by Larry EderJenn Stuczynski, American record holder indoors and outdoors, plus first U.S. women to clear sixteen feet, will be competing in Carson, at the Home Depot center, on Saturday, May 16. She has broken American records at past two adidas Track Classics. An all around athlete, Jenn loves her training site in upstate New York, in an old quonset hut!
But, the tough training conditions give Jenn confidence-watch for some great jumps this Saturday!
SEASON OPENER FOR STUCZYNSKI, FIRST 200 m FOR FELIX
CARSON (USA): More highlights at the adidas Track Classic meet on May 16 include first this years 200 m by world champion Allyson Felix, 110 m Hurdles by former olympic medalist Terrence Trammell, season opener for US record holder Jennifer Stuczynski in Pole Vault. Also great 100 m Hurdles clash with world leader Priscilla Lopes-Schliep, world champion Michelle Perry and olympic winner Dawn Harper. In the men´s 200 m Xavier Carter runs against LaShawn Merritt and Wallace Spearmon. In the 400 m Jeremy Wariner is the top name.
VCB NOT THERE
KINGSTON (JAM): According to Claude Bryan, agent of the two-time Olympic 200m gold medallist, the Jamaican star athlete Veronica Campbell-Brown who resumed training on April 30 after a four-week layoff will not be in competition shape for Saturday‘s Adidas Track Classic in Carson, California. Informs Jamaica Observer. „The reason is primarily a precautionary one. In consultation with coach Lance Brauman and Veronica Campbell-Brown, we decided that an extra week would be just what the doctor ordered… so she‘ll… not be in Carson, California this weekend,“ Bryan told the Observer. „We think if we were to ascribe one more week (of training), then that would be perfect,“ he added. Campbell-Brown, the only athlete of either gender to win 100m titles at the World Youth, Junior and Senior levels, was sidelined for just over a month with severe inflammation to a toe on her left foot. In the meantime, Bryan disclosed that Campbell-Brown, who also missed the Jamaica International Invitational Meet on May 2 in Kingston, is next scheduled to compete at the Reebok Classic on May 30 in New York.
DIRE TUNE RETURNS, ISMAIL HOPES FOR PB
OSTRAVA (CZE): For third time in row (2007-Gebrselassie two world records, 2008-Tune world record) the organisers of 48th Ostrava Golden Spike in Czech Republic will stage in the pre-programme a long distance world record attack. Ethiopian half-marathon world leader and close second from Boston this year Dire Tune will return to Czech city but this year will try for two world records. First to improve her own one hour mark from last year (18 517 metres) and then to continue until 20 000 m to try to better the 1:05:26.6 by Tegla Loroupe of Kenya in 2000. „I am very excited to return to Ostrava and attempt another world record for 20k this year. After my experience and results I achieved in Ostrava last year in addition to the way the organizers and spectators treated me, it left me with a feeling that I will come back again to do something special. I am very proud to come back to Ostrava again and am looking forward to June 17, “ she was quoted. Another top name added into stellar field headed by Usain Bolt is 800 m Olympic silver winner Ahmed Ismail of Sudan. “My big goal this year is to win in Berlin at World Championships. I m looking forward to Ostrava. I have good memories from winter in Praha when I clocked the world leading mark of the season,†said the Sudanese runner. He hopes to attack not only his PB 1:44.34 but also the meet record 1:43.24. Also in the field Kenyan talent David Rudisha and rare appearance at the distance is planned by current 1500 m world leader Augustine Choge of Kenya. Already announced were stars like Dayron Robles, Pamela Jelimo, Barbora Spotakova and Blanka Vlasic.
GATLIN STORY
NEW YORK (USA): Universal sports posted a series of interesting articles related to sprinter Justin Gatlin who was once the top sprinter in the world. He was the 2004 Olympic 100m gold medalist and the 2005 world champion in the 100m and 200m. He also tied Asafa Powell’s 9.77 100m world record on May 12, 2006. Today, Gatlin is living in the Atlanta, Ga. area and works as a speed training specialist while he serves a four-year suspension from competition after testing positive for a testosterone or its precursors on April 22, 2006. He announced earlier this year that he plans to return to competition when his suspension ends July 25, 2010. Universal Sports Senior Editor Dave Ungrady recently met with Gatlin and his former coach Trevor Graham in exclusive and extended interviews and has compiled a series of stories about the runner’s fall from glory. Ungrady reviewed hundreds of pages of hearings transcripts, court documents and police reports and reviewed hours of secretly recorded phone calls. He also interviewed dozens of coaches, agents, athletes, marketing representatives and attorneys.
“I always wanted to come back,†Gatlin says. “I feel like there’s a beast inside me waiting to come out. I’m ready to run, ready to upset the track world. I want to turn track and field upside down and win races. I’m going to go out there and target every top athlete there is and pick them off one by one. There are a lot of people who don’t want to see me run, don’t want to see me do good.†Many wonder how Gatlin will recover from his forced running retreat. He steadfastly maintains his innocence from the second offense that led to his current four-year suspension, claiming that the banned substance was placed in his body without his knowledge. For now, Gatlin lives simply and patiently awaits a return to competition. He resides in a three-bedroom apartment in Duluth, Ga, a northeast Atlanta suburb. He is a business partner with the company Global Sports Performance, concentrating on speed training young athletes in football, baseball, soccer and track and field, and works out of a small facility not far from his apartment. He hosts a youth track and field meet in Pensacola, Fl., where he grew up. It was at that meet earlier this year when Gatlin announced his intentions to return to competition in 2010. He trains almost daily, including track sessions several times a week.
OTHER NEWS
PLIEZHAUSEN (GER): The international track meeting with the ‚special distances‘ will celebrate its 25th anniversary on May 17th. Since 1985, athletes from all over the world have come to Pliezhausen and liked the idea of running training distances like 150m, 300m, 600m, 1.000m and 3.000m in a competition.
RECKLINGHAUSEN (GER): The pole vault meeting on May 22nd will see last year‘s winner Bjorn Otto compete against Malte Mohr, Lars Boergeling, Florian Suerth and Hendrik Gruber. In the women‘s event Martina Strutz who won in 2008 will face Natasha Benner and Ann-Katrin Schwarz as well as Joanna Piwowarska from Poland.
VALENCIA (ESP): Swiss marathon runner Viktor Roethlin is recovering steadily after his pulmonary embolism. The 34-year-old has started his running training again and is at the moment in Andalusia (Spain).
ROMA (ITA): European indoor champion in the triple jump Fabrizio Donato from Italy, injured his big left pectoral muscle during a training session. Doctors diagnosed a lesion and sad it was rather ‚serious‘.
EUGENE (USA): At 35th Prefontaine Classic on June 7 all three Olympic medalists from Bejing will compete (Majewski, Cantwell, Mikhnevich) along with world champion Reese Hoffa, Adam Nelson and Dan Taylor. American Olympic gold medalist Stephanie Brown Trafton takes center stage in the discus ring, returning to Hayward Field where she narrowly made the Olympic team last summer. Adding to the medal haul is the women‘s hammer throw, which features Olympic gold medalist Oksana Menkova of Belarus, who makes her first visit to Hayward Field, as is Olympic bronze medalist Wenxiu Zhang of China. In addition to these No. 1 and No. 3-ranked throwers, the hammer features the No. 5 Darya Pchelnik of Belarus and reigning world champion Betty Heidler of Germany, last year‘s Prefontaine Classic winner.
LAUSANNE (SUI): European Athletics is pleased to announce that German marathon star Irina Mikitenko and Estonian Olympic Discus champion Gerd Kanter have been selected as the European Athletes of the Month for April. The runners-up in the women‘s poll were Norwegian double Olympic 20km Walk silver medallist Kjersti Tysse Plaetzer and Polish Pole Vaulter Sonia Grabowska, while Britain‘s Andrew Lemoncello and Italian marathon runner Ruggero Pertile were the runners-up in the men‘s poll. The European Athlete of the Month initiative was launched in January 2007 and is designed to recognise outstanding performers at all levels of the sport in Europe. No athlete who has previously served a two-year anti-doping ban can be nominated for or win the European Athlete of the Month.
ATHENS (GRE): AIMS (The Association of International Marathons and Distance Races) is to mark the 2,500th year of the marathon race by staging its 18th Congress in Athens, Greece on 28-30 October 2010. The organizer of the Congress will be the Hellenic Athletics Federation (SEGAS), the organizer of the international Athens Classic Marathon (ACM), held every November at the authentic marathon course, from the town of Marathon to Athens city centre. The right to stage the Congress was won against strong bids from: Prague, Czech Republic; Jungfrau, Switzerland; and Durban, South Africa. The 2010 Congress will be staged along with the 4th edition of the AIMS-IAAF Marathon Symposium, annually staged in the town of Marathon, the day before the Athens Classic Marathon, looking at current and topical issues within the sport of distance running. As a gesture to the Marathon Movement and a way of marking the upcoming 2,500th year anniversary of the Marathon Battle, SEGAS in collaboration with AIMS and the town of Marathon have created, since 2007, the “Marathon Flame†which is lit yearly at the Tomb of Marathon, the day before the Athens Classic Marathon, and is taken to many events around the world symbolizing the sport’s remarkable history.
WIEN (AUT): Two years doping ban for Austrian distance runner Susanne Pumper for EPO was confirmed by independent arbitration commission. The 38 years old athlete will be banned until March 9, 2010.
Special thanks to Alfons Juck, EME News.
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