by Larry Eder
Tirunesh Dibaba embraced by Meseret Defar, Greece, September 2009, photo by PhotoRun.net.
Well, Meseret Defar and Tirunesh Dibaba were worthy adversaries, and now, they will be running for different footwear & apparel brands. Defar stays with Mizuno, and Dibaba will be with Nike…..
EME NEWS (JAN 27, 2010)
DEFAR FOR 5K RECORD
STOCKHOLM (SWE): Ethiopian female running star Meseret Defar returns to the place where she set her world indoor 5000 m record. The 2007 World Champion will return to Globen Hall in Stockholm on February 10 and try to improve last years 14:24.37. It is also important to note that her main Ethiopian rival Tirunesh Dibaba runs the 5000 m four days before in Boston and also wants to attack the global mark.
ASAFA OPENS WITH 400 M
KINGSTON (JAM): Jamaican sprint start Asafa Powell will start his 2010 campaign this weekend at the Queens/Grace’s Jackson invitational writes the Jamaican Gleaner. As in other years, Asafa will open the season running a 400m. Last year he clocked at the same meet 47.75. Powell signed for all 100 m races in the IAAF Diamond League and will start in Doha early May. In other events World and Olympic champion Melaine Walker will race her first 400m hurdles and sprinter Nesta Carter is announced to run his first 100m of the season in preparation for his indoor campaign. World champion Brigitte Foster-Hylton will compete in the 100H and Shericka Williams in the 400m.
AITOVA 194, GRIPICH 570
COTTBUS (GER, Jan 27): The 8th indoor jumping meet in Cottbus registered foreign winners. Russian fifth from Berlin World Championships Aleksandr Gripich as only one went over 570 in second attempt and tried at new meet record height 583. Italian former world champion Giuseppe Gibilisco who now trains in Germany was second with first attempt clearance at 560. Best German Bjorn Otto had also 560 as third and the same mark for fourth Alexander Straub. It should be also noted that the run-up was little bit short for most of the jumpers. Last year winner in women high jump Russian Irina Gordeyeva (meet record 201 in 2009) cleared 194 in first attempt but that was not enough for the win. Asian Games winner Marina Aitova from Kazakhstan did not had any miss including 194 and won. Gordeyeva needed two attempts at 192 and that decided. Third German Meike Kroger achieved Doha standard 192 and fourth Canadian Nicole Forrester got 188.
OTHER NEWS
BARCELONA (ESP): European Athletics is very satisfied with the Barcelona 2010 project presented by the directors of the different areas during the Event Coordination Meeting, which was held today and yesterday in the Catalonian capital. Christian Milz, European Athletics general director was very excited about the progress of the Organizing Committee, describing the work as “effective and efficientâ€. Organizers are writing in a release. It was agreed that the closing ceremony of 20th European Athletics Championships Barcelona 2010 will start on 1 August at 10.30pm, immediately after the medal ceremonies of both 4x400m relays.
BUDAPEST (HUN): All-Athletics.com website is analyzing the multi-day competitions in 2009. Top three were World Championships in Berlin ahead of IAAF World Athletics Final in Thessaloniki and US Championships in Eugene. In other continents South African Championships (Africa), Australian Championships (Oceania), Chinese National Games in Asia and Brazilian Championships in South America. Top five national championships are USA, Russia, Germany, Great Britain and Japan.
STOCKHOLM (SWE): IEC in Sports, the Stockholm-based International Sports Rights Agency, is delighted to announce the conclusion of its first agreement for major athletics package. Under the terms of the agreement, SVT and TV4 will jointly broadcast the rights to the series of events, with the exact sharing and broadcast arrangement between the two major broadcasters to be decided in due course. The Swedish broadcasters will be amongst the first new partners on board for the World Indoor Championships in Doha in a few weeks’ time. IEC writes in a release.
BIRMINGHAM (GBR): In addition to a full schedule of world class athletics, the Aviva Grand Prix will host on February 20 in Birmingham a new competition: ‘Extreme High Jump’. Introducing extreme youth sports to the world of athletics, this exciting, unique event will see British high jumpers compete against the UK’s top BMX-riders and inline skaters. The competition will be judged by the audience and will take in to account skills such as style, flips and technical difficulty as the athletes fling themselves over a ‘laser’ bar – all to entertain the crowd. Writes UK Athletics website.
LONDON (GBR): Samsung has agreed to provide more than 5000 smartphones for athletes and staff at the inaugural Youth Olympic Games, to be held in Singapore later this year. The company will give each athlete and every member of the staff a Samsung Omnia Lite smartphone, and allows everybody to keep the phone after the tournament. The phones will be preloaded with the ‘Digital concierge for Singapore 2010’ application so that all the athletes and officials can keep in touch with the latest news at the Youth Olympics writes sportspromedia.com.
NEW YORK (USA): At the 103rd Millrose Games Bernard Lagat will face Kenyan Asbel Kiprop in the annual Wannamaker Mile. The two time Olympic medalist is looking to win a record breaking eight Wannamaker Mile title. However he will be challenged by Kiprop, who ended 2009 ranked nr one in the world. Ethiopian Deresse Mekonnen, who was stated to compete against Lagat, has withdrawn from the meeting due to problems with his visa. In the women’s mile Sally Kipyego headlines the startlist. The Kenyan, who won NCAA titles for Texas Tech will be rivaled by Americans Sara Hall and Sarah Bowman.
MELBOURNE (AUS): Double Olympic medalist David Neville will take on Australia’s best athletes in the 400m writes athletics.com.au. Neville, who is the first international athlete announced to compete at the Athletics Australia tour, will take on the 4x400m world championships bronze medalist Australian team that stars Joel Millburn, John Steffensen, Tristan Thomas, Ben offereins and Sean Wroe. With a PB of 44.61 Neville promises to be great competition in preparation of the teams participation at the Commonwealth Games later this year in Delhi. “I have always seen great results from these meets so I figured why not start my season in Australia. With the 4x400m world championships bronze medallists in the race I know that I will have great competition,†Neville said. “My goal is to run fast. I feel great and I’m looking forward to starting off the 2010 season in the land down under and showing everyone what I can do.“
TAMPA (USA): Four time NCAA winner Xavier Carter was again arrested, this time in Tampa, Florida. The track star, who failed to perform on the highest level due to a knee injury, was arrested on charges of carrying a concealed weapon, possession of Marijuana, the drug Paraphernalia and failing to accept a traffic citation writes Tampa Bay online. Carter was released on a bond.
GLASGOW (GBR): Carmelita Jeter the world‘s fastest 100 meters runner for 21 years will compete at the Aviva International match in Glasgow on Saturday. She set her personal best of 7.11 seconds‘s, at the Aviva Grand Prix in Birmingham last February and now the Los Angeles-based athlete can’t wait to make her mark in front of a Scottish crowd. Jeter said: „Last year I posted some really fast times and my indoor season went really well, so hopefully I can impress the Glasgow crowd and post another fast time as I gear up for the World Indoor Championships.†The US sprinter will line up against another Berlin World Championship finalist Chandra Sturrup who will represent the Commonwealth select. Writes David Martin.
COLORADO SPRINGS (USA): US sprinter Phil DeRosier (10.20 and 20.53 bests) has been suspended for six months after failing a drug test at Cezmi Or Memorial in Istanbul on June 13 last year. He had tested positive for the banned stimulant methylhexanamine. The ban ends on February 13 this year.
NAIROBI (KENA): The Nation writes, that Kenya must implement proposed changes in venues, transport and accommodation and secure equipment for the Senior Africa Athletics Championship in exactly 86 days. That is Olympic silver medallist Frankie Fredricks’ verdict after making a three-day inspection tour of Nyayo National Stadium, local hotels and the transport system.
RESULTS
PRAHA (CZE, Jan 26): European indoor silver medalist Lucie Skrobakova clocked 8.18 at 60 m Hurdles during a local meet in Stromovka Hall.
ST. PETERBURG (RUS, Jan 24): At City Championships Anna Kuropatkina achieved 14.02 in triple jump and Aleksandra Kiryashova cleared 440 in pole vault.
SAD NEWS
STUTTGART (GER): Sudden death of Renate Boschert at age of 57. She was ninth at European Indoor Championships in 1975 in high jump. She had 186 personal best.
