BARRAS HEADING THE FIELD

KLADNO (CZE): Top European multi-eventers will headline the 5th edition
of TNT-Fortuna meeting on June 15-16
in Kladno,
Czech Republic.
The event is for second year part of IAAF Combined Events Challenge. European
champion from Barcelona Romain Barras is the top name along with fresh European
indoor champion Andrey Kravchenko of Belarus. In the field also winners
of last three editions, last year Oleksiy Kasyanov of Ukraine and in
2009 and 2008 Jamaican Maurice Smith. Strong Cuban trio Yunior Diaz, Yordani
Garcia and Leonel Suarez (bronze winner from World Championships) is expected
to come too. Silver winner from Bercy this winter French Nadir El Fassi
confirmed also his participation. For women heptathlon top two from Euro
Indoors 2011 are scheduled to come, French Antoinette Nana Djimou and Austra
Skujyte of Lithuania.
Also coming Russian Marina Goncharova and Poland´s Karolina Tyminska. Czech
record holder Eliska Klucinova hopes to be in top shape to attack her national
mark achieved last year in Kladno when winning with 6268 points.

RADCLIFFE FOR ANOTHER ROAD 10 KM

LONDON (GBR): World Marathon record holder Paula Radcliffe will be
joined by double European champion Mo Farah when competing at the Bupa London 10 km road race next month.
The pair will experience many of the roads that make up the 2012 Olympic
marathon course on May 30, an event that incorporates the first UK national
10km road championships. It will be Radcliffe’s second competitive outing – she
will take part in the Bupa Great Manchester Run on May 15 – since giving birth
to her second child, Raphael, in September last year. She will her eyes on Mary
Keitany’s course record of 31:06. Farah aims to lower the national and course
record of 27:44 he set 12 months ago when he defeated Kenya’s former world 10km
record holder Micah Kogo.

ALL OLYMPIC WINNERS FROM BEIJING

SESTO SAN GIOVANNI (ITA): All three reigning olympic champions Valeriy
Borchin (20 km),
Alex Schwazer (50 km)
and Olga Kaniskina (20 km)
will be in the spotlight at the 54th edition of the Coppa Città di Sesto San
Giovanni, the fourth leg of the IAAF Race Walking Challenge, scheduled on
Sunday 1st May, the Worker’s Day Festivity. Schwazer will compete in his first 20 km of 2011 after being
sidelined by a knee injury he sustained during a skiing accident in January.
Schwazer only competed twice in the 10 km and in both occasions he was beaten by
European Under 23 bronze medallist Matteo Giupponi, who was also the winner of
the 20 km
in Podebrady. Schwazer’s only 50
km before Daegu will take place in Villa di Serio near Bergamo on 19 June.
Schwazer and Giupponi will take on Russian olympic and world champion Valeriy
Borchin who produced an impressive 1:18:55 in Rio Maior beating Mexican world
bronze medallist Eder Sanchez, third in Portugal in 1:19:36. The other top
names who will line up in Sesto will be Colombian Luis Lopes, second in the
Chihuahua IAAF Walking Race leg behind Eder Sanchez, and Tunisia’s
Hassanine Sebei, who finished fourth at the Memorial Albisetti in Lugano with
his PB of 1:20:20. Olympic,World and European champion Olga Kanishkina from
Russia, winner this year in Rio Major, will clash against last year’s Sesto
winner Vera Santos from Portugal, who finished third this year in Rio Maior.

SHOCKING REVELATIONS

STOCKHOLM (SWE): Thelocal.se informs about the revelations that Swedish
Olympic high jumper Patrik Sjöberg faced years of sexual abuse by his late
coach and stepfather Viljo Nousiainen have left the Swedish athletics
establishment reeling. In the very frank autobiography ‘What you didn’t see’
(‘Det du inte sÃ¥g’), Sjöberg, who won the World Championships in Rome in 1987
and holds three Olympic medals, tells of how Nousiainen soon became the father
figure that the eleven-year-old Sjöberg had been lacking. Nousiainen, who died
in 1999, gave the rising star his full attention and lots of praise when he did
something well. When Sjöberg turned fifteen, he decided that the abuse had to
stop. Nousiainen tried a few more times but Sjöberg made it clear that he would
go to the police if it happened again. Another Swedish sports profile to come
forward after Sjöberg’s revelation is athletics coach Yannick Tregaro. “For me
it started when I was about twelve or thirteen, when I was very young, a
rookie,” he said to Sveriges Radio (SR). Tregaro is pleased that Sjöberg has
come forward with this information.

BOSTON WILL PAY THE BONUS

BOSTON (USA): In an
effort to follow up
immediately on the matter, the B.A.A. has now had the opportunity to
review
with the IAAF the performance of Geoffrey Mutai in the 2011 Boston
Marathon, in
which Mr. Mutai’s time of 2:03:02 was the fastest ever recorded over the
marathon distance. Mr. Mutai’s performance is not eligible to be
recognized as
a world record under IAAF standards due to the point to point nature of
the Boston course and the fact that there is a net loss in
elevation over the Boston
course that exceeds IAAF limits. IAAF standards in this regard were
established
in 1990. The IAAF official with whom the matter was reviewed expressed
the
IAAF’s high regard for Mr. Mutai’s performance. He also noted more
broadly the
spectacular nature of what occurred in the 2011 Boston Marathon, both
from the
men and in the women’s Open Division, where the repeated surges and lead
changes between Caroline Kilel and Desiree Davila produced one of the
most
exciting and competitive finishes in marathon history. John Hancock
Financial
Services, primary sponsor of the Boston Marathon, rewarded Geoffrey
Mutai with a
$50,000 bonus for running a world’s best time at this year’s race and
said the
company will meet this promise in the future as well. Going forward, the
B.A.A.
will engage members of Boston’s scientific and medical communities to
determine
whether factors can now be identified that would support a further
discussion
as to whether the point to point nature and elevation drop in the Boston
course
may be mitigated by other factors that might permit the Boston course to
be
ratified for world record consideration. The organizers are saying in a
release.

MORE TOP NAMES FOR DAEGU MEET

DAEGU (KOR): Also the technical
events will have stellar quality at
Colorful Pre-Championship Meet in Daegu (IAAF World Challenge). Two
medalists
from Berlin 2009 Cuban Guillermo Martinez
and Japanese Yukifumi Murakami will fight with olympic silver winner
from
Beijing Latvian Ainars Kovals in men´s javelin throw. But still 86.95
meet
record of Teemu Wirkkala of Finland
will be not easy to achieve. In the men´s triple jump olympic medalist
Leevan
Sands from Bahamas
will fight with Cuban Berlin bronze winner Alexis Copello, both will be
ready
to attack the meet best 17.50 of US Aarik Wilson since 2007. German
record
holder Silke Spiegelburg is the star of women pole vault, Russian 2004
Olympic
winner Yelena Slesarenko of women high jump. US Funmi Jimoh who won here
already two times is looking for third in a row, but 2005 world champion
Tiana
Madison hopes to come back to top shape. Women´s hammer will be part of
IAAF
Hammer Challenge with former world record holder Tatyana Lysenko of
Russia and Asian Games winner Zhang Wenxiu from China. For the 100 m
latest addition is
Churandy Martina, the double olympic finalist from Netherland Antilles
who is
now going to represent Netherlands.

LAVILLENIE TO ATTACK BUBKA´S MARK

DOHA (QAT): French European Champion Renaud Lavillenie is another star
confirmed for Samsung Diamond League opener in Doha on May 6. He should be succesfull in
attacking Sergey Bubka´s old meeting record (580 from 1998). Other top names
are olympic medalist Richard Thompson of Trinidad
for the 100 m
and Diamond Race winner Bershawn Jackson for the 400 m hurdles. In the men´s 3000 m five times winner
here Eliud Kipchoge of Kenya
leads the field. His tough opposition comes from Tariku Bekele, Edwin Cheuriyot
Soi, Augustine Choge and Ugandan Moses Kipsiro.

SANYA FOR BUDAPEST

BUDAPEST (HUN): Reigning 400 m world champion Sanya
Richards-Ross is the first international name to be confirmed for the inaugural
Istvan Gyulai Memorial Budapest Grand Prix on July 30. Informs Hungarian
federation website. More names to come for this return of top one day meeting
in Hungary
which in the eighties of last century was one of the top fixtures on the
circuit. The US runner
competes next this weekend at Penn Relays in the 4×400 m and in Kingston on May 7 at the 400 m.

OTHER NEWS

HENGELO (NED): German athletes confirmed for FBK Games
in Hengelo on
May 29 (part of IAAF World Challenge). European indoor champion at 60 m hurdles Carolin Nytra
will open at the Dutch venue her outdoor season. Silver winner from Barcelona at 1500 m Carsten Schlangen plans to attack the
3:35 Daegu standard at FBK Games, then he will continue on June 1 in Dessau with the same aim.

LONDON (GBR): Sebastian Coe claimed London 2012 had
been widely praised by Olympic fans as he revealed applications for more than
20 million tickets had been received by the time the process closed at 1am
after it was extended by an hour. Some 1.8million people – 95 per cent of them
from the UK – have submitted applications for the 6.6 million tickets with many
sports already sold out including track cycling, rhythmic gymnastics,
triathlon, modern pentathlon and equestrian cross country. The Opening and
Closing Ceremonies are also sell-outs and will have a ballot to decide ticket
allocations as will most of the sessions in swimming and tennis, and the
high-profile athletics sessions. Informs insidethegames.

STANFORD (USA):
European silver medallist British runner Chris Thompson lines up in the 10 000 m this weekend at
the Payton Jordan Invitational. He will have one goal, to attack British record
27:18.14 by Jon Brown back in 1998 at Van Damme Memorial in Brussels. Last year at the same meet he
achieved 27:29.61, currently fourth best ever for a British runner. The race
will be paced by US
record holder Chris Solinsky. More Europeans in the race include Finnish
Half-Marathon record holder Jussi Utriainen and mainly French steeple European
record holder Boubdallah Tahri who will debut at the distance. With help from
Athletics Weekly.

COLORADO SPRINGS (USA): The United States Olympic Committee (USOC) and
International Olympic Committee (IOC) have agreed to let the Court of
Arbitration for Sport (CAS) decide whether a controversial eligibility rule that
is set to keep defending Olympic 400 meters champion LaShawn Merritt out of next
year’s Games in London should be upheld. Writes Insidethegames. The CAS has
been asked to determine the validity of IOC Rule 45, which bars any athlete
receiving a doping sanction of greater than six months from competing at the
next Olympic Games. The IOC has maintained the rule is not a sanction but an
issue of eligibility and that it has the right to put conditions on
participation in the Olympic Games.

VIENNA (AUT): Pole Vault square jumping returns to Vienna also this year on
July 5. Just close to Vienna´s well known Ferris wheel in the Prater Park 8 top
male jumpers will compete. Already confirmed to jump is German veteran Tim
Lobinger, best Austrian decathlete Roland Schwarzl will also jump. Briton
Commonwealth Games medalist Max Eaves with US Mitch Greeley should also
compete. The runway will be 55
meters long.

BIRMINGHAM (GBR): UK Athletics opened both 10 000 m races (men and
women) during the Aviva World Trials and UK Championships in Birmingham to international runners. It will
be a good possibility to attack Daegu and London
standards at the distance. Men will run on Friday July 29 and women on Saturday
July 30.

ALESSANDRIA (ITA): Italian walking stars Elisa Rigaudo and
Giorgio Rubino will make their debut over the 10 000 meters
distance on the track in Alessandria.
Rubino, fourth at the World Championships in Berlin and fifth at the European
Championships in Barcelona, will make his first appearance in 2011 seven months
after his last race at the 2010 IAAF World Challenge Final where he finished a
brilliant third. Rigaudo, olympic bronze medallist in Bejing, will come back
after giving birth to her first daughter Elena last September.

ESSEN (GER): Top German female distance runner
Sabrina Mockenhaupt plans now two 10 000 m races on the track. On May 7 in Essen what will be the
National Championship race and early June at European Cup 10 000 m in Oslo. Her best
is 31:14.21 from Olympic Games in Beijing
(finished 13th).

RIO DE JANEIRO (BRA): World junior and youth champion
Jamaican Dexter Lee will run two races at Brazilian Athletics Tour. On May 22 in Sao
Paulo and on May 26 at IAAF World Challenge in Rio.
In both races he will run against British reigning world indoor champion Dwain
Chambers. For Belem on May 15 top 800 m is expected with
olympic medalist Ahmed Ismail of Sudan, Kenyan world junior champion
David Mutua and local elite Kleberson Davide with Fabiano Pecanha. US hurdles
Ronnie Ash and Joel Brown are the favorites for the 110 m hurdles at the meet.

RESULTS

DES MOINES (USA,
Apr 27): Last year NCAA Champion Kylie Hutson improved hugely at the third
annual Drake Relays Pole Vault at the Mall indoor competition. At the Jordan Creek
Town Center
she cleared 460, 465 and 470. Her best coming into the competition was 451 from
last May. Lacy Janson as second achieved 460 followed by Mary Saxer (449). In
the men competition Derek Miles won with 562. Second Brad Walker and third
Jeremy Scott both cleared 552
cm.

DRAZEVINA (MNE, Apr 24): Hungarian Paris European indoor finalist Anita
Marton won the special shot put competition in Montenegro with her second best
career mark 18.15 m.
Male winner Serbian Milan Jotanovic got 20.16 over Bosnian Hamza Alic 19.50.