ARMSTRONG 21.52

LAWRENCE (USA,
Apr 20): Canadian record holder Dylan Armstrong won the downtown shot put in Lawrence, part of 84th
Kansas Relays. He missed his national mark only by 6 cm with second best in the
world this outdoor 21.52. 2007 World Champion Reese Hoffa who leads the
rankings with 21.56 was second with 21.12. Another former world gold winner
Adam Nelson third (20.86) ahead of younger generation Cory Martin (20.72) and
Ryan Whiting (20.70). Jamaican record holder Dorian Scott ended 6th (20.13)
beating Noah Bryant (20.09) and Dan Taylor (19.08). World champion Christian
Cantwell was a late withdrawal. 2500 spectators watched the competition.

DOMINGUEZ CLEARED

MADRID (ESP): The judge Mercedes Pérez Barrios has
provisionally dismissed the main charges against the Spanish reigning steeple
world champion Marta Domínguez that were made last December. It’s understood
that the substances used by the athlete from Palencia are neither prohibited nor
punishable, according to reports in the newspapers Marca and El Mundo.
Domínguez was charged with the trafficking of doping substances, but the judge
in the case understands that the ‘gold’ supplied to Alberto García (the
substance to which he referred to in his phone conversations) is a herbal
product permitted by the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA). The judge issued an
order on April 14 to absolve Marta Domínguez of any blame, and it would not be
persuing any doping charges because the ‘gold’ mentioned by the athlete from Palencia in their
statements referred to a legal substance, and there were no other banned
compounds. Thus, according to the newspapers, the judge has decided to close
the case, and her report coincides with those from the Spanish Mediacal
Association and the State Anti-Doping Agency, which also said that the athlete
from Castilla y León, who faces the final few weeks of her pregnancy, had
provided negative tests. That would mean no sanction for Dominguez who would be
able now to compete in London
at Olympic Games 2012. But she still faces charges of tax evasion and
administering medications without a licence. Informs AW. European CC Champion
2009 Alemayehu Bezabeh was also cleared due to lack of evidence.

ABEYLEGESSE IS PREGNANT

ISTANBUL (TUR):
Reigning European 10 000 m champion and
double olympic medalist Elvan Abeylegesse will miss the 2011 season. But
the
reason is a happy one. She expects her first child to be born at the
beginning
of September. The Turkish former 5000
m world record holder and multiple national record
holder hopes later in autumn to start with preparation for Olympic Games
2012
and Helsinki European Championships. Just three months ago she married
in Turkey with her long-time boy-friend from Ethiopia. Her
29:56.34 at 10 000 m
from Beijing Olympics is also European Record.

MUTAI THINKS WR TO BE RECOGNISED

NAIROBI (KEN): Kenyan capitalfm.co.ke informs that
Boston Marathon champion and the fastest marathoner ever, Geoffrey Mutai, says
his 2:03:02 effort should be recognised as the world record in the distance.
“It’s fair, it’s fair many times, because when you go to Boston it’s not an
easy course, when you look at the time, I cannot comment anything on how I ran
and made that time, it was the work of God. This time, I was not looking for
anyone after halfway, I said I will push it alone but my colleague Mosop came
and we pushed it together until the finish. I believe I can make even another
fast time but for now, I cannot say how fast,” Mutai told reporters. “In mind,
I was not having any idea of breaking the world record in Boston. It was a tough competition and the
event has never had such a field before. When we started, we started moving
faster and after ten kilometers, we started even going faster,” he recalled.

RUDISHA CONFIRMED HIS PLANS

ITEN (KEN): Last year 800
m sensation David Rudisha spoke to the reporters
world-wide on behalf of IAAF. In the conference all after he had just completed
an 8-kilometer endurance run with a group of junior athletes, Rudisha admitted
that his preparations for the summer season were a “little behind.” But, he
said, the IAAF World Championships in Daegu were a long way off, and that he
had plenty of time to get ready. “My training has been good,” he said, sounding
more like a coach. “The way I started this year, my progress is coming along
very well. Compared to the season last year, I started a little bit late
because of the celebrations.” He continued: “I am a little bit behind in my
training.” Rudisha, who turned 22 last December, will open his summer season at
the Samsung Diamond League meeting in Doha on
May 6 and will follow in Rome on May 26 and Ostrava on May 31 with a 1000 m debut. Following a
similar path to last year, Rudisha competed twice in Australia
in March, clocking 1:43.88 in Melbourne, 1:44.80
in Sydney, and
winning both races by comfortable margins. Rudisha sees the Doha meeting as a
welcoming and comfortable place for him to begin his long campaign which he
hopes will culminate in his first world title. He also ruled out competing in
either the 400 or 1500 events in the near future. With help of RRW.

GONZALES TO DEBUT IN THE 400 M

KINGSTON (JAM):
Jamaican record holder Jermaine
Gonzales is confirmed to make his season debut at Jamaica Invitational
(IAAF
World Challenge) on May 7. He will compete against his home rival
Ricardo
Chambers. In the 100 m
American Darvis Patton, Jamaicans Yohan Blake and Michael Frater, along
with Antigua’s record holder Daniel Bailey can attack the 10
seconds barrier. Blake and Bailey will debut into the season at the 100
m. Men´s high hurdles
will have reigning world champion Ryan Brathwaite from Barbados,
Jamaican
record holder Dwight Thomas and US olympic and world medalist Terrence
Trammell.

MUROFUSHI VS. TOP THROWERS

KAWASAKI (JPN): Strong group of Australian athletes
will be featured at the Golden Grand Prix meet in Kawasaki (part of IAAF World Challenge) on
May 8. Long world leader Mitchell Watt is one of the top names included. Very
strong is men´s hammer (part of IAAF HT Challenge) where local hero and olympic
winner 2004 Koji Murofushi will compete against Hungarian Krisztian Pars, Asian
Games winner Dilshod Nazarov of Tajikistan, Latvian record holder Igors
Sokolovs and European 2006 medalist Oli-Pekka Karjalainen of Finland. In
javelin world medalist Yukifumi Murakami will face New Zealand champion Stuart
Farquhar and US Mike Hazle. In the pole vault Asian record holder Daichi Sawano
is going to meet with Mexican record holder Gianni Lanaro, Chinese Yang
Yansheng and Russian Sergey Kucheryanu who lives now in Australia. In
men sprints Kenji Narisako is going to run the 400 m hurdles with Australian
champ Brendan Cole, US Ryan Wilson is the star of 110 m hurdles with Chinese
world finalist Shi Dongpeng. In the female events national record holder
Chisato Fukushima is featured in the 100 m against one of the best African sprinters
Ruddy Zang Milama from Gabon.
Strong US duo Mary Wineberg and Shareese Woods is scheduled against Moncton
silver winner Margaret Etim of Nigeria in the 400 m. Australian Lauren
Boden, Romanian Barcelona 5th placer Angela Morosanu, US Christine Spence and
home record holder Satomi Kubokura will run the 400 m hurdles. The meeting
will be staged despite difficult times in Japan.

ENNIS FOR MANCHESTER

MANCHESTER (GBR): World and European heptathlon champion
Jessica Ennis will open her outdoor season at the Powerade Great City Games on
May 15. Ennis will defend her title in the 150m – having defeated Olympic 400m
champion Christine Ohuruogu last year in 16.99, the second fastest time ever by
a Brit – and will also contest the 100m hurdles. It will be Ennis’s first
competition since the indoor season, which she cut short after picking up an
injury and was forced to miss the European Indoor Championships in Paris. The Powerade Great
City Games – a series of world-class
sprinting and hurdling events held on the streets of Manchester – is just one of three big
sporting events to take place in the city that weekend, alongside the British
Gas Great Salford Swim and the Bupa Great Manchester Run. Marathon
world record-holders Paula Radcliffe and Haile Gebrselassie are set to take
part in the ninth staging of the Bupa Great Manchester Run, lining up with
38,000 other athletes for the 10km race. Informs Athletics Weekly. It is
possible that a top world´s sprinter will be announced, in last two years Usain
Bolt (150 m)
and Tyson Gay (200 m
straight) competed here.

OTHER NEWS

UTRECHT (NED): The Jaarbeurs Utrecht marathon will be
highlighted on Easter Monday by the ‘Dutch Battle’. The participants of this battle,
some of The Netherlands best marathon runners and all under 2:30 athletes, have
been preparing for the events with special training programs and will run the
race with no pacemakers. Main names are Michel Butter, Olfert Molenuis and
Orphan Van Faassen. The Dutch winner of this year’s Utrecht marathon will receive a higher amount
of prize money compared to what a foreign athlete would receive upon winning.
The organization is aiming at promoting and supporting Dutch marathon runners.
In the women’s race Kenyan course record holder Lydia Kurgat takes on Viola
Kimetto.

KINGSTON (JAM): Jamaica Observer
informs that top MVP athletes and
olympic and world medalists Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce, Brigitte
Foster-Hylton,
Melaine Walker, and Asafa Powell were among a group of 14 locked out of
the
Stadium East training facility where they showed up for training this
morning
despite a standing arrangement with Independence Park Limited (IPL) for
them to
train at the facility six days per week. MVP assistant coach, Paul
Francis,
told the Observer that he got a call at 5:29 from the athletes to say
that they
had been barred from entering the compound by security guards on duty
who told
them they had been instructed by IPL not to let them in. And as Jamaica
Observer points out, as luck would have it, the local anti-doping
officials,
Jamaica Anti-doping Commission (JADCO), showed up this morning. JADCO
officials
later facilitated the athletes by allowing them to travel to their base
at the University of Technology for testing to be conducted.

TUSCALOOSA (USA):
After 14 years as the head track coach at the Alabama University,
Harvey Glance will step down at the end of the season. He is Olympic gold
medalist from 4×100 m at 1976 Montreal Games. Since coming to the University in
1997, Glance has coached 75 All-Americans, 41 Southeaster Conference Champions,
eight NCAA champions and 23 of his athletes have broken school records. His
personality also helped him land some of the top recruits in both the nation
and world, mainly Kirani James, one of the current biggest sprinting talents
from Grenada.

SOFIA (BUL): Former double world junior champion in sprints Tezdzhan
Naimova of Bulgaria
will compete this summer for Turkish club Besiktas. She will run for the club
at national clubs league events and also European Champion Clubs Cup end of
May.

LONDON (GBR): Britain’s Nicola Minichiello, the
winner of the 2009 World Championship, is retiring from bobsleigh to take up a
role with the International Bobsleigh Federation (FIBT) as their head
development coach. Minichiello made history by taking a silver medal at the
2005 World Championships, and then, in tandem with Gillian Cooke, went one
better in 2009 to become Britain’s first female world champion, and is
recognised as the most successful British bobsleigh athlete of her era. Double
Olympic sprinter Paul Brizzel, Scottish 60 meters indoors
champion Stu Benson and Commonwealth 100m silver medallist Katherine Endacott
all took this route into bobsleigh.

BERLIN (GER): The BIG 25 Berlin road race will receive a unique award
from the Association of International Marathons and Distance Races (AIMS).
After both world records were broken in the traditional 25 k race through the
German capital in 2010 AIMS board members decided during their recent meeting
in Belgrade to
honour this achievement. The ceremony will take place during this year’s BIG 25
Berlin race
on 8th May. Organisers again expect a top field to compete while around 10,000
runners will take part in the mass races with distances of 25 k, 10 k and a 5×5
k relay. Organizers are informing in a release. The 31st edition of Germany’s
oldest major city road race should again produce very good times on 8th May.
Organisers announced that two top Kenyan runners have confirmed that they will
run the BIG 25 Berlin.
William Kipsang is the winner of the Rotterdam Marathon 2008 with 2:05:49.
While the 33 year-old will run his first 25 k race Filomena Chepchirchir has
quite some experience at the distance. In 2007 she won the BIG 25 Berlin in 1:25:38. One
year later she improved to 1:24:55 but this time this was only good enough for
second place. The 29 year-old recently showed good form, when she took the Den
Hague half marathon in 69:06.

DUSSELDORF (GER): The Dusseldorf marathon on May 8th is highlighted
by the debut of former European 10.000m champion Jan Fitschen. Fitschen will
face tough opposition from German half marathon champion and also a debutant in
the marathon Andre Pollmacher and compatriot Martin Beckmann. The women’s race
features last year’s winner Natalya Volgina of Russia and last year’s runner-up
Volha Dubovskaya who will take on Ethiopian marathon sensation Merima Mohammed.
The 18 year old debuted last year with 2:23.02 in the Toronto Marathon and
missed last week’s Boston Marathon due to problems with her visa.

MINNEAPOLIS (USA):
Organizers of Minnesota’s two biggest
marathons, Grandma’s in Duluth and Medtronic Twin Cities
in Minneapolis/St. Paul, will offer a bonus to any athlete winning the open
titles of both races this year. A bonus of 10,000 dollar is available to both
men and women and will be added to the races’ regular prize money purses
reports Race Results Weekly.

TOKYO (JPN): In addition to men’s team and one
member of the women’s team (Yoshimi Ozaki) announced earlier, four more member
of women’s marathon team (Yukiko Akaba, Remi Nakazato, Azusa Nojiri and Mai Ito) were announced at a
press conference of Japanese Athletics Federation. There is no surprise in the
team composition. The winner of Yokohama
(Ozaki) was automatically selected because her winning time cleared the
standard (2:26) set by the JAAF. The winner of Osaka
(Akaba) as well as the first Japanese in London
marathon (Nojiri) were generally considered to be sure in. Note that Akaba was
the first Japanese in London, but she was not
running to make the team in London.
So it was down to selecting two from three (second Japanese in Yokohama
(Nakazato), Osaka (Ito) and London (Fujinaga)) Because Nakazato was quite
impressive in Yokohama (her marathon debut time was faster than everyone else
except for Ozaki), it was generally believed that fifth member of the team will
be selected from either Ito or Fujinaga (close second among Japanese competing
for the team position in the London marathon). After long discussion, Ito was
selected over Fujinaga. One of the factor considered may be a future potential
of Ito. Informs Ken Nakamura.

MONACO (MON): In latest IAAF newsletter it is
confirmed that 400 m
runner Shana Cox would be able to represent Great Britain at 2012 London Games.
The 26-years old runner has a good quality 50.84 personal best from 2008. She
is eligible to run for her new country since April 10 this year and at
championships level since November 29, 2011 that means enough for the games but
not for Daegu. She competed for USA
only at World Juniors 2004 where she was fifth at 200 m. Last indoors she
clocked 52.16 and already at Florida
Relays this spring 51.46.

TRENTON (USA): AP informs that a judge says
nine-time Olympic gold medallist Carl Lewis should be allowed to continue his
bid for the New Jersey Senate because Republicans have failed to prove he
doesn’t live in the state.

TAICANG (CHN): IAAF Race Walking Challenge continues this weekend in China. The
event in Taicang, China is third of the year with
possibility of full scoring (there have been another three staged with half
points already). The 20 km
races are on Friday, Saturday is devoted to junior walks at national level and
Sunday will see 50 km
men´s race with juniors going the 30
km. Home elite will be present, for example Berlin
bronze winner Liu Hong in the women 20 km, World Cup second Chu Yafei in men´s 20 km and Zhao Chengliang
with Ji Tianfeng, Li Jianbo and Li Gaobo at the 50 km distance. Mexican world
medalist Eder Sanchez is also leader in the challenge with 20 points and top
non-Chinese favorite. The female co-leaders from Portugal Ines Henriques and
Vera Santos (both 18 points) will not compete in China. Strong represented is Australia with Jared Tallent and Luke Adams
scheduled for men´s 20 km.
Russia
sends Pyotr Trofimov and 1:25 walker Tatyana Sibileva for 20 km races. Korea will have also its top walkers competing
along with Brazil.
Two German representatives will be one of the few Europeans. Melanie Seeger and
Christopher Linke will go the 20
km on Friday. With help of Tilastopaja.

STAWELL (AUS): The pre-race favourite for the 2011 Australia Post
Stawell Gift has had an appeal against his Gift mark dismissed by a Victorian
Athletic League appeal tribunal. Australian 400m hurdles champion Brendan Cole
is the favourite to take out Australia’s
richest footrace. The Canberra-based runner was handed a six meter handicap by
the VAL, but did not receive a full one meter lift for the inclusion of 2003
world 100m champion Kim Collins, so took his case to the tribunal last night. A
philosophical Cole said he was satisfied with his mark but would have liked the
full lift received by the majority of the 156 runners in this weekend’s Gift.
Cole said with $40,000 going to the winner, the race often came down to a
matter of centimeters. Australian 100m and 200m champion Aaron Rouge-Serret is
also in the line-up. One of the strongest fields in the 133-year history of the
event will assemble this week, with Collins, Cole, Rouge-Serret and Steffensen
to be joined by the Kenyan distance runners and Australian distance star Craig
Mottram. On the women’s side, Australian 100m silver medallist Melissa Breen
will take on the men in the Gift in an attempt to become the first female to
make a Gift semi final at Stawell. She will be joined by training partner,
Australian 400m hurdles champion Lauren Boden, and Stawell perennial Tamsyn
Lewis, who will be making her 18th journey to Central Park. The 130th edition
of the Australia Post Stawell Gift carnival will be staged over the Anzac Day
long weekend this Easter from Friday, 22 April to Tuesday, 26 April, 2011.
Informs Athletics Australia.

RESULTS

CARTAGENA (ESP, Apr 20): Cuban Yunier Perez sprinted at
an international meet here 10.45 and 21.41 in sprints and national champion Concha
Montaner leaped to 632 in
long jump.