Allyson Felix, Carmelita Jeter, David Oliver and Walter Dix are among the elite athletes who will be competing in the Daegu IAAF Challenge event. A real dress rehearsal for the World Champs, this will give the attending athletes a chance to see the facility for the last time before this summers’ upcoming World Champs (August 27-Sept 5).

A team from the New York Road Runners Club, including TV commentator and road essayist Toni Reavis will be attending a memorial for the late, great Grete Waitz. Mary Wittenberg & George Hirsch, the CEO and Chairman of the board of the NYRR, will be among those attending the memorial, which will be held tomorrow, Wednesday, May 12, 2011. Please keep Grete, her husband Jack and their families and friends, in your thoughts and prayers tomorrow.

Carmelita Jeter, 2010 AVIVA Gateshead, photo by Photorun.net

FELIX, JETER, OLIVER, DIX

DAEGU (KOR): Fourth this year IAAF
World Challenge meet is the rehearsal
for the August World Championships. Colorful Pre-Championship Meet of
Daegu is
offering also superstars of world of athletics. Allyson Felix runs the
200 m, Carmelita Jeter the 100 m. On the men side David
Oliver is at the 110 m
hurdles and Walter Dix in the 100
m (against Mike Rodgers). The duel of the evening could
be women´s 100 m
hurdles when world leader Kellie Wells runs against Lolo Jones, olympic
winner
Dawn Harper and new British representative Tiffany Ofili who aims for UK
record. Men´s duel of the day will be 400 m hurdles with Angelo Taylor
and Bershawn
Jackson. From men events also to note world medalist Richard Mateelong
in the
steeple, Bilal Mansour of Bahrain will clash with Kenyan Boaz Lalang in
the 800 m. Triple jump will see Caribbean affair when Alexis Copello
competes against
Leevan Sands. Women´s 1500 m
will see fresh Doha
winner Anna Mishchenko in another test of her world leading shape. Pole
vault
is expecting season begin for a group of top Europeans, Germans Silke
Spiegelburg and Carolin Hingst with Russian Yulia Golubchikova. Former
olympic
winner Yelena Slesarenko is the star of women high jump. Favorites for
first
IAAF Hammer Challenge women competition of the season are Russian
Tatyana
Lysenko, Slovak from maternity leave returning Martina Hrasnova and
Chinese
olympic medalist Zhang Wenxiu. 20 degrees and clouds is the weather
forecast.

WORLD LEADING DECATHLON

HAVANA (CUB, May 5-6): Berlin
and Osaka 8th placer Yordanis Garcia scored at
another local meet in Cuba
world leading 8397 points in decathlon. His marks were
10.86-7.00-15.90-2.07-49.15/14.47-45.22-4.80-67.70-4:31.40. Second Yunior Diaz
scored 8053 and third top Cuban decathlete world medalist Leonel Suarez
competed only in some events (210
in high jump, 44.06 with discus, 13.48 in shot put and 480 in pole vault). Gretchen
Quintana won the heptathlon with 6017 points. New personal best at 800 m for the Moncton 4th placer Rose
Mary Almanza with 2:00.56. Andy Gonzalez took the men´s 800 m in 1:46.61.

ROBLES VS. TURNER IN HENGELO

HENGELO (NED): Organizers for the Fanny Blankers Koen
Games on May 29th have announced a high profile 110 m hurdles with World record
holder Dayron Robles, in shape European champion Andy Turner and Dutch hurdles
stars Gregory Sedoc and Marcel Van der Westen. Robles was the favourite to win
the 2010 edition of the FBK Games but fell in the rain and got defeated by 2009
and 2010 winner Andy Turner.

TIRUNESH VS. LINET VS. VIVIAN

EUGENE (USA):
The Prefontaine Classic at Hayward Field in Eugene will be a two-day affair this year,
with meet organizers moving the distance races to Friday, June 3, the day
before the main part of the meet. Of particular interest to local fans will be
a world-class women’s 5000 m
field, featuring superb duel of olympic winner Tirunesh Dibaba with Kenyan
world champions Vivian Cheruiyot and Linet Masai. Also home stars Shalane
Flanagan and Kara Goucher will be running. Not to mention Sally Kipyego,
Ethiopian Wude Ayalew and steeple world record holder Gulnara Samitova-Galkina
of Russia.
The men’s 10,000 is expected to include six men who have sub-27-minute personal
records, including Ethiopian Imane Merga, No. 1 ranked in world in the 5,000
last year reports oregonlive.com. Merga ran his last track 10k when fourth at
World Championships in Berlin 2009. Announced in the field also multiple
half-marathon world champion Zersenay Tadese. From Ethiopian camp Sileshi
Sihine and Abebe Dinkesa. From Kenyan camp Paul Tanui, Leonard Komon, Mathew
Kisorio, Joseph Ebuya, Moses Masai, Micah Kogo and young Dennis Masai. It has
been 30 years since Toshiko Seko of Japan set the world records with 1:13:55.8
for 25 000m enroute to a 1:29:18.8 clocking for 30 000 m. Aiming to set
world records at these IAAF-recognized distances will be Moses Mosop and Asbel
Kirui of Kenya. Kirui will shoot to break the 25 000 record, while Mosop will
simultaneously aim for the 30 000. Kirui has run 1:00.11 for a half-marathon
and 2:05:04 for a marathon. Mosop, meanwhile, has impeccable track credentials
(12:54.46 for 5,000 & 26:49.55 for 10,000), and recently ran the
second-fastest marathon ever (2:03:06, Boston).
Organizers are informing.

OTHER NEWS

BERLIN (GER): German former European 10.000m champion
Jan Fitschen believes he can do a lot better than the disappointing 2:20.15 he
ran in his marathon debut in Düsseldorf. Fitschen will prepare for a second
marathon in the fall and plans a summer training camp in St Moritz writes leichtathletik.de.

LAUSANNE (SUI): Belgian decathlete Thomas Van der
Plaetsen is aiming to impress in Götzis and in Ostrava at the European U23 Championships in
July writes European Athletics. The 20-year-old multi-eventer impressed last
winter when finishing 6th at the European indoor championships in a national
record of 6020 points. Van der Plaetsen also added he has recovered from a
serious bout of measles and is hoping to be one of the medal contenders when
competing in Ostrava
in July.

LONDON (GBR): UK Athletics chairman Ed Warner has
been appointed to the prestigious position as chairman of the International
Paralympic Committee (IPC) Athletics Sport Technical Committee (STC), meaning
he will play a leading role in the development of the sport beyond London 2012
to Rio 2016. It is some consolation for his embarrassing failure last month to
get a seat on the ruling Council of European Athletics, leaving Britain without any representation at the top
table of the sport in Europe for the first
time in its history writes Insidethegames.

LONDON (GBR): BP, the Official Oil and Gas Partner for the London 2012
Games, have announced that they will be working with The Olympic Museum in
Lausanne to create a ground-breaking free to view exhibition at the Royal Opera
House during the 2012 London Olympic Games reports Insidethegames.

NAIROBI (KEN): Athletics Kenya Chairman Isaiah Kiplagat is
worrying about the low number of athletes who have attained qualification marks
for the IAAF World Championships in Daegu. Kiplagat said for The Daily Nation
that the current trend is worrying for the selectors and federation as they are
far off the around 50 athletes normally attaining the qualification mark.

PRAGUE (CZE): The 18th Odlozil Memorial in Prague (EA Premium Meeting)
announced for June 13 from foreign stars olympic high jump winner Andrey Silnov
(against Czech star Jaroslav Baba), Kenyan Haron Keitany for the main memorial
event the 1500 m
and 2003 world champion Kim Collins for the 100 m. Home stars will be
also present with javelin world record holder Barbora Spotakova, hurdler Petr
Svoboda, Denisa Rosolova with checking her speed in the 200 m and Zuzana Hejnova at 400 m hurdles. Strong hammer
will have Slovak European Champion Libor Charfreitag against German Markus
Esser and Polish veteran Szymon Ziolkowski.

KINGSTON (JAM): Olympic and world 100 m gold medalist
Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce is thinking about doubling at World Championships in
Daegu. It was after her win on Saturday at Jamaica International Invitational
with windy 22.10. She must not qualify for 100 m as title defender has
wild card from IAAF. “It’s my first 200 of the season and it’s the fastest I
have ever ran. I am feeling very good. I followed instructions. The field was
very strong, and I decided I was going to run the first 100m very, very hard,
and tell myself, catch me if you can, and I just ran and maintained my form,”
added Fraser-Pryce for TrackAlerts even though her coach Stephen Francis is yet
to decide if she will double in Daegu, it’s something she wants to do.

INNSBRUCK (AUT): The Golden Roof Challenge in Innsbruck on the street
will see on June 3 German Tim Lobinger against US Mark Hollis and Jeremy Scott
in pole vault. 2006 World indoor champion in long jump Ignisious Gaisah of Ghana is the
star of his event. Some 5000 spectators are expected.

BYDGOSZCZ (POL): 11th Enea Cup of Bydgoszcz (EA Premium Meeting) on June 3
announced a top 800 m
clash. Poland has current
European outdoor (Marcin Lewandowski) and indoor (Adam Kszczot) champion and
they will fight against reigning world champion Mbulaeni Mulaudzi of South Africa.
Another top name announced is triple jump world champion Philips Idowu of Great Britain.
Pole vault will see Barcelona medalist Maksim Mazuryk of Ukraine against
returning olympic silver winner Yevgeniy Lukyanenko from Russia (he jumped in
Bydgoszcz in 2008 his best 601) and world junior champion 2008 (from Bydgoszcz)
German Raphael Holzdeppe. Slovak European winner Libor Charfreitag will compete
in hammer throw.

FORTALEZA (BRA): Brazilian Tour starts on Wednesday May 11 in Fortaleza with 7th edition of Grande Premio
Internacional Caixa Unifor de Atletismo. It is an evening meeting and is
orientated towards throws and mainly distance running. Organizers announced
solid women steeple with world junior record holder Almaz Ayana of Ethiopia with her team-mate Mekdes Bekele and
reigning world junior champion Purity Kirui from Kenya. In the men´s 800 m olympic medalist Ahmed
Ismail from Sudan
competes against world junior champion David Mutua, another Kenyan Reuben Bett
and home top ones Kleberson Davide with Fabiano Pecanha. Kenyans are the
favorites for the 5000 m
(Japhet Kipyegon, David Kiprotich along with South African champion Tshamano
Setone) and steeple (Bernard Mbugua). Portugal record holder Marco Fortes
is shot put favorite and US Jarred Rome for discus. National record holder of
Trinidad Cleopatra Borel-Brown is the best name for women shot put. She will
compete against Cuban Misleydis Gonzales and best Hungarian Anita Marton.

FRANKFURT (GER): Organizers of the jubilee 30th edition of BMW Frankfurt
Marathon planned for October 30 announced a world record bonus of 50 000 EUR.
Last year winner Wilson Kipsang clocked 2:04:57 on the men side and Caroline
Kilel 2:23:25 on the women side.

NEW YORK (USA): New York Road Runners President and CEO Mary Wittenberg
leads a USA contingent including marathon great Joan Benoit Samuelson,
broadcaster Toni Reavis, NYRR Chairman of the Board George Hirsch and others to
the national tribute in memory of Grete Waitz planned at the Bislett Stadium in
her hometown of Oslo on this Wednesday. Norwegian Prime Minister Jens
Stoltenberg will give a speech at the tribute and Norway’s Royal Family has also been
invited. Wittenberg
is also expected to be one of the invited speakers.

OSLO (NOR): Verdens Gang informs that when men´s high jump will return
to Bislett Games (Samsung Diamond League) on June 9 the best ones are expected
to compete. Last indoor season number one Ivan Ukhov and his team-mates
European champion Aleksandr Shustov, Olympic winner Andrey Silnov and World
Champion Yaroslav Rybakov. With them 2007 World Champion Donald Thomas and
world medalist and 2nd in Doha last week
Kyriacos Ioannou of Cyprus.
It is symbolical because the fields for the meeting are completed by former
great high jumper Steinar Hoen. Last time men´s high jump was staged was in
2005 when Stefan Holm cleared 229 on count-back over Jaroslav Baba.

OSTRAVA (CZE): The European U23 Championships planned
for Ostrava
from July 14 to July 17 announced two more ambassadors from local stars.
Supporting and promoting the event will be from now on 1992 Decathlon olympic
winner Robert Zmelik and 2004 olympic high jump medalist Jaroslav Baba. Both
coming from Ostrava
region. Already earlier announced as ambassadors were 1997 Triple jump world
champion Sarka Kasparkova and fresh star Denisa Rosolova, the European Indoor
Champion at 400 m
from this March. Organizers informed that preliminary interest shows more than
800 athletes from 45 countries. Czech Television will prepare live signal from
all action at the event.

BIRMINGHAM (GBR): European and Commonwealth silver
medallist Mark Lewis-Francis admits he is chomping at the bit to test himself
against star sprint duo Tyson Gay and Asafa Powell twice this summer after
announcing his plans to compete at both the Aviva Birmingham Grand Prix and
Aviva London Grand Prix. The 28-year-old Olympic Gold medallist will compete
first in the home of his upbringing at the Birmingham Alexander Stadium on 10
July, when the city holds its first ever Samsung Diamond League meet. Then
later in the summer he will perform in front of his current hometown crowd at
the Crystal Palace National Sports Centre on 5-6 August, exactly a year to the
day before the 100m final at the 2012 London Olympics. Organizers are informing
in a release.

LONDON (GBR): Latest blog of Pat Butcher at www.globerunner.org: This one could run
and run….

ATHENS (GRE): Agencies are informing that Greek
sprinters Costas Kenteris and Katerina Thanou were sentenced to a suspended
31-month jail term. That means they are unlikely to serve prison time for being
found guilty of faking a motorcycle accident on the eve of the 2004 Athens
Olympics. Kenteris and Thanou were not present in court, but their lawyers
immediately appealed the sentences.

RESULTS

FRANCONVILLE (FRA, May 8): Gaël Rotardier (born in 1994) improved his
personal best by 6 cm
to jump 220 cm
and tie Michael Hanany’s eleven years old French Youth record. Before 2011, his
best mark was only 2.05 m
and he improved it six times this year including four times indoors. He will be
the name to watch at Lille World Youth Championships in July.

LIVORNO (ITA, May 8): European silver winner from
Barcelona Nicola Vizzoni achieved good 76.93 during the junior club
competition.

TAICHUNG (TPE, May 10): Moncton 7th placer Ling Ching-Hsuan improved
to excellent 811 in
long jump. Local media are informing. Still a junior (will be 19 on May 14)
qualified so for Daegu and London.
Last year he won the Asian Junior Championships with windy 794 cm. He is third ever
Taiwanese long jumper over 8
meters.C