EME NEWS (JAN 10,
2011)

BOLT
INTO NEXT PHASE

KINGSTON (JAM): Sprint star Usain Bolt said
for Jamaica Gleaner that he has begun serious background training as he seeks
to defend his titles at this year’s World Championships in Daegu. Bolt told The
Gleaner in an interview on Saturday – while on a visit to Chukka Caribbean
Adventures in his hometown of Trelawny – that he has now fully recovered from
the back injury which forced him to call a premature end to his season last
August, and has intensified his work in training. “I haven’t had any problems,”
said Bolt. “The season has been going smoothly and I am working hard,” he said.
“I am looking at stepping up now … we are just getting serious with a little
bit of sprinting and so I am just trying to work hard to keep my back in great
shape,” Bolt said and added: “But for me it is going to be hard in every single
race that I run this season. I am really looking forward to the challenges
because I love challenges,” Bolt pointed out. He plans training competitions at
400 m
and relays at Camperdown Classic or Grace Jackson meet in January-February. His
first real race of the season is provisionally planned for Jamaican
Invitational, IAAF World Challenge meet in Kingston on May 7.

RITZENHEIN
FOR LONDON MARATHON

NEW YORK
(USA):
Track website LetsRun.com has learned that former American 5000 m record holder and
2009 World Half Marathon bronze medallist Dathan Ritzenhein will run the
star-studded 2011 Virgin London Marathon this April. In Edinburgh
at the BUPA Great Edinburgh Cross Country race, Alberto Salazar told
LetsRun.com that his marathon pupil, Dathan Ritzenhein, will run in London. London
likely will be Ritz’s final marathon before the 2012 Olympic Marathon Trials in
Houston, Texas,
which are a year and five days from today. From US runners already announced
for London are
Michael Aish and in debut Mohamed Trafeh.

LIEVIN
SAVED

LIEVIN (FRA): The Lievin IAAF
Indoor meet will finally take place on February 8 after the last minute
addition of new partners and government support. The meet was reported under
threat earlier this week as the event was short of 80 000 euros. Local media
group la Voix du
Nord will ensure TV coverage of the meet through its digital channel Wéo, La Voix des Sports informs.

SAVIGNE
NO FOR INDOORS

HAVANNA (CUB): Triple jump
world champion Yargelis Savigne of Cuba will miss the indoor season as
she needs enough rest after long 2010 season. Her coach Milan Matos said she
wants to target the world record of Inessa Kravets (15.50 in 1995) in summer.
From other jumpers for European indoor season will head male triple jumpers
Yoandri Betanzos, Alexis Copello, David Giralt and returning high jumper Victor
Moya. Also shot putters Carlos Veliz and Misleidys Gonzalez should compete in
winter in Europe. They plan to arrive to her
training base in Spain
on January 26.

SHUSTOV
AGAIN WINNING

CHELYABINSK (RUS, Jan 9): High jump European
champion Aleksandr Shustov continues in winning and cleared 227 to be the best
at Lukashevich Memorial. But he won only on count-back over Sergey Mudrov and
Mikhail Tsvetkov (also 227 for second and third). Fourth Aleksey Dmitrik
achieved 224 cm.
Very solid also the 224 for junior Nikita Anishchenkov (fourth in Moncton in summer) who became so one of the names to
follow for summer European Junior Championships in Tallinn. Ivan Gertleyn won the pole vault
(550) and Anna Shorstova women high jump (188).

OTHER NEWS

AMSTERDAM (NED): Dutch U23 athlete Lars
Timmerman aims at breaking the Dutch javelin record of 80.51 during the outdoor
season. A distance Timmerman hopes could earn him a medal at the European U23
championships in Ostrava
he said for losseveter.nl. List leader for Ostrava U23 is home Jakub Vadlejch
coached by legendary Jan Zelezny.

LONDON (GBR): EDF Energy, a French energy
supplier, will sponsor the London Eye for the next three years. The energy
giant signed the 12 million dollar deal in order to link the London
tourist attraction to its sponsorship of the London Olympic and Paralympic Games. EDF
Energy were the second company to sign up as a Tier One London 2012 sponsor
when they agreed a 78 million dollar deal in July 2007 to become the
sustainability partner reports Insidethegames.

PARIS (FRA): The website of the
French athletics association www.athle.com
has released its figures for 2010. The website generated over 7500 000 visits
and 69 150 000 page views. This means an average of 20 600 visitors and 189 500
page views per day. Compared to 2009 this means an increase of 7,7% for the
number of visits and 15,8% for the number of pages shown.

KINGSTON (JAM) : Jamaican sprinter Sherone
Simpson is eyeing two medals at the IAAF World championships in Daegu. The
Jamaican sprinter is the Olympic silver 100m medalist but missed the last two
editions of the world championships due to injury. Other MVP track club athlete
Shericka Williams confirmed to trackalerts.com that she is aiming for the
Jamaican 400m record. The world and Olympic 400m silver medalist ran 49.32 in 2009 while the
Jamaican record belongs to Lorraine Fenton who ran 49.30 in 2002.

LONDON
(GBR): London 2012 boss Sebastian Coe has defended the ticket prices for the London Olympic and
Paralympic Games claiming the tickets are reasonable priced. He also stressed
that the organizing committee has been very creative in their effort to offer
lower-priced tickets to children under 16 and adults over 60. “I think the
tickets are reasonably priced and I think there are plenty of opportunities
within that pricing structure,” Coe was quoted by the BBC reports
Insidethegames.

ISTANBUL (TUR): Following a
highly successful year for Turkey, with three gold and a bronze medal at the
European Championships in Barcelona, Turkish Athletics Federation President
Mehmet Terzi told Turkish newspaper Sunday’s Zaman he wants to send at least 25
athletes to the 2012 Olympic Games. The federation is currently focusing on 47
athletes who train at special camps. Turkey had send 16 athletes to the
2008 Olympic Games and has won four medals in the history of the Olympic Games.

LONDON
(GBR): Insidethegames reports that Greece
will support Istanbul’s
bid to host the 2020 Olympics and Paralympics. Greece’s
Prime Minister George Papandreou has wished Turkey the best of luck during a
visit to the country and added “We should forget the past’s rivalry and
prejudices”.

LONDON
(GBR): Mo Farah will follow in the footsteps of Paula Radcliffe by joining
Alberto Salazar at a training camp in Albuquerque.
For the last four years Farah has prepared for the outdoor season in Kenya but feels
he is ready for a chance of scenery while preparing for the World Championships
in Daegu. Farah still hasn’t decided whether he will defend his European indoor
3000m title in Paris
writes The Telegraph.

LAUSANNE (SUI): The month of December saw the
European elite descend on Albufeira for the 2010 SPAR European Cross Country
Championships. The 17th edition of the championships on Sunday 12 December was
followed by other cross country races in Europe.
European Athletics is pleased to announce that athletes from 11 countries have
been nominated for the European Athlete of the Month award for December. The
voting will close on Wednesday 19 January at noon CET.

DUBAI (UAE): One of the world leading sports
equipment companies adidas will be providing all participants, marathon
officials and volunteers with commemorative adidas apparel that has been
exclusively designed for the occasion. adidas will partner for Standard
Chartered Dubai Marathon which is planned for January 21.

COTTBUS
(GER): Top star of 9th Cottbus
jumping meeting on January 26
in women high jump will be Spanish record holder Ruth
Beitia. She already competed at the meet in 2007 and was a winner. In the
second event of the evening, men´s pole vault French European champion Renaud
Lavillenie will clash with the home elite Alexander Straub, Raphael Holzdeppe,
Bjorn Otto and Czech Doha finalist Michal Balner.

TAMPERE
(FIN): The traditional Tampere
indoor meeting was also having national match at the programme in recent years.
This year on February 5 for first time Finland
will clash with Sweden and Norway in 13
events and relays.

RESULTS

MOSCOW (RUS, Jan 9): Additional good mark
from Christmas Meet is the 661 by Anna Nazarova in long jump.

KITA-KYUSHU (JPN, Jan 9): In
the 62nd and final edition of the seven-stage, 99.9 km Asahi Ekiden from Fukuoka to Kita-Kyushu,
Team Kyudenko took its third win and first in five years, clocking 4:50:58. New
Year Ekiden 4th placers Team Yasukawa Denki were 2nd, while Team Asahi Kasei
finished 3rd. Defending champion Team Honda was only 4th.

ORLANDO
(USA,
Jan 9): Leah Thorvilson on the day of her 33rd birthday won the 2011 Disney
Marathon in 2:42:10. Per Tilastopaja it is her 6th marathon since March 2010.
More than 17 000 runners started, local media are informing. Brazilian Fredison
Costa was the best male runner in 2:21:14 and continued with Brazilian wins
here after Adriano Bastos was the best in last six editions (on Sunday only
15th in 2:45:09).

SAO PAULO (BRA, Jan 9): Kenyan
Barnabas Kosgei won the 27th Corrida de Reis in Cuiaba after 30:24 at 10 km. Eunice Kirwa scored
women win also for Kenya.

BLOOMINGTON
(USA,
Jan 8): NCAA shot put finalist Faith Sherrill improved to exactly 18.00 m at Indiana Indoor
Opener.

ANCONA
(ITA, Jan 9): New Albanian indoor record for Eusebio Haliti who clocked in Italy 47.73 at 400 m.

DORTMUND (GER, Jan 9): Jamile Samuel (18)
achieved new Dutch indoor junior record at 200 m with 24.11. Patrick van
Luijk was timed with 6.72 at 60
m.

FARO (POR, Jan 8): Russian
Yuriy Abramov won the Faro CC race at 6.5 km in 19:04. Women best was Ana Dias in
21:25 ahead of Finland´s Sandra Eriksson (21:51) and walking specialist Ana
Cabecinha (22:00) with Croatian Lisa Stublic fourth (22:24).