by Larry Eder
Asafa Powell, Tyson Gay, Usain Bolt, WC 2009, Berlin, photo by PhotoRun.net
Daegu, Korea will bring the best of the best, plus some surprises! So, who will be the new sensation in the sprints? Or will it be Tyson Gay and Usain Bolt, with Asafa Powell keeping them honest, in a battle for the sprint titles of the world? Should be fun!
SPRINTERS WORLD
One of the main questions of
2011 was when will meet the trio of world´s top sprinters Usain Bolt, Tyson Gay
and Asafa Powell. Will it be at some of the Diamond League meetings or only at
World Championships in Daegu. But that is also not granted, only Bolt has the
wild card as defending world champion, the other two must qualify through their
national trials. One thing is for sure, they will not meet during the indoor
season. All three will not compete undercover as it was expected and as it was
in past years. Bolt never competed indoors, Powell has some 60 metres races in his
career, the last in 2004 (PB 6.56) and Gay as last a 400 m in 2007 (47.08) and has
6.55 best from 2005. But the world record holder Bolt plans his usual winter
training competitions in Jamaica
with some 400 m
races and relays. Gay also said he might do some 400 m in April and the plans
of Powell are not known yet, but he also used winter meets in Jamaica as part
of his preparation in the past. Interestingly Gay said on his twitter during
New Year: “While yall out having fun at the club. I’m at home studyin and
thinkn about the world record.” Also other top sprinters like Daniel Bailey,
Yohan Blake or Walter Dix are not planning to run indoors, as it was confirmed
by their agents. So for whom to watch in winter? Fastest in 2010 Nesta Carter
announced his Millrose Games appearance on January 28 in New York. Whether he will run more is not
yet confirmed. But Europeans are gearing up for the winter season. Euro title
defender and World indoor champion Dwain Chambers is said it be in great shape
as per observers watching him in training. But on home soil European gold
medalist from Barcelona Christophe Lemaitre will also be ready. With silver
winner Mark Lewis-Francis planning for indoors too, the 60 m will be one of the
highlights at Bercy Hall during the European Indoor Championships. They will
not be able to clash at indoor meetings, but some rivalries will be registered.
Also because Commonwealth Games gold medalist Lerone Clarke of Jamaica plans to run in New
York (vs Carter), Stuttgart (vs
Lemaitre), Lievin, Karlsruhe and Birmingham (vs
Lewis-Francis). Last indoor season fastest was Dwain Chambers with his 6.48
while winning the world indoor title in Doha.
FIRST
WORLD INDOOR BEST 2010/11
SARANSK (RUS, Dec 30): First indoor world
best of the new season. Barcelona
bronze winner at 20 km
walk Vera Sokolova clocked all-time world indoor best at 5000 m walk during Mordovian
Indoor Walking Championships with 20:10.3. The previous mark was 20:37.77 by
Belarus Margarita Turova on February 13, 2005 in Minsk. With bigger margin second Lyudmila
Arkhipova and third Tatyana Shemyakina (times not known). The only missing from
top Mordovia walkers was olympic and world champion Olga Kaniskina. Olympic and
World 20 km
walk winner Valeriy Borchin competed for first time in his career in indoor 5000 m here. His winning
time was impressive 18:11.8, third on all-time list. The world best here is
18:07.08 by Mikhail Shchennikov on February 2, 1993 in Moscow. Borchin was followed in close race by
Vladimir Kanaykin and European Champion Stanislav Yemelyanov (times not known).
WORLD
BEST FOR 15 YEARS OLD RUNNERS
ADDIS ABABA (ETH): EME NEWS learned more
about the latest young Ethiopian running talent. Bonsa Dida Direba who was
third at Sao Silvestre in Angola
on December 31 clocked as 15 years old impressive 28:37 as third. He will be 16
on January 21, confirms his agent Andre Thomson. He debuted in the competition
last year and was fourth at Ethiopian senior Championships at the 10 000 m. But he was too
young to compete in Moncton.
As Thomson confirms he might compete internationally also in winter 2011, it
could be on the road but also indoors. Luanda
was his international debut outside Ethiopia. His 28:37 from Luanda is fastest 10 km on the road ever by a
15 years old runner.
PREVIEWS
SAN GIORGIO (ITA): World Cross
Country champion Joseph Ebuya will take on 10 km and 15 km world record holder
Leonard Komon and 10
000 metres world junior champion David Masai 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 with experienced Hungarian
Aniko Kalovics. Former Olympic marathon champion Stefano Baldini, who competed
twelve times in the Campaccio, will be the special guest as he retired
recently.
TIBERIAS (ISR): Last year’s
winner of the International Tiberias Marathon, Simon Njoroge from Kenya
(2:09:46) will be among the 1600 runners who start the 34th edition of the race
on Thursday. The toughest opposition is expected from the winner of the 2007
& 2008 races, Leonard Mucheru from Kenya (2:09:37), and their
countrymen Samson Bungei (2:08:36) & Wilson Onsare (2:06:47 back in 2003).
Informs David Eiger.
ABU DHABI (UAE): Zayed International Half
Marathon which was scheduled for early January is now postponed to March 4.
Last year winners Tilahun Regassa and Mary Keitany cashed the biggest HM prizes
of 300 000 USD at the event.
OTHER NEWS
NASSAU (BAH): At the Gala 2010
Annual Year End Awards Luncheon of Bahamas Athletics sixteen-year-old
quarter-miler and world junior champion from Moncton Shaunae Miller captured
both Athlete of the Year as well as Junior Female Athlete Awards of
2010.Miller, who won over High Jumper Donald Thomas and 400m World Indoor
Champion Chris Brown, won also the Carifta Games Under-seventeen 400m in the
Cayman Islands in April and the Central American and Caribbean Junior
Championships in Santo Domingo. The event was held under the patronage of the
Golden Girls, Eldece Clarke, Savatheda Fynes, Chandra Sturrup, Pauline
Davis-Thompson, and Debbie Ferguson-McKenzie, who celebrated the tenth
anniversary of their victory in the 4x100m relay at the Sydney Olympic Games.
President of the Bahamas Track and Field Coaches Association Dianne Woodside,
who is also coach of Shaunae Miller, received the Henry Crawford Award for
Coach of the Year.
STELLENBOSCH (SWE): Good news
from training camp of Swedish high jumper Emma Green. She is the only Barcelona medalist in her
event who will be competing during the indoor season 2011. SVT website informs
that after heavy training in the fall she feels stronger than ever. She is
currently in Potchefstroom,
South Africa in
good weather (31 degrees). Her first competition indoors is scheduled for
Trinec on January 26 what is first leg of Moravia High Jump Tour in Czech Republic.
ROAD TOWN
(BVI): Sprinter Tahesia Harrigan and combined events specialist Chantel Malone
were named British Virgin Islands Senior and Junior female athletes of the Year
2010.
DUBAI (UAE): New women winner is expected at
the Standard Chartered Dubai Marathon on January 21, 2011. With last year’s
champion Mamitu Daska of Ethiopia
unable to defend her title, organisers have brought together a hugely talented
field of elite athletes in the women’s category all eager to run off with the first
prize of $250,000 – the richest in the sport. As well as an elite pack of men,
the event has also attracted many of the marathon world’s best female runners
with former winners Askale Magarsa and Berhane Adere – both from Ethiopia – in
the field along with Paris 2009 and 2010 winner Atseda Tesema (also from
Ethiopia) and Kenyan Helen Kirop who made it a Kenyan double in Prague
alongside Dubai-bound Eliud Kiptanui in May 2010. Informs event website.
LONDON (GBR): London 2012 is to offer free
internet access to athletes and officials taking part in the Olympics and
Paralympics, chairman Sebastian Coe has revealed. The decision not to charge
for the internet came following consultation with the 205 National Olympic
Committees expected to take part in the Games next year. Informs
insidethegames. Last year there was controversy when it was revealed that
London 2012 plan to charge journalists covering the Games £150 ($235) for
internet access. Jayne Pearce, the head of press operations at London 2012,
justified the charges by claiming that a cabled solution would be provided in
all working environments, representing some 6,800 tabled tribune desks, some
4,700 Venue Media Centre desks and some 1,600 Venue Photo Centre desks.
PARIS (FRA): World indoor
record holder Teddy Tamgho is back in France
after a three-month training camp in Spain where he trains with his new
coach Ivan Pedroso. Tamgho explained for athle.com that he has been training at
a higher intensity then before and is preparing to shine at the European indoor
Championships in Paris.
Tamgho also mentioned his disappointment over his lower ranking at the national
end-of-the-year rankings and feels like the French public has forgotten about
him too quickly. Tamgho was voted fifth best athlete of the year.
BERLIN (GER): Former European 10.000m
champion Jan Fitschen is planning to run two marathons in 2011. Fitschen will
be traveling to Kenya
to prepare for a spring marathon and aims at running another one in the fall.
LAUSANNE (SUI): In an interview with European
Athletics Mo Farah speaks up about his chances of beating the African athletes
and confirms that he can close the gap in 2011. Farah has been preparing the
season in Kenya and recently
returned home to defend the British colors at the IAAF Cross Country Permit in Edinburgh. Farah will be
running during the indoor season as a preparation for the outdoor season in
which he wants to break the European 5000m record, which stands at 12:49.71 by
Mohammed Mourhit.
NEW DELHI
(IND): The brand new synthetic track laid at the
Jawaharlal Nehru stadium for the New Delhi Commonwealth Games has been badly
damaged, making it unfit for competition unless major repair is done on the
nine-lane track. The track has been particularly damaged on the home straight.
It is unlikely the track will be open for athletes any time soon writes Hindustan Times.
PORTLAND
(USA): Dathan Ritzenhein has
withdrawn from the Bupa Great Edinburgh cross
country (IAAF Cross Country Permit) this weekend and will not be the captain of
the US
team. Ritzenhein injured his ankle during a track workout and is not ready to
compete. The injury is not related to a string of injuries Ritzenhein endured
during the 2010 season reports mlive.com. Another withdrawal is the European 10 000 m silver medallist
Chris Thompson with a hip injury. The 29-year-old was advised to miss the Holyrood Park event by UK Athletics’ medical
staff and his place will now be taken by two-time English Cross-Country
champion Frank Tickner.
RESULTS
MANCHESTER (GBR, Jan 2): Sara McGreavy posted
8.35 at 60 m
hurdles at an indoor meet here.
TAURANGA (NZL, Jan 4): Danielle
Trevis carved nearly a minute off the New Zealand women’s 19 10,000m
record in winning the national title in 33:18.26. In the male race the fastest was
a junior Aaron Pulford with 29:52.51. Informs NZ athletics.
SAD NEWS
EDINBURG
(USA): Jason Allen Long (32)
died Friday, Dec. 31, 2010,
in a tragic airplane crash in Weyers Cave.
He was 3:59.99 miler from 2003 indoors.
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