QUOTE
OF THE SESSION

„I just
want to do my best, there’s no point me being good in the heats and not doing
well in the final, that wouldn’t look very good. I do not like coming second,
every athlete wants to be their best, who wants to be second. I want to be
a front runner,” Rhys Williams after the 400 m Hurdles semifinal.

RESULT
OF THE SESSION

Three
personal bests in 400mHurdles semis in the morning by women to advance into the
finals: 54.69 Yaroshchuk, 55.78 Bergrova and 55.93 Barr.  Two national records in men 400mHurdles semis
to qualify:

Serbia
(Bekric 49.37) and Estonia (Magi 49.54).

SURPRISE
OF THE SESSION

World
Champion 2009 Marta Dominguez stopped after 600 m in the steeple first heat due
to foot injury.

FAVORITE
FALLS

World
medalist 2009 Monika Pyrek in PV qualification, Italian Daniele Greco in the
triple jump. Olympic medalist Marian Oprea in TJ qualification. Polish former
medalist Marek Plawgo out in 400mH semis, but his shape this year was not at
the level as in the past.

OTHERS

GBR: Out
from running here James Brewer in the 1500 m (illness) and Jenny Meadows. „It
has been a battle to get back to full fitness after suffering an Achilles
tear earlier this year. I have never been fitter, having spent all winter
training on the bike or the Alter-G and mentally I was ready to come here
and compete for a medal. But my injury seems to have reacted badly to the
flight and whilst we all genuinely believed I would be ready to get to the
start line this setback means I’m so close yet so far. I know I’m
selectable based on my previous 7 A standards, but it is no longer in my
control,” she said for UK Athletics.

DECATHLON:
German Pascal Behrenbruch leads after 8 events with 6989 ahead of Ukrainian
Oleksiy Kasyanov (who was leading the whole competition so far) 6970. But
Behrenbruch is clearly better in javelin, that might decide. All-time hero
Roman Sebrle fights for bronze with Ilya Shkurenev (excellent PV 520).

POLE
VAULT: For first time spectators saw jumpers walking over their attempts on
purpose. 11 cleared 440 and one was missing to complete the finals. Ptacnikova
passed and was in tie with other two (Pyrek and Ledaki). Instead to allow 14 in
the finals, judges let the comedy begin until Ptacnikova cleared 445 cm.

SPECTATORS

3000
(EME guess, not official figure)

STATS

Women
steeple fastest heat time ever by Gulcan Mingir 9:32.39. Best ever
qualification PV result 445 by Jirina Ptacnikova, best non-qualifier ever at
Eurochamps 435. Three Czech girls qualified for 400 m hurdles final and all
three have the same coach Martina Blazkova. Also three Germans qualified for
women steeple final.

MEDALS

GBR
1-0-0, GER 0-1-0, TUR-0-0-1

AGENTS
BY GOLD MEDALS 

Ricky Simms 1-0-0

NON HELSINKI NEWS

LONDON
(GBR): French fastest European sprinter Christophe Lemaitre will run in London
for the first time ever as he takes on a host of global Olympic contenders
over 200m at the Aviva London Grand Prix in Crystal Palace on Saturday 14 July.
Lemaitre, who this evening will defend his European 100m title in Helsinki,
will be joined by former World Championships silver medallist Wallace Spearmon
as well as Brits James Ellington and Christian Malcolm, who recently qualified
for London 2012.

KINGSTON
(JAM): Thursday will be start of Jamaican Trials, with all top runners entered
for heats of women and men 400 m and 400 m hurdles. In the 100 m men
qualification races will be held which will produce 7 sprinters for the 1st
round (quarterfinals) in the evening.  It
is similar concept like IAAF used last year at World Championships in Daegu.

KINGSTON
(JAM): Interesting BBC piece about Usain Bolt, the most marketable sportsman on
the planet, ahead of the biggest event of his career. „At the moment Usain gets
about 10 interview requests a day from all over the world,” his agent
Ricky Simms told BBC Sport. But it is not just the media who want a piece
of Olympic 100m champion and world record holder Bolt. Simms is the gatekeeper
with whom big business must negotiate if they want their products to benefit
from the Jamaican’s phenomenal performances and winning personality. If Twitter
is today’s barometer of public buzz, then Bolt has surpassed David Beckham,
that traditional benchmark of sporting celebrity, as the global face of the
Games. According to market research agency Nielsen, Bolt is the subject of
0.62% of global online Olympics discussions, with local boy Beckham trailing
behind on 0.52%.  Writes BBC.

PORTO
NOVO (BEN): The IAAF and CAA presidents, Lamine Diack and Hamad Kalkaba Malboum
were among guests at the opening ceremony of African Championships. During two
hours, a high color and sound show entertained the public.  In margin of the competition, other activities
had already been organized. It was for example the Gala of the confederation of
African athletics (CAA) during which some personalities and other athletes were
honored, and also an official award ceremony as part of the IAAF centenary. On
this occasion, some African athletes and some political, sporty and economic
personalities received these CAA distinctions. 
From former athletes awards for Amadou Dia Ba, Filbert Bayi, Paul
Tergat, Hakim Toumi, Mary Onyali, from officials Lamine Diack, Kalkaba Malboum,
Nawal El Moutawakel, Isiah Kiplagat and in posthumous Decorations category for
example John Akii-Bua, Sunday Bada and Samuel Wanjiru.

AMSTERDAM
(NED) : Dutch pole vaulter Wout Van Wengerden is ending his season due to
injury. Van Wengerden has been suffering from several injuries in the last
years and is considering retirement reports losseveter.nl.

LONDON
(GBR): With exactly a month to go until the opening ceremony of a London
Games that will be his last as IOC President, Jacques Rogge is in relaxed mood.
There has been none of the last-minute construction panic of Athens or the
human-rights protests ahead of Beijing and Rogge is effusive in his praise for
Lord Coe’s organising committee reports The Guardian.

MELBOURNE
(AUS): Australian athlete Jarrod Bannister will still compete in the London
Games after he was caught drink-driving. The champion javelin thrower pleaded
guilty to five charges in the Brisbane Magistrates Court including driving
unlicensed, unregistered, uninsured and with canceled plates while his blood
alcohol concentration was .057. However, Bannister will not be convicted and is
set to join the Australian team in Europe according to Foxsports.

RESULTS

SAO
PAULO (BRA, Jun 27): Brazilian Trofeu Brasil Caixa Atletismo (in principle
National Championships) started with 10 000 m races won by Damiao Ancelmo de
Souza 28:51.31 and Cruz Nonata da Silva 32:15.72.  Fastest in 100 m heats Nilson de Oliviera
10.28 (+1.3). Best results in jumping qualifications Rogerio Bispo 793 (0.0)
and Keila Costa 14.13 (+0.1).

CALGARY
(CAN, Jun 27): Overnight combined events leaders at Canadian Championships are
Jessica Zelinka with excellent 3982 points and going for national record  (12.76 top hurdles, 177, 14.74, 23.42+2.1)
and Jamie Adjetey-Nelson 4182 points. Second Brianne Theisen also good 3838
(13.09, 183, 13.21, 24.11+2.1).

PORTO
NOVO (BEN, Jun 27): To add to first day of African Championships, women hammer
was not finished yet, we mentioned ranking after 3 rounds. It was interrupted
by rain. Ignisious Gaisah of Ghana was the best in long jump qualification 796
(+3.2) and South African Zavion Kotze leads decathlon after first day with 3927
points.

EINDHOVEN
(NED, Jun 27):  European medalist Yvonne
Hak posted 2:02.41 at 800 m here.

ELANCOURT
(FRA, Jun 27): Fast hurdles hereby Dimitri Bascou 13.40 (+0.8) ahead of Cedric
Lavanne 13.47. Abdoulaye Diarra cleared 224 in the high jump.

BARCELONA
(ESP, Jun 26): New Spanish youth hammer record with 5kg implement, Miguel
Alberto Blanco 75.39 m.