by Larry EderTyson Gay is happy with his 2010 season. The guy has had his best season since 2007, and this year he defeated Asafa Powell and Usain Bolt! His 9.78 in the cold, wet weather of London on the AVIVA GP night may was the icing on the cake of his defeat of Usain Bolt. 2011 will be another year, but Tyson should savor 2010, for he has now made the sprints real races once again!
HAPPY GAY
MONTE CARLO (USA): Tyson Gay is
happy with the season 2010. For IAAF he said: „Looking back, I am happy.
Real happy. I am thankful I am healthy and that I enjoyed the
successful season. I don’t want to sound greedy, but I am still
looking and hoping for more in the future. 2011 and 2012 are going to be big
years and everyone knows why. I am glad that the Diamond League launched
in 2010. While all of the match-ups between Asafa, Usain and others didn’t
happen as planned due to injuries, the fact that we did race each other at
least once was good for all of us.” He also praised the renewal of his
cooperation with adidas: „A big thank you to adidas for their continued
support. They have stood by me through the good and bad times of my career and
I am happy and thankful that they recently renewed their commitment to me
in a way that guarantees that we’ll be together right up until my
retirement.”
RIVALS FOR MOCKI
BERLIN (GER): German runner
Sabrina Mockenhaupt is hoping to end up on the podium at the 37th edition of
the real,- Berlin Marathon. Aiming for a personal best she is facing stiff
competition tough by three Ethiopian women and one runner from Japan.
Mockenhaupt ran her PR 2008 by winning the Frankfurt Marathon in 2:26:22 hrs
making her the number two female German marathon runner behind Irina Mikitenko
(who is running Chicago two weeks later). Main contenders on the flat and fast
Berlin course are Bezunesh Bekele (27) who placed 4th at the Virgin London
Marathon in April and owns a PR of 2:23:09 hrs. Aberu Kebede came in 2nd
at the Dubai Marathon in January clocking a PR of 2:24:26 hrs and Genet
Getaneh’s PB is at 2:26:27 hrs. Japanese Tomo Morimoto won the Vienna City
Marathon in 2006 clocking a PR of 2:24:33. Organizers are informing in
a release.
OTHER NEWS
BEIJING (CHN): China Daily
informs that Liu Xiang apologized for his recent criticism of teachers. The
110-meter hurdles star made headlines for a blog he posted during
Teachers’ Day on Sept 10. Liu replied on his micro-blog at sina.com on Monday
that: „Public figures should be more careful with their words and deeds. It’s
better to say something nice.” Liu initially wished all teachers a happy
festival on his blog on Sept 10. However, after joining a discussion with
fans, he wrote: „It’s disgusting for some teachers to ask students to pay for
after-school classes. The content has no major difference to regular school.”
After struggling with a foot injury since the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games,
Liu is now preparing for the Guangzhou Asian Games.
TALENCE (FRA): This weekend’s
Décastar in Talence is the last stop of the IAAF World combined events
challenge special meetings (still to count also Commonwealth Games and Asian
Games) and promises to be a rematch of the stars of the European
Championships in Barcelona. In the decathlon French Romain Barras is looking to
be the star of the weekend as the reigning European champion takes on silver
and bronze medalists Eelco Sintnicolaas and Andrey Kravchenko. Also number four
and five from Barcelona Mikk Pahapill and Hans Van Alphen will be present and
ready to take on Cuban stars Leonel Suarez, who is the world silver medalist
from Berlin, and Yordani Garcia. In addition, another seven athletes have
conquered the 8000points barrier this year: Oleksey Kasyanov, Aleksey Drozdov,
Maurice Smith, Brent Newdick, Pascal Behrenbruch, Roland Schwarzl and Andres
Raja. In the overall IAAF World combined events challenge Barras is currently
leading with 25,063 points followed by Suarez with 24,641 points. The
heptathlon shows off Olympic Champion and double Talence winner Nataliya
Dobrinska who managed a personal best of 6778 points in Barcelona and
could be the first ever 3-time winner in Talence. She will be heavily
challenged though by former world junior champion Tatyana Chernova and
compatriots Hanna Melnychenko and Lyudmila Yosypenko. On top, the field holds
another seven athletes who broke 6000 points this year: Eliska Klucinova,
Karolina Tyminska, Marina Goncharova, Jessica Samuelsson, Sara Aerts, Marisa de
Aniceto and Bettie Wade. In the overall standings of the IAAF challenge
Gerrmany’s Jennifer Oeser leads with 19,303 points, followed by Lyudmyla
Yosypenko with 18.608 points. Main rivals for the overall title are Chernova
and Dobrynska, who have thus far only competed twice this season.
BEIJING (CHN): The 2010 IAAF
Race Walking Challenge Final will be staged this year in Beijing in familiar
surroundings from the 2008 Olympics. Writes IAAF. In the men’s race Chinese
walkers are the favourites too, both for winning the final competition and in
the total points of the 2010 Challenge as well. Twenty two-year-old Chu Yafei
leads the standings with 40 points and has a good chance to clinch his win
in Beijing. Chu has raced three times over the 20km distance this season
winning the La Coruńa meeting with a 1:21:11
season’s best and also placed second at the World Cup in Chihuahua completing
a Chinese 1-2 behind winner Wang Hao. Matej Toth of Slovak Republic is the
next best in total points with 30 followed closely behind Wang Hao and Colombian
Luis López, who both have 28 points. Toth said for Slovak media he feels good
shape and wants to attack the podium. Another big name looking for a win
in this competition is Australian double olympic medalist Jared Tallent. In the
women race Portuguese Vera Santos almost has the total IAAF Race Walking
Challenge win in her bag already. With the Russian walking stars absent from
this competition, the seasoned 28-year-old Santos will be looking to score the
biggest win of her career. German Melanie Seeger is lurking 10 points behind
leading Santos (40p) and still has a chance to challenge for the total
points win. Another Portuguese Inęs Henriques and Chinese Li Yanfei are
probably too far away in points having scored 25 and 23 points respectively,
but of course could take the win in the 20km race here. Winners will get 30 000
USD each.
BERLIN (GER): European 100 m hurdles bronze medalist
Carolin Nytra has launched a new website www.carolin-nytra.de.
She will give regular updates on her website about her training, competitions
and results.
DULUTH (USA): Garret Heath and Will Leer are the American
favorites announced for the Grandma’s Minnesota Mile on September 19th. They
will be joined by Kenyans Philip Lagat, Richard Kandie and Moses Waweru. On the
women’s side Amy Mortimer headlines the group. 2000$ will be rewarded to the
winners of the race.
LONDON (GBR): The London Assembly published a damming
cross-party report stating that the plans to transform the London 2012 Olympic
Stadium into a 25,000 seat athletics arena were not only „flawed” but also
contributed to delays in securing a lasting legacy for the area. Writes
insidethegames.biz. The report, from the Assembly’s Economic Development,
Culture, Sport and Tourism (EDCST) Committee, also gave a huge boost to
West Ham United’s hopes of taking over the Olympic Stadium by concluding it is
likely that only a major football or rugby club could provide the huge
crowds and regular use that would allow the venue to pay for itself and provide
significant local employment. While the Committee acknowledged that Baroness
Margret Ford’s Olympic Park Legacy Company (OPLC) was now actively looking at
a wider range of tenants, they slammed the Olympic Board’s original insistence
on a solely athletics-led future for the stadium saying it was a „missed
opportunity” to deliver the most sustainable and beneficial legacy for the
local community. The report also looked at the future of the 90,000 square metre
media centre for 2012 which will be home to the world’s press during the Games
as both the International Broadcast Centre (IBC) and Main Press Centre (MBC).
The media centre is planned to house a „creative industry hub” after the Games
but the report concluded that extra funding is needed to convert the buildings
and upgrade transport links to attract would be tenants after London 2012. The
OPLC is currently in negotiation with a number of potential tenants for
the stadium, including favourites West Ham and entertainment giant AEG, with an
announcement expected early next year.
LONDON (GBR): Latest Pat Butcher´s blog at www.globerunner.org
is called Toby Tanser’s charities.
MOSCOW (RUS): Women 800 m European Champion Mariya Savinova informed
she plans to pass the coming indoor season. „I never did that, I always
competed indoors and outdoors even when I was a junior,” she said.
But also admitted that the coach could allow her for some indoor races, mainly
Russian Winter meet. Savinova also added that the world indoor record 1:55.82
of Jolanda Ceplak might not be out of her reach. She also commented on oldest
women world record the 1:53.28 of Czech Jarmila Kratochvilova since 1983. „I
think it is possible to beat. You need hard work for that.”
ZHUKOVSKIY (RUS): Olympic 800 m winner from 2004 Yuriy
Borzakovskiy said for Russian media that his heel injury is getting better and
plans to start with training in October. He did not decided yet about the
indoor season at European Championships in Paris. „We will see with my coach
Vyacheslav Yevstratov after I start with the training,” he said.
FRANKURT (GER): German Athletics Federation DLV changed the
date for the next years national outdoor championships from early July to July
23-24. The event will be staged in Kassel and the change was done because of
dates collision (and subsequent TV times) with FIFA Women World Cup which will
be held in Germany from June 26 until July 17.
NEWCASTLE (GBR): By running Sunday’s 30th BUPA Great North
Run here, Haile Gebrselassie will be fulfilling a promise he made ten
years ago in Sydney, Australia. Writes Race Results Weekly. After winning the
Olympic 10 000 m
title for the second time, Gebrselassie went to a press conference held by
the Great North Run organizers, Nova International, announcing that he would
run his first-ever half-marathon at their event. He was joined by Britain’s
Paula Radcliffe, and Nova International chief executive officer Brendan Foster.
„In Sydney we had already done a deal with Haile to run his first big road
race,” Foster explained here today. „The deal was done and we had a press
conference in Sydney at Circular Quays. We had Haile there, we had Paula
Radcliffe there.” But Gebrselassie suffered an injury during the Olympic final,
and didn’t make it to Newcastle. A year later, Gebrselassie did make his
half-marathon debut in Britain, but it was in Bristol at the IAAF World
Half-Marathon Championships. He won in 60:03, setting the stage for
a brilliant road running career which had the real,-Berlin Marathon as its
centerpiece. That event usually takes place in the same September timeframe as
the Great North Run.
