RUDISHA
TWICE

MOUNTAIN VIEW (USA): Kenyan 800 m runner David Rudisha
became only the third ever (and first not named Usain Bolt) to record the top
two performances of the year in voting by Track and Field News international
panel. His 1:41.01 and 1:41.09 were number one and number two performances of
the year. Third is US record
of David Oliver at 110 m
hurdles (12.89), fourth Teddy Tamgho´s triple 17.98 from New York meet and fifth half-marathon world
record of Zersenay Tadese 58:23.

EBUYA
WINS AGAIN

SAN GIORGO SU LEGNANO (ITA, Jan
6): World champion is winning again. Reigning CC global title holder Joseph
Ebuya of Kenya
won the 54th Campaccio CC race (EA Permit) with 28:15 at 10 km. On a dry course he
beat road world record holder Leonard Komon (28:19), third way behind was
reigning world junior track champion Dennis Masai (28:51). Olympic medalist
Micah Kogo was fourth (28:53) clearly ahead Gideon Kipketer (29:21) and best
home and European runner Andrea Lalli (29:29). Hungarian Aniko Kalovics won the
women 6 km
in 20:04. In the European field second Belgian veteran Veere Dejaeghere (20:15)
and third Ana Dias of Portugal
(20:28). Fourth Russian Irina Sergeyeva (20:34) and fifth best Italian Nadia
Ejjafini (formerly of Bahrain,
20:36).

CHEMLANY
WINS IN ISRAEL

TIBERIAS (ISR, Jan 6): Kenyan
Stephen Chemlany won the 34th edition of Tiberias Marathon in 2:10:02 personal
best and will cash 20 000 USD. In perfect weather some 1600 runners
participated. National champion was 49-years old Ayele Setegne with impressive
2:18:57 as 18th. Second Patrick Tambwe of Democratic Republic of Congo in
2:10:09 ahead of another Kenyan Julius Muriuki 2:10:11. Best Ethiopian Gidena
Gebremedhin fourth 2:10:15 ahead of Kenyans Samson Bungei 2:10:26 and John Mutai
2:11:08. Ethiopian Abaynesh Sisay was the best woman in 2:44:31 with national
champion Ya´ara Zanggi fifth (2:51:54).

BALCIUNAITE
CLOSER TO BAN

VILNIUS (LTU): Doping allegations against
Barcelona European Championships marathon winner Zivile Balciunaite are closer
to final confirmation as she was suspended by her national federation. She
cannot run pending the completion of a probe into her positive doping test for
testosterone and epitestosterone. The runner herself denies any wrongdoing and
claims she took a drug prescribed by her gynecologist. If confirmed a two years
ban will follow and the title will go to Nailya Yulamanova of Russia.

NEW
STATEMENTS REQUIRED

MADRID
(ESP): The Madrid
prosecutor asked the judge investigating “Operation Greyhound” to annul the
Dec. 22 testimonials of athletes Marta Dominguez and Alberto Garcia in the
double condition of defendants and witnesses . The sources have told Spanish
news agency EFE that the prosecutor has decided to urge the invalidity of
statements to understand that Spanish law does not allow a person to declare in
the same case as a defendant and as a witness.

LIEVIN
UNDER THREAT

LIEVIN (FRA): The Lievin meet
(IAAF indoor permit), scheduled on February 8th could be cancelled in the next
few days due to financial difficulties, La Voix des Sports informs. The event is currently
short of 80 000 euros out of a 700 000 euros budget. If the money isn’t found
by the end of the week, the meet will have to be cancelled. Few local companies
are willing to sponsor the meet but no TV channel has yet signed to broadcast
the meet. Meet organizer Philippe Lamblin who is head of the regional league:
“We lost money in the past two editions. We cannot affort to do it again. It
was suggested that I do a “cheap” meet, but I said no. Either we have the means
to set up a world class event or will have to renounce.”

LEMAITRE
IN JAPAN

AIX-LES-BAINS (FRA): French
sprinter and European Champion Christophe Lemaitre is in Japan until Sunday to do promotion events for
his sponsor ASICS and benefit from ASICS
R&D Center
in Kobe. The
biomechanical data collected will help to improve his race technique and to
make custom shoes for the sprinter. From January 14, Lemaitre will then fly to Miami for a 2 week
national training camp under Ladji Doucouré’s coach Renaud Longuèvre. Despite 6
training sessions between Christmas and New Year’s day, Lemaitre’s preparation
is behind schedule compared to last year according to coach Pierre Carraz,
because the sprinter was sick part of December. Lemaitre is to make is 2011
debut in Stuttgart on February 5th and will
continue in Karlsruhe
on February 13, informs le Dauphiné Libéré.

MARTINA
NO FOR PARIS

ARNHEM
(NED): Top Caribbean sprinter Churandy Martina
will not take part in the European indoor Championships in March. The sprinter
who until recently competed for The Netherlands Antilles will represent The
Netherlands as from 2011. Martina will focus on the outdoor season and the
World Championships in Daegu later this year writes nu.nl. But Brian Mariano
with 6.60 at 60 m
will be available.

MORE
NAMES FOR MILLROSE GAMES

NEW YORK
(USA): USATF informs that a
new event at the 104th Millrose Games on January 28 will bring three
generations of U.S.
decathletes – all medal threats for the 2012 Olympic Games in London
– to Madison Square Garden
for a unique competition. Reigning Olympic decathlon and World Indoor
heptathlon gold medalist Bryan Clay, 2009 World decathlon champion Trey Hardee
and indoor heptathlon world record holder Ashton Eaton will compete in the 60m
dash, high jump and shot put in a scored competition. One of the top women’s
sprint rivalries of the 2000’s will resume in the USA vs. Jamaica Challenge, in
which three Americans will race against three Jamaicans in both the men’s and
women’s 60-meter sprints. Points will be awarded according to place, and the
scores of the two races combined. 2005 World 100m champion Lauryn Williams
returns to competition in 2011
in the women’s 60, where she will face her rival, the
previously announced Jamaican sprint queen Veronica Campbell-Brown. Also
competing in the women’s USA
vs. Jamaica
race will be 2006 World Indoor 60m champion Lisa Barber and her twin sister,
2007 World Outdoor 4x100m relay gold medalist Miki. In addition to Campbell-Brown, Jamaica will be represented by top
sprint hurdler Vonette Dixon and 21-year-old up-and-comer Trisha-Ann Hawthorne.
The men’s USA vs. Jamaica
Challenge will pit an American line-up led by 2010 U.S. champion and World Indoor 60m
silver medalist Mike Rodgers. 2010 U.S.
indoor 60m and outdoor 100m runner-up Trell Kimmons and 2010 USA outdoor
bronze medalist Ivory Williams complete a dangerous lineup. Jamaica will be
repped by 2010 World Indoor finalist Nesta Carter, who became the talk of the
sprinting world last summer when he lowered his 100m personal best to a blazing
9.78. He is joined by three-time World Indoor 60m man Lerone Clarke and
21-year-old Oshane Bailey.

OTHER NEWS

LONDON (GBR): Respected athletics magazine
Athletics Weekly has got off to a flying start with redesigned pages and a new
website on Thursday.

BERLIN (GER): 400m hurdler Fabienne Kohlmann
has to cancel the indoor season following surgery on her knee. The German
champion underwent surgery just before Christmas in the hopes of getting ready
for the outdoor season. Kohlmann’s main championships will be the European U23
championships and she hopes to qualify for the IAAF World Championships in
Daegu writes leichtathletik.de.

DAEGU (KOR): The staff of the
Daegu Metropolitan city and the LOC for the IAAF World Championships in Daegu
marked the start of the Championships year by hiking up the Cheon-eul Mountain
on January 1st writes iaaf.org. The mountain is located right next to the Daegu
stadium, once the group reached the summit there were cultural performances
including dancing by the official mascots.

MUMBAI (IND): The Standard
Chartered Mumbai Marathon (IAAF Gold Label) on January 16 has announced its
strongest men’s field ever with names such as the Commonwealth Games gold
medalist and two-time winner John Kelai, Evans Rutto and Justus Kipchirchir
from Kenya and Tesfaye Tola from Ethiopia. Also in the field are Mubarak Shami
from Qatar and Oleg Kulkov
from Russia.
Also the women’s race features a strong group with title defender Bizunesh
Urgesa from Ethiopia
and 2009 winner Haile Kebebush. Kenyans in the field are Rose Kosgei and Helen
Kimutai. Organisers aim at sub 2:10 and sub 2:30 times. The Mumbai Marathon is
the richest marathon in Asia with a prize money purse of 325,000 dollar, the
winner in the elite races earn a total of 36,000 dollar confirms The Hindu.

JOHANNESBURG (RSA): Caster Semenya will
compete for her home fans for the first time since winning her world
championships title in 2009. Semenya will take part in the traditional cross country
season opener national trials in Potchefstroom on January 22nd where her
participation is anticipated to attract large groups of fans. Semenya appears
to be in good form after preparing the 2011 season with a large group of fellow
athletes reports Sowetan Live.

NAIROBI (KEN): Tereza Njeri, wife of Olympic
champion Samuel Wanjiru, wants to divorce her husband confirms The Daily
Nation. Wanjiru was arrested last week after allegedly threatening his wife and
the family’s househelp with an illegal fireman as well as injuring their
security guard. Wanjiru denied the charges and was released on a bond, he also
confirmed to media he and his wife had reconciled in the days after the
incident. Njeri now denies the reconciliation and stated she is no longer prepared
to stay in the marriage.

LONDON
(GBR): UK
sports will use new nanotechnology in order to find an advantage over other
athletes in the build up to the London Olympic Games. UK’s top athletes will be using a
new hand-held medical device which measures biomarkers – proteins which reveal
details about the condition of a body – and should improve the athlete’s
training regime.UK Sport is the first organisation to be offered the cutting
edge technology reports Insidethegames.biz.

LOUGHBOROUGH (GBR): The Loughborough University has started a quest to
discover athletes capable of reaching world-class level in the throwing events
in time for the 2016 Olympic Games. The initiative is backed by Olympic
champion Denise Lewis and the first phase is called ‘Talent 2016: Future Throw
Star Initiative’. The two-day programme screens 75 potential athletes with a
series of physical and physiological assessments in a competitive environment
writes Insidethegames.

HOLLISTER (USA): Former Olympic Champion Alvin Harrison has
been hired to coach at the Gilroy
high track and field team. Harrison has been
banned for doping in the past but doesn’t think his past will impact his work
with high school children.

LONDON (GBR): Tottenham Hotspur have
appointed former London 2012 communications director and West Ham United
director Mike Lee to spearhead their campaign to take over the Olympic Stadium.
Lee, the former director of communications at European football governing body
UEFA, has a reputation for being one of the world’s leading spin doctors. After
helping London
successfully bid for the 2012 Olympics and Paralympics he set-up his own
company, Vero Communications.

KINGSTON (JAM): Jamaica’s
400-metre record-holder Jermaine Gonzales has identified winning this summer’s
World Championships title and finish the season as number one as his major
objectives in 2011. “… I’m looking to go one step further… because I want
to finish the season as the number one 400-metres runner and win the World
Championship,” he told the Jamaica Observer. Gonzales, who ended last season as
number two ranked behind American Jeremy Wariner, said his aim is always to do
better. “So I’m looking to run some faster times….” Informs TrackAlerts.

NAIROBI
(KEN): World Cross Country Champion Florence Kiplagat is ready to take her game
a notch higher when she debuts in full marathon in the streets of Boston in April. Informs
The Nation. “I want to see how my body will react to it. I will run in Boston and have started
doing my training with the target of first finishing the race and then, see how
fast I can run,” she said. Kiplagat has since pulled out of the cross country
competitions this year to focus on preparing for the marathon. Kiplagat will
hence run one race in Abu Dhabi
on March 4 at the half-marathon distance to test her preparedness, but remained
optimistic she will be able to get over her injury fears.

KINGSTON
(JAM): It appears that the Gibson Relays, scheduled for February 26, may become
the first casualty of the renovation work being carried out on the track at the
National Stadium, as poor weather in Europe
has resulted in the delay of the material needed to carry out the repairs. As a
result, the mid-February completion deadline for the project has already been
reworked and despite an expected increase in working hours, the track will
certainly not be ready before the middle of March. Informs Jamaican media.

RESULTS

SAN
SEBASTIAN (ESP, Jan 6): Silver winner from Barcelona 5000 m Jesus Espana won the
Carrera de la Gimnastica
de Ulia in 26:12 at 8 km.
Kenyan Evans Mayoyo was second (26:18). Moroccan Malika Assahsah was the best
woman in 29:33.

ST. PETERBURG (RUS, Jan 4-6):
At St. Peterburg Indoor Cup Anastasiya Shvedova of Belarus cleared 442 in pole vault what is
new national indoor record. Aleksandra Kiryashova was second (420). Tatyana
Voykina got 651 in
long jump. Aleksandr Hutte posted new stadium record at 200 m (21.50). Irina Gumenyuk
achieved 14.07 in
triple jump, her overall personal best. Reigning European indoor champion Anna
Bogdanova scored 4446 points in pentathlon (8.39-178-12.71-622-2:20.11).

BANSKA BYSTRICA (SVK, Jan 6):
Best Slovak walker and last year 50
km World Cup winner Matej Toth won the 5000 m indoor walking in
19:38.0. Poland´s Grzegorz Sudol was second (19:50.2) ahead of Anton Kucmin
(20:01.9). Hungarian Viktoria Madarasz was the best in women 3000 m race (13:00.5).

ESSING (GER, Jan 6): Slovak
Lukas Beer won the traditional indoor high jump meeting in Germany with life-time best
clearance 218 cm.