LoLo Jones, AVIVA Gateshead 2010, photo by PhotoRun.net.

Jessica Ennis, AVIVA Gateshead 2010, photo by PhotoRun.net

If the Fates allow, Daegu 2011 and London 2012 could be tremendous opportunities for many of our top athletes. Two of the most promising are Jessica Ennis, the global queen of the heptathlon, who battles Hyleas Fountain in the U.S. Jessica won the World Champs in 2009, and the European Champs in 2010.

LoLo Jones is also one of those promising athletes. Two time winner of the World Indoors, Jones has yet to prove herself at the World or Olympic championships. But Jones seems to be making the changes, and her opportunities seem to improve.

Ennis and Jones are quite popular in Great Britain. Hence, our sports’ friend, Ian Stewart, UK Endurance mentor and the man behind the AVIVA elite athlete fields, has already announced Ennis & Jones hurdling twice indoors in 2011. First, in January in Glasgow, and second on February 19 in Birmingham. This should be quite fun!

EME NEWS (DEC 22,
2010)

CHARFREITAG
3RD

BRATISLAVA (SVK): Big success for Slovak
Athletics. Hammer European Champion Libor Charfreitag was voted 3rd best Sports
Person of the Year 2010 in
the country. In the Slovak Sports Journalists poll he was beaten only by
Biathlon Winter Olympic Games medalists Anastasia Kuzminova and Pavol Hurajt.
It is an excellent position specially in a year when Slovak Football team
played at the World Cup in South Africa
and Ice-Hockey team was fourth in Vancouver.
The gala evening was held in new building of Slovak National Theatre and live
transmitted by biggest private television station Markiza. Charfreitag returned
into top ten of Slovak sports after three years, in 2007 he was second.

SPOTAKOVA
10TH

PRAGUE (CZE): Best track athlete in Czech
Sports Person of the Year 2010 poll was javelin thrower Barbora Spotakova as
tenth. For third time the win went to speed skating Olympic winner Martina
Sablikova. The special ceremony was held in Prague Hilton Hotel and live
transmitted by sports channel CT4.

ENNIS
VS. LOLO

LONDON
(GBR): The world and European champion Jessica Ennis will take on Lolo Jones
over the 60 metres
hurdles at the Aviva International Match in Glasgow next month, looking to repeat the
shock win she achieved over the American last January. British media are
writing. The pair will also go head to head at the Aviva Grand Prix in Birmingham on February
19, where Ennis will also race over 60m. Canada’s
Priscilla Lopes-Schliep, the Olympic and world indoor bronze medallist, will
also be in the 60m hurdles field in Birmingham.

EBUYA
VS. KOMON

SAN GIORGIO (ITA): World Cross
Country champion Joseph Ebuya will take on 10 km and 15 km world record holder
Leonard Komon and 5000
metres world junior champion David Bett at the 54th
Campaccio in San Giorgio su Legnano on 6th January (EA CC Permit). All the best
Italian runners will take part in the famous cross country race: European 10000 metres bronze
medallist Daniele Meucci, former European Junior, Under 23 cross country champion
Andrea Lalli and Italian Marathon runner Ruggero Pertile, European Athlete of
the Month in November. The women’s race will be a all-European race. The top
Italian name will be Olympic 3000 metres steeplechase finalist and Italian
record holder Elena Romagnolo. Former Olympic marathon champion Stefano
Baldini, who competed twelve times in the Campaccio, will be the special guest
as he retired recently.

CHERUIYOT
AND MASAI ADDED

EDINBURGH (GBR): Reigning World
track champions Vivian Cheruiyot and Linet Masai will lead the African
challenge for victory at the Bupa Great Edinburgh Cross Country (IAAF CC
Permit) on January 8. The presence of Cheruiyot and Masai will offer massive
challenges to Freya Murray and Stephanie Twell, who will be leading the British
challenge on home soil. However Ethiopia’s
Olympic champion, Tirunesh Dibaba, a two-time Bupa Great Edinburgh Cross
Country winner, doesn’t figure in his plans. “She’s still recovering from
injury so will not be defending her title.”

KEMBOI
IN AUSTRIA

PEUERBACH (AUT): Austrian top
Silvester Race in Peuerbach on December 31 announced reigning world steeple
champion Ezekiel Kemboi as the top star of the jubilee 30th edition. He will
run the 6.8 km
against best Austrian runner Gunther Weidlinger and title defender Abere Chane
from Ethiopia.
In women´s race also best home runner will be there in person of Andrea Mayr
against last year winner Asmera Work Bekele from Ethiopia.

OTHER NEWS

YOKOHAMA
(JPN): Brett Larner informs that Team Daiichi Seimei head coach Sachiko
Yamashita has announced that 2009 World Championships marathon silver medalist
Yoshimi Ozaki will run February’s second edition of the Yokohama International
Women’s Marathon. Ozaki intends to go for a PB
in Yokohama,
which has seen a course change since its first edition in 2008 to minimize
repetition of the bridges on the previous circuit course. In related news,
Athens Olympics marathon gold medalist and national record holder Mizuki
Noguchi announced the same day that if all goes according to plan she will make
a return to the marathon at the third running of the Yokohama International
Women’s Marathon in November, 2011.

LONDON
(GBR): Confusion surrounds the future of the Netherlands Antilles and whether
they will be allowed to compete at the London 2012 Olympics after the
autonomous Caribbean country ceased to exist
as a separate territory. Work is said to be “on going” in the situation while
the International Olympic Committee’s (IOC) Executive Board has been informed
and is working on a solution likely to be presented at their meeting in
Lausanne next month. In athletics it was already announced athletes will run on
behalf of Netherlands.
The Netherlands Antilles Olympic Committee joined the the IOC in 1950 and made
its debut in the Games at Helsinki two years
later when their football team were beaten 2-1 by Turkey. Writes insidethegames. “We
have accepted that athletes from the former Netherlands Antilles they are
eligible to represent the Netherlands
with immediate effect,” said IAAF General Secretary Pierre Weiss. Churandy
Martina and other sprinters are the top athletes of former Netherland Antilles.

SPALA (POL): World pole vault
medalist Monika Pyrek plans to compete at two indoor competitions. In
Donetsk on February 12 and in Bydgoszcz on February 16. The recent
winner
of Polish version of Star Dance is currently in good training in Spala.
She
returned to full training after five months break. Her main aim is the
summer
season and Daegu.

PARIS (FRA): French pole vault
record holder Vanessa Boslak will have to postpone her comeback from surgery.
Boslak had to undergo a second surgery after a reconstructive surgery on the
ligaments in the left knee still left her with pain. Boslak will be back in
training at the end of January and will not compete during the indoor season
writes athle.com.

BIETIGHEIM (GER): The 30th
edition of the Bietigheimer Silvesterlauf will see two-time winner Sebastian
Hallmann and 2009 winner Simret Restle at the starting line. In the men’s race
also Christian Glatting, Heiko Baier and Dieter Baumann. Restle will face
opposition from Christina Köckert and Veronica Pohl, confirms
leichtathletik.de.

KAMPALA
(UGA): After winning three gold medals at the East African
University athletics
championships in Nairobi Docus Inzikuru has her eyes set on the IAAF CC World
Championshipsy and the IAAF World Championships in Daegu. Inzikuru is the
former World and Commonwealth Games champion in the 3000m steeple.

MONACO (MON): In his IAAF online
diary javelin world champion Andreas Torkildsen spoke very positively about his
training and said 2011 looks set to be a great year. Thorkilsden, who just got
back from a training stint in San Diego, will
first be spending Christmas with his girlfriend Christina Vukicevic and then
resume training in Norway.

PORTLAND
(USA):
Reuters informs that Nike topped analysts’ expectations when it posted a 22
percent increase in quarterly income, but its disappointing future orders set
off a decline of 5 percent in its share price. The company said future orders,
excluding currency exchange rates, rose 11 percent.

ITEN (KEN): More than 500
runners are expected for the sixth Shoe4Africa Women’s five-kilometre run in
Iten on Friday. Writes The Nation. Edna Kiplagat, the 2010 ING New York City
Marathon winner is scheduled to run while while former world 800m champion,
Janeth Jepkosgei will give awards. Also other top names are mentioned to
compete with Linet Masai, Vivian Cheruiyot, Sylvia Kibet, Florence Kiplagat,
Mary Keitany along with Dutch-Kenyans Lornah Kiplagat with Hilda Kibet. Last
year’s winner Helen Kirop will be also there.

MADRID (ESP): World steeple champion and
European silver winner Marta Dominguez on Wednesday denied that she had
supplied other athletes with banned substances. She said while leaving in
Madrid a court following a hearing in front of a judge that she had ‘never
supplied anyone with doping substances,’ nor made an economic profit from such
activities.

KINGSTON
(JAM): Nigeria’s
100m champion Obinna Metu is currently in Jamaïca for a 6 week training camp
under Usain Bolt’s coach Glen Mills, thanks to the support of his sponsor, G4S
Security Company. Informs African Athletics Facebook.

RESULTS

CHIANGMAI (THA, Dec 18-22): At
the 15th ASEAN University Games Indonesia clocked solid 39.92 to win the 4×100
m. New Vietnam
national javelin record by Nguyen Truong Giang with 72.05 m.

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