay has become their newest
corporate partner. Clay is proud to partner with Le Edge and believes the Le
Edge exfoliation tool fits well with his fitness and healthy lifestyle focus
reports Digitaljournal.com.

SAN DIEGO (USA):
Competitor Group (CGI) has officially announce a new partnership for the
SunTrust National Marathon in Washington
DC. The marathon and half
marathon will be rebranded as SunTrust Rock ‘n’ Roll USA under CGI’s flagship Rock ‘n’
Roll Marathon Series, with the SunTrust Rock ‘n’ Roll USA Marathon &
CareFirst Rock ‘n’ Roll USA Half Marathon scheduled for Saturday, March 17,
2012.

CHULA VISTA (USA):
Germany and The United
States have named their teams for the 18th edition of the Thorpe Cup on August
13 and 14 in
Chula Vista.
Joe Detmer (8009) and Miller Moss(7996) are the strongest names on the American
team while The German team includes Lars Albert (7933), Mathias Prey (7923) and
Simon Hechler (7903). World championships participants Trey Hardee, Bryan Clay
and Ashton Eaton may compete in individual events.

KINGSTON (JAM): Triple World Championships medallist
Delloreen Ennis confirmed that her 2011 season is over. Trackalerts.com broke
the news last week that the veteran hurdler will not compete for the rest of
the year because of knee injury and underwent surgery on July 27 to fix a torn
cartilage and bone spur. It means also that she ended her hunt for her first
world championships gold in Daegu. Ennis placed third in the 100m hurdles at
the national trials in June. Ennis has medaled at the world championships three
With this in mind Deloreen is not ready to give up and is set on making a
come-back next year.

RESULTS

KARLSTAD (SWE, Aug 2):
Ngoni Makusha of Zimbabwe posted fast 10.11 (-0.1) 100 m win at Karlstad
meet, part of Swedish Folksam Grand
Prix. He clearly beat Jamaicans Jacques Harvey 10.30 and Dexter Lee
10.36. But
Rasheed Dwyer got the win for Jamaica
at 200 m
with 20.54 (+1.9, over Kenroy Anderson 20.59) and Carrie Rusell at 100 m
in 11.27 (+1.0) beating
Norway´s record holder Ezinne Okparaebo 11.41. Briton Mukhtar Mohamed
won the 800 m in fast 1:45.90 PB
beating olympic medalist Ahmed Ismail of Sudan 1:46.09. Qatari Ali
Abubaker
Kamal won the 3000 m
in 7:57.10. US wins for hurdlers Joel Brown (13.58) and Nichole Denby
(13.12
when Jamaican Natasha Ruddock fell at last hurdle). Tintu Luka of India
posted 2:02.28 at 800 m and Lauren Boden from Australia 56.42 in the 400
m hurdles. In technical
events home wins for Alhaji Jeng in pole vault (560), Emma Green-Tregaro
in
high jump (192) and Carolina Kluft in long jump (658, +1.6). US Dan
Taylor got
the shot put (20.44), Sergey Litvinov won the hammer (74.39) and
Estonian Risto
Matas the javelin 80.87.

OORDEGEM (BEL, Aug 2): Ireland´s Ciaran O’Lionaird smashed his best time
for 1500 m
at a meet in Belgium.
For the first time this season he was involved in a paced race that brought
runners through 800m in 1:54, with several runners chasing the standard for the
World championships. Not content to be dragged around to a fast time O’Lionaird
was involved in the race from the start but was just outpaced in the closing
stages by Ethiopian Dawit Wolde who won in a time of 3:34.13, just ahead of O’Lionaird
second in 3:34.46. Canadian Nate Brannan, who was at Michigan University
with the Corkman, was third in 3:35.80. Also Dutch Jeroen D´Hoedt improved to
Daegu standard of 3:36.09.

DONETSK (UKR, Aug 2): During first day of Ukrainian
Championships (several top names recieved a bye for the event) the 100 m winners were Darya
Pizhankova (11.57, -0.9) and Igor Bodrov (10.32, -0.1). Yevgeniya Snigur won
the 100 m
hurdles (13.32, -0.2). Fast 1500
m win for Anzhelika Shevchenko 4:07.29 over 800m star
Tetyana Petlyuk 4:08.56. Oleksandr Borisyuk got the men´s 1500 m title in 3:40.58.
Discus wins for Igor Hryshin 64.96 and Natalya Semenova 59.50.

FRAUENKAPELLEN (SUI, Aug 1): Anna Katharina Schmid cleared at pole vault
meet here 440 and equalled her own national U23 record. Ireland´s Tori Pena was
second with also 440 what is national record and Daegu standard for her.

LANDAU (GER, Aug 2): Bjorn Otto won the pole vault meet here after
jump-off with excellent 580. Second Karsten Dilla and third US Jeremy Scott cleared
572 cm.
For Otto it is his best result in last four years and is so also a candidate
for remining open spot in the German team for Daegu. Also under consideration
Karsten Dilla and Fabian Schulze. Fourth Giuseppe Gibilisco of Italy
went over 560 cm.

CHURCHVILLE (USA,
Jul 26): Athletics International informs about 491 pole vault by Jenn Suhr at a
local meet here. It is a world lead and reportedly she tried here at five
metres.

ALMATY (KZK, Jul 27-30): Kazakhstan
national championships last weekend at the Almaty Central Stadium had as best
result the 14.96 (+1.9) by Continental Cup winner Olga Rypakova in the triple
jump. It is third best mark in the world 2011. Second Irina Ektova (nee
Litvinenko) achieved 14.48 (+1.1). Rypakova also won the long jump title (656,
-1.8). Marina Aitova won the high jump with 192 clearance. National junior
record for 100 m
winner Viktoriya Zyabkina who clocked 11.42 (+0.7) while winning the senior
title. She was also solid in geeting another gold medal in the 200 m (23.26, +0.2). In the 100 m hurdles top two went
sub 13: Natalya Ivoninskaya 12.95 (-0.9) and Anastasiya Soprunova 12.99. Best
result in men events by Yevgeniy Ektov 16.88 (-0.3) in the triple jump.

KARLSTAD (SWE, Aug 1): In an exhibition hammer throw
over a river Mattias Jons achieved 77.54 and Sergey Litvinov 75.63. Some throws
landed in the water.