by Larry Eder
MILLS SEES BIG POTENTIAL
KINGSTON (JAM): Jamaica Gleaner writes that Glen Mills, head coach and president of the Racers Track Club, says he is looking forward to continue charting the development of some of the club’s and the island’s more promising youngsters, perhaps with one eye on life after the Bolt-Blake tandem. Olympic 200m bronze medallist Warren Weir, and Kemar Bailey-Cole, a 4x100m relay gold medallist and Jamaica’s newest member of the sub-10 seconds 100m club, with a best of 9.97, lead that group, which also includes Jason Young, who has a personal best of 19.86 200m, and World Junior Championships 100m finalist Jazeel Murphy. World Junior 200m champion Delano Williams, of Munro College acclaim, will also form part of the cast this year, while World Youth 100m champion and 200m silver medallist Odail Todd, who still has a year left at Green Island High, is also believed to be heading to the club following his studies. “I am very excited about these youngsters,” Mills told The Gleaner. “Bailey-Cole, I think, has a similarity to Bolt and he has tremendous acceleration. There are so much areas to improve, especially his first 40m. We can do wonders with him when we correct that. It’s going to take a little time and depends on how well he adapts to the corrections and training and so forth though,” Mills warned, before explaining some of the issues the lanky sprinter has had to overcome.
ZARIPOVA THINKS MARATHON FOR 2016
MOSCOW (RUS): Olympic steeple winner Yulia Zaripova said that in London her main goal was to win and not breaking the record. For 2013 she wants to win the World Championships and World University Games in Kazan and also to attack the world record. For next games in Brazil she is thinking about switching to marathon.
SAVINOVA AIMS FOR MEDAL 2013
MOSCOW (RUS): Olympic 800 m winner Mariya Savinova confirmed for Russian media that her main aim is to win a medal at home World Championships next year in Moscow. She had holidays in Barcelona. Also high jump olympic winner Ivan Ukhov confirmed that Moscow 2013 is his main aim for next year. Ukhov also did not want to speculate about possibilities to compete at next Olympic Games 2016 in Brazil. “Im not sure that is too far ahead,” he said.
SOKOLOVA 60 M INDOORS
MOSCOW (RUS): Olympic silver winner in long jump Yelena Sokolova (26) said she wants to try to run 60 m during the coming indoor season. “My best is 7.34 and I think there is lot more potential in me. It will be interesting to change the focus in winter. ” Sokolova is looking forward to outdoor season 2013 and the World Championships in Moscow. “I m happy I have the wild card and will not be forced to undergo the tough qualification at our nationals. I have top memories on Luzhniki stadium I won there in 2002 international youth games,” added Sokolova.
OTHER NEWS
PARIS (FRA): European heptathlon champion Antoinette Nana Djimou told athle.com she is very satisfied with her Olympic season although she did not manage to win a medal at the London Olympic Games. Nana Djimou also spoke about her goals for the 2013 season in which she wants to attack the French record set by Eunice Barber at 6889 points.
BERLIN (GER): Germany is set to select its ‘Champion of the year 2012’, an award in which the best German athlete is awarded. All ‘champions’ will be invited to the Greek island Kreta for a well deserved holiday and where the eventual winner will be announced. In athletics Olympic champion Robert Harting and new German pole vault record holder Bjorn Otto are among the favorites reports leichtathletik.de.
RIO DE JANEIRO (BRA): Stretching out into the still blue lagoon waters, set against a backdrop of rugged mountains, these are the spectacular first images of how Rio de Janeiro’s Olympic park will look in 2016. The waterfront park will be built on the former Brazilian grand prix track in a striking triangular layout spread over 300 acres. Unlike the London Games, the main Olympic stadium is not at the park, athletes will use the famous Brazil football stadium, the Maracana, which will also be the site of the opening and closing ceremonies according to The Daily Mail.
LOS ANGELES (USA): Competitor Group, which puts on the hugely popular Rock ‘n’ Roll half marathons and marathons, is for sale, according to Sports Business Daily. In the four years that Falconhead has owned Competitor Group, the company has grown from 16 to 75 races, including some domestic triathlons and overseas road races.
LAUSANNE (SUI) : World indoor high jump record holder Kajsa Bergqvist will be joined by a battery of legends of Swedish athletics including multi-events superstar Carolina Klüft and former Olympic triple jump champion Christian Olsson in a project, Modern Swedish Legends, aimed at promoting the 2013 European Athletics Indoor Championships in Göteborg writes European Athletics. Bergqvist, who is also an ambassador of the championships, will be at hand with other famous Swedish athletics stars like Stefan Holm, Erica Johansson, Mattias Sunneborn, Malin Ewerlöf Krepp, Robert Kronberg, Jimisola Laursen and Patrik Klüft to interact with fans at the iconic Scandinavium arena that will host the championships from 1-3 March, 2013.
LAUSANNE (SUI): Olga Kaniskina, has informed the Russian media of her plans to quit the sport before the 2016 Olympic Games in Rio. After winning an Olympic gold in Beijing, silver in London and three consecutive world titles as well as the 2010 European crown, the 27-year-old is even cautious about her chances of competing at the IAAF World Championships in Moscow next summer. “The final decision on my future plans has not been taken yet, I cannot even make plans for the year ahead. I was supposed to retire after the Olympics in London but they have asked me to stay for one more year until the world championships 2013” she was quoted according to European Athletics.
BERLIN (GER): German athlete Jana Hartmann announced she is leaving her coach Pierre Ayadi and will in the future be guided by German coach Marcus Hoselmann. Hartmann didn’t manage to qualify for the European championships or London Olympic Games due to health issues reports leichtathletik.de.
BERLIN (GER): German walker Melanie Seeger confirmed she will continue her career until the European championships in 2014. Seeger, who is now 35, aims at ending her career on a high and focuses on one last solid performance when competing in Zurich in 2014 confirmsleichtathletik.de.
NEW YORK (USA): Bernard Lagat confirmed he understand the end of his career is nearing and told New York Road Runners he is hoping to make amends at the IAAF World Championships next summer in Moscow while adding he does not see himself racing in Rio in 2016. 2014 will be a transition year for Lagat in which he wants to venture into the road racing.
GLASGOW (GBR): A thistle man named Clyde has been unveiled as the official mascot of the Glasgow 2014 Commonwealth Games. The mascot, which has been named after the river which flows through the Commonwealth Games host city, was designed by 12-year old Beth Gilmour.
NAIROBI (KEN): Safaricom CEO Bob Collymore has called on athletics stakeholders to identify and develop sprint runners from the grassroots to help Kenya enlarge their medal scope in future events. Speaking while awarding medallists from the 2012 London Olympics and Paralympic Games, Collymore said it is time the corporate world, athletics bodies and the government came together to invest in facilities to help achieve this feat reports Allafrica.com.
NEW YORK (USA): US olympic 1500 m fourth placer Matthew Centrowitz is hoping to erase the taste of that bitter pill in the final race of his first professional season on Saturday in the NYRR Fifth Avenue Mile, where he will face among others U.S. Olympic teammates Leo Manzano, the 1500m silver medalist in London, and defending champion Bernard Lagat, who finished fourth in the Olympic 5000m. “This is my first time doing Fifth Ave and this is my first race on the roads,” Centrowitz said. “I love New York. My mom went to Hunter. My dad went to Manhattan for a year before transferring to Oregon and grew up in the Bronx. New York has always been a second home to me.” Centrowitz is already looking ahead to next season, where he will attempt to get back in the medals at Worlds in Moscow. One of the big changes he expects to make once he begins working in earnest with coach Alberto Salazar is strength training, something he has not been able to incorporate much into his regimen due to persistent injuries. Informs RRW.
GOTZIS (AUT): The top IAAF CE Challenge meet of Gotzis announced its date for the 39th edition as usual for last May weekend, in 2013 for the dates 25-26. In the special CE scoring (results from decathlon and heptahlon) Gotzis is second best of the year (118 621) behind Olympic Games (120 731). Third place goes to European Championships in Helsinki 115 915 ahead of US Olympic Trials 112 571 and other Challenge meetings Ratingen 110 007 and Kladno 109 751.
TORONTO (CAN): IAAF writes that the great rivalry between East African neighbours Kenya and Ethiopia continues on the Toronto roads 14 October with a world class field intent on chasing the women’s course record of 2:22:43. Agnes Kiprop, who has a personal best time of 2:23:54 from the 2011 Frankfurt Marathon, will carry Kenyan hopes into the Scotiabank Toronto Waterfront Marathon, an IAAF Silver Label Road Race. Among her Ethiopian rivals is Netsanet Achamo who has a best of 2:24:12.
ST. PETERBURG (RUS): New stadium was opened in St. Peterburg by mayor Georgiy Poltavchenko with triple olympic middle distances winner Tatyana Kazankina. Not only running track but also jumping and throwing areas are included.
JOHANNESBURG (RSA): South African national champions Stephen Mokoka and Rene Kalmer will lead the South African team at the World Half Marathon Championships in Kavarna. Mokoka will be joined by Lucky Mohale and Gladwin Mzazi in the men’s team, while Kalmer will compete together with her sister Christine as well as Nolene Conrad.
ANTANARIVO (MAD): Rosa Rakotozafy, 2002 and 2004 African champion in the 100m hurdles, was elected president of Madagascar’s Olympians Association. Informs African Athletics facebook.
NAIROBI (KEN): East Standard informs that the Chandaria Foundation has set aside 10 million Kenyan Shilling that will be used to build for David Rudisha a track in an area of his choice in Kenya. The track will be known as The Chandaria-Rudisha Running Track. The track will be used to identify, nurture and expose upcoming talents for future Olympics.
TOKYO (JPN): Brett Larner writes on his blog that Japan Athletics Federation executive Susumu Takano evaluated the results of the Japanese Olympic team in athletics, where the team’s record of one medal and two top eight performances fell short of the federation’s goal of one medal and five top eight performances. “It’s a very disappointing result,” he said. “We beat ourselves.” Takano was positive about hammer thrower Koji Murofushi’s bronze medal but identified the female marathoners’ inability to cope with pace changes and the disqualifications of the race walkers as challenges that must be dealt with in the future.
EUROPE: Some of European federations already announced their dates for national outdoor championships next year. Germany will held the top national event in Ulm on July 6-7, the next weekend July 12-14 UK Trials will be held along with French Championships, Poland will have its national event on July 19-21 in Torun.
RESULTS
BREZICE (SLO, Sep 19): At last national GP meet in Slovenia Barbara Spiler achieved 65.62 in hammer, Rozle Prezelj cleared 214 in the high jump.
