David Greene had something to celebrate, an upset of Bershawn Jackson and a 47.88!
photo by PhotoRun.net.

David Greene became the first Brit in fourteen years to duck under 48 seconds, and first European in four, when he duked it out on Saturday with Bershawn Jackson at the IAAF/VTB
Continetal Cup. Over the last barrier, Bershawn had to do a quick save, and David Greene
got the advantage, blazing a fine 47.88 for the win.

                    Lagat winning the IAAF VTB Continental Cup, 5,000m, photorun.net.

Running a brilliant last lap in 51 seconds in a pedestrian, but oh so familiar 5,000 meter championship race, Bernard Lagat won the 5,000 meters at the IAAF/VTB Continental
Cup. He will be running the 3,000 meters on Sunday evening! (Last 1,000 meters in
just over 2:24)!

AMERICAS IS LEADING, EXCELLENT MARKS OF RYPAKOVA AND GREENE

SPLIT (CRO, Sep 4): Excellent
world leading Asian record 15.25 by Olga Rypakova was the results highlight of
first IAAF/VTB Continental Cup. But the main theme was the duel Americas vs.
Europe for the overall win. After first day Americas is leading with 219 over
Europe 210 (zero points from men´s relay), Africa is third 148 ahead of
Asia-Pacific 134.

EVENT BY EVENT REVIEW

men

100 m: Lemaitre wins with
strong finish with 10.06 (+0.7) over Daniel Bailey (10.10). MLF clocks season
best 10.16 as third.

400 m: Meet record of Wariner
44.22 when all clocked under 46 seconds. Chambers achieved his second fastest
of  career and Bingham fastest of the
year. And also Euro champ Kevin Borlee achieved his top time of 2010.

1500 m: Laalou got it in
3:35.49, Kiprop only 6th.

5000 m: Bernard Lagat is great
tactician with excellent finish and beat a strong field (Kipsiro, Tahri,
Soi, Merga). He had both children and wife in the stands.

400mH: After four years David
Greene is first European with sub 48 (47.88 PB). He is now number 6 in European All-time list.
Jackson stumbled at last hurdle and was only third.

HJ: Surprise of the day. Qatari
Al-Mannai jumped in first attempt personal best 228 (by 1 cm) and that was enough to
win. See in Other News section why Shustov was not jumping.

LJ: Phillips first attempt
(834) shocked the rest and was enough to win. Gomis beats Reif for second and
Lapierre was struggling as 7th.

SP: Cantwell really likes
Croatia and confirms his number one position with 21.87 and also all other
throws enough to win.

HT: Barcelona gold medalist
Libor Charfreitag dominated with third round throw 79.69 and had even 80+ foul
in last. First ever win for Slovakia at World/Continental Cup.

4×100 m: French crashed in last
exchange and the way was clear for Americas (Bailey-Spearmon-Gay-Martina)
38.25.

women

100 m: Both from fast race in
June in Clermont, Florida dominated this race. Baptiste 11.05 and Solomon 11.09
(+1.4).

400 m: Montsho great win for
Africa after 49.89, her second fastest of the career. World leader Dunn second
50.21 and Euro champ Firova third 50.45.

800 m: Seven runners under 2
minutes was great depth (Indian record, Hamblin PB). Diamond holder Jepkosgei won
in excellent 1:57.88 over in-shape Sinclair 1:58.16. Barcelona winner Savinova
third.

3000 m: Defar with her fast
finish was clearly winning a tactical race in 9:03.33

400mH: Jamaican Wilson gets
season best 54.52 (coached by agent Paul Doyle) 
over Odumosu who clocked Nigerian record 54.59. Eurochamp Antyukh only
fourth.

PV: Last event with only some
hundreds of spectators when Svetlana Feofanova cleared event best 470 and
Diamond Race winner Fabiana Murer only third 450. Problems with stands caused
time delay. The vaulters spent five hours in the stadium.

TJ: Rypakova coming from
athletics family and being heptathlete achieved in first attempt huge world
lead 15.25 (+1.7). It is also Asian record and 7th best performer ever. World
champ Savigne beaten also by European champ Saladukha.

DT: Home party was spoiled in
third round by Chinese Li Yanfeng and her 63.79. European champion Perkovic
tried hard in last attempt with great support of the public, but could not
manage more than 63.29 for second.

JT: Mariya Abakumova was good
at the beginning of the season (world lead in Doha on May) and is also good at
the end with 68.14 event best. European champion Stahl only fourth (60.37).

4×100 m: Americas (including
female captain Debbie Ferguson-McKenzie) clearly  in 43.07 over Europe (represented by Ukraine)
43.77 and close Africa 43.88.

STATS (by
Ken Nakamura)

MHT: With 74.87m Robert Janet
recorded the best mark for the fifth place at the men’s HT in the Contiental
Cup.

WTJ: Not only Olga Rypakova’s
winning jump, 15.25m, is the Continental (previously World) Cup record,
replacing 15.13m  by Tatyana Lebedeva’s
mark four years ago, her winning margin of 55cm is the largest ever in the
Continental Cup replacing 46cm by Anna Birykova from 1994.

M400mH:  The winning time of 47.88 by David Green is
the fastest non-Ed Moses time at the Continental Cup.  (Moses has 47.37, 47.53 and 47.58.  The previous fastest non Moses time was 48.08
by Matete in 1998). 47.88 is the fastest time in Split for 400mH, replacing
Akabusi’s time of 47.92 at 1990 Euro Champ. The second place time of 48.08 by
Javier Culson is the fastest second place time at Continental Cup. The previous
fastest second place time was 48.17 by Mubarak Al-Nubi in 1998.

W400mH: The winning margin of
0.07 (=54.59-54.52) equaled the previous smallest winning margin by Nezha
Bidouane from 1998.

WPV: Addition to the
Continental Cup record of 4.70 by Feofanova (previous record was 4.60 by
Isinbayeva in 2006),  the best marks for
place for 2nd (4.60m replacing 4.55 by Murer from 2006), 4th (4.50m replacing
4.40m by  Martina Strutz from 2006), 5th
(4.35m replacing 4.30m by Monika Pyrek from 2006) and 6th (4.35 replacing  4.15m by Afroditi Skafida in 2006) were
set.  The best 3rd place height (4.50m by
Gao Shuying in 2006) was tied.

M5000m: The winning margin of
0.12 second by Bernard Lagat is the smallest winning margin ever in the
Continental Cup replacing 0.15 by Coghlan from 1981 edition in Roma.

W800m : Jepkosgei is the first
Kenyan to win this event at Continental Cup.

MHJ: For the second time (first
time was in 1979 when F Jacobs won over J Wszola) the MHJ was won by count back
in  the Continental Cup.  Also Rashid Ahmed Al-Mannai is the first
Asian to win this event at the Continental Cup.

M400m : Behind Wariner who set
a Continental Cup record of 44.22 (replacing 44.47 by Michael Franks from
1985), Ricardo Chambers (44.59), Michael Bingham (44.84) and Kevin Borlee
(45.01) recorded the fastest time for place 2, 3 and 4 at the Continental Cup,
replacing 44.66 by Gary Kikaya (2006), 44.97 by Gabriel Tiacoh (1989), and
45.12 by Darren Clak (1985), respectively. 
Wariner ran the fastest time in Split replacing 45.00 by Cayetano Cornet
in 1990 European Champ. 

MLJ: With 8.34, D Phillips
recorded the longest jump in Split replacing 8.25m by D Haaf from 1990 Euro
Champ.

M100m: Christophe Lemaitre’s
winning time of 10.06 is the fastest time in Split (stadium record), replacing
10.09 by Linford Christie at the European Championships twenty years ago.

M4x100mR: The winning margin of
1.03 seconds is the largest winning margin ever at this event in the
Continental Cup,  replacing the previous
record of 0.86 seconds by US team in 2006. 

OTHER NEWS

SPLIT (CRO): European high jump
champion Aleksandr Shustov injured (foot injury) himself in Split in warm-up on
Friday and was not able to jump on Saturday. He was replaced by Serbian
decathlete Mihail Dudas who cleared 198 cm.

LONDON (GBR): It has been
confirmed that from 2018 the Commonwealth Games and the Asian Games will no
longer be held in the same year writes insidethegames. Instead the Asian Games
will be held in 2019 in
a four-year cycle decided the Olympic Council of Asia (OCA). The decision
was made for the athletes as it is hard to peak twice in a short period of
time in two multi-sports Games the OCA was stated.

JOHANNESBURG (RSA): The South
African Sports Confederation and Olympic Committee will hand back control over
the sport to Athletics South Africa on September 18. Elections will be held to
replace the seven suspended executives who now have resigned. The seats of the
suspended board members who have not resigned, including president Leonard
Chuene, will remain vacant and will be “dealt with by the new ASA board,”
according to Sascoc who has been in control of the federation since November
last year when Chuene and his entire executive board were suspended  for various reasons including financial
mismanagement. The board members elected on September 18th  will stand until 2012, and will also decide
the fate of the suspended figures who have not resigned writes insidethegames.

LONDON (GBR): In an interview
with Sportsmail, Usain Bolt talks about his ambitions and his future. Before
retiring Bolt wants to run 9.4 and believes this is the fastest a human
being will be able to run. Bolt also talked about his ambitions to become
a legend such as Michael Jordan and hopes his clothing line with his
sponsor Puma will make himself and the brand legendary. Bolt also just recently
started a chain of restaurants in Jamaica and hopes to venture out to the
rest of the world. The world’s fastest sprinter was in London to promote his
book ‘Usain Bolt: 9.58’. He left UK on Friday.

NEW DELHI (IND): Four Indian
wrestlers and a shot putter were suspended from next month’s Commonwealth
Games on home soil after failing drug tests, officials said on Friday. All five
tested positive for methylhexaneamine, a banned stimulant. The male
shot-putter Saurav Vij was suspended pending the result of analysis of the B
sample.

CHRISTCHURCH (NZL): An
earthquake measured at 7.1  on the
richter scale hit Christchurch early on Saturday morning causing widespread
damage. Power, water and other infrastructure badly affected as well as airport
closure and imminent closure of CBD due to damage and safety risks. No reports
of fatalities at this time although athletes in Christchurch are still
reporting frequent aftershocks and mild damage to homes and motels. The New
Zealand Road Championships due to be held on Saturday in Christchurch have been
cancelled following the earthquake in the city. Athletics New Zealand
Competitions and Events Manager Leanne Asher said the decision was not taken
lightly, but safety issues for competitors, transport difficulties to and
within the city and damage to the course meant that it would be very unwise to
proceed. New Zealand media are reporting.

OPOLE (POL): Russian world
indoor champion Ivan Ukhov will be the star of special high jump meeting in
Opole on September 11.

MONTREAL (CAN): The Bruny Surin
Foundation is organizing a conference in Montreal Sept 25th with Hicham El
Guerrouj, the legendary world record holder at 1500 m and the mile.

RESULTS

LILLE (FRA, Sep 4): Fast times
at Lille Half-Marathon and 10
km (the event started in 1980). Kenyan Ezekiel Chebii
clocked course record 28:34 over Henry Sang 28:53 and John Mutai 28:56. Myriam
Wangari of Kenya was the best woman (33:09). Impressive top three with under
one hour times in the half-marathon. Wilson Kiprop 59:39 beating Bernard
Kipyego 59:40 and Silas Kipruto 59:52. Best French James Theuri as 11th in
1:02:45. Florence Kiplagat the 2009 world CC champion debuted in half-marathon
with excellent 1:07:40 what is fifth fastest of the year. Second Peninah Arusei
achieved also lifetime best 1:07:48.

VYSKOV (CZE, Sep 4): Men of AK
Kromeriz and women of USK Praha defended the Czech club titles. At the final
meet Petr Svoboda still clocked solid 13.57 (0.0) at 110 m hurdles. Jirina
Ptacnikova cleared 435 in
pole vault. Vitezslav Vesely and Jakub Vadlejch fighted in javelin and got good
79.81 and 79.19. Three good marks by foreign guests. Slovak Matej Toth walked
the 5000 m
on the track in 19:09.49, Marina Marghieva of Moldova achieved 67.14 in hammer and Jimmy
Adar of Uganda won the 800 m
in 1:46.88.

KRAKOW (POL, Sep 4): In the
Polish National League meet world record holder Anita Wlodarczyk won with 72.66 in hammer. In men´s
competition Pawel Fajdek improved to 76.07. Solid the 80.83 of javelin thrower
Igor Janik. Grzegorz Sudol got 19:28.65 in the 5000 m walk and new best for
Radoslaw Kleczek who achieved 7:55.14 in the 3000 m. Also to note 23.28
of Weronika Wedler in the 200
m (+1.4) and good 800 m duel won by Angelika Cichocka (2:03.40)
over Ewelina Setowska-Dryk (2:03.92).

TALLINN (EST, Sep 1): Olympic
gold medalist Gerd Kanter is still in the shape with 68.14 win at local
throwing series.