by Larry EderWell, the Samsung DL is merely two months away and Yohan Blake is making sure we know where the WC at 100 meters is racing! IAAF announced this week that Yohan Blake will be racing in both Doha and Shanghai, May 10 and May 18, respectively.
Blake for Shanghai 200 m
SHANGHAI (CHN): After Doha 100 m world champion Yohan Blake will remain in Asia. He confirmed his participation at the Shanghai Diamond League meet on May 18 for the 200 m. The week before he will run the 100 m in Qatar. It will be the first time for “the beast” to come to the Chinese metropolis. The introduction of Blake to the fast track in the Shanghai stadium will be a great sprint spectacle. Blake is a serious threat for the meeting record, currently 19.76 set by Usain Bolt in 2009. Blake is looking forward to coming to Shanghai: “Returning to China will bring good memories for me. It was in China that I won my first major international medal as a junior athlete at the 2006 IAAF World Junior Championships. Competing in the Samsung Diamond League Shanghai will afford me the opportunity to once again experience the truly magnificent hospitality of the Chinese people. I am looking forward to in return, competing well at the 200m distance”. Informs the IAAF.
15 confirmed for Worlds
MOSCOW (RUS): Russian head coach Valentin Maslakov confirmed for All-Sport before the summer season names of the athletes who will be automatically qualified for the World Championships in Moscow. It is in total 15 names. Nine are Daegu winners and so title defenders with wild cards from the IAAF – Mariya Savinova for 800 m, Yuliya Zaripova in steeple, walkers Valeriy Borchin, Olga Kaniskina and Sergey Bakulin, Anna Chicherova for high jump, Tatyana Chernova for heptathlon, Tatyana Lysenko for hammer and Mariya Abakumova for javelin. Next two are Diamond League winners 2012 Aleksandr Menkov and Yelena Sokolova, both in long jump. The remaining four athletes are Olympic gold medalists from London: walkers Yelena Lashmanova, Sergey Kirdyapkin, hurdler Natalya Antyukh and high jumper Ivan Ukhov.
Kynard vs. Drouin in high jump
FAYETTEVILLE (USA): For the last time current world indoor lists will most probably be changed this weekend on Friday and Saturday at the NCAA Championships here. The fast 200 m track could see attacks on the top marks in the 200 m (Aaron Ernest and Olympic finalist Anaso Jobodwana in men section and Kimberlyn Duncan in the women) and the 400 m (world leader Deon Lendore with Regina George in the women race). On the straight Brianna Rollins is the world leader in women hurdles, Marvin Bracy should clash with fresh national champion D´Angelo Cherry in the flat 60 m. Interesting to see new name Leoman Momoh in the men 800 m and Kenyan Lawi Lalang doubling in the mile and 3000 m. High jumps will see 3 olympic medalists, in men section duel of Erik Kynard with Canadian Derek Drouin and on the women side Brigetta Barrett. Marquis Dendy lost his long jump world lead to Europeans last weekend and could attack the top position. Emma Coburn is the mile favorite, Abbey D´Agostino plans 3000/5000 double. Here the favorite is Kenyan Betsy Saina.
OTHER NEWS
LONDON (GBR): Olympic 5000 m and 10 000 m finalist Jo Pavey (39) will miss the World Championships in Moscow. She is pregnant with her second child. Pavey, who also claimed the silver medal at the European Championships in
Helsinki in a memorable 2012, is due to give birth in September. Her next targets European Championships 2014 in Zurich and Olympic Games 2016 in Brazil.
LONDON (GBR): Insidethegames informs that Leyton Orient chairman Barry Hearn is set to mount a legal challenge over the future of the Olympic Stadium in Stratford, he has revealed. The London Legacy Development Corporation (LLDC) has named West Ham United as the preferred bidder to move into the venue, claiming the process had been “robust, fair and transparent”. The LLDC and the Premier League club are now on the verge of agreeing a deal for the 429 million GBP venue but Hearn has revealed he will be calling for a judicial review over the process, suggesting that the idea of a ground share between his League One side and West Ham was not properly considered. “We believe the rules of the bidding process set out by the LLDC have not been followed,” Hearn told BBC London. Leyton Orient and West Ham were among four parties to bid for tenancy of the venue, along with UCFB College of Football Business and a consortium linked to Formula 1. West Ham were named as the preferred bidder in December last year in what is the second attempt to resolve the Olympic Stadium’s future use.
MOSCOW (RUS): Russian head-coach Valentin Maslakov commented on the European Indoor results of the Russian team. “We set a goal of around 15 medals and check the level of our young generation. We returned with 14 medals and number one position in medals and points. Also the youngsters did not disappoint. And I must add we could have even more medals, for example from Kseniya Ustalova who fell in the 400 m semifinal and later was not able to run the relay where with her our chances would be better for the first place. Darya Klishina and Ruslan Samitov achieved U23 national indoor records, nice wins for Sergey Shubenkov and Sergey Mudrov with Aleksandr Menkov are very promising before the summer. I was disappointed from combined eventers, we were not aware that Bolshova is injured, Savchenko in pole vault did not manage on the mental side.”
STARKVILLE (USA): Recent US indoor champion at 60 m D’Angelo Cherry was unsure last fall if his track and field career at Mississippi State was over or not. He trained anyway and got a big surprise before he went home for the holidays. “He was under the impression in the fall when he was training, that his career at Mississippi State was over with,” MSU track and field coach Steve Dudley said in a press conference on Tuesday. “I wanted to see how hard he was going to train, but yet not know whether he was going to have a season or not. It was his best fall training. Before he went home for the holidays, I told him you’ve got indoor season left if you want it.” The fifth-year senior Cherry, who had not qualified with the relay team in the fall outdoor championship, didn’t know what to think or say when he was given the opportunity to run in the spring. His time 6.49 at US Indoors is a 2013 collegiate best and a personal record for Cherry. His time is the sixth fastest in collegiate history and ranks him fourth on the all-time collegiate performer list. His time is also the fastest collegiate performance in any event since Tennessee’s Leonard Scott clocked a 6.48 at the 2001 SEC Championships. Cherry will compete in his last event as a Bulldog this weekend. MSU will be traveling to the NCAA Indoor Championships. Writes starkvilledailynews.com.
HAPALUA (USA): Hawaii’s Half Marathon is back on March 10, 2013. World record holder Patrick Makau will be using the event as his only tune-up race for the London Marathon. One of the other main contenders at this years London Marathon, Wilson Kipsang, won the 40th Honolulu Marathon in December 2012. The Hapalua features an exciting racing concept titled The Chase, which pits 24 of the best runners based in Hawaii against the top professional runners. The runners in Team Hawaii are given a head start (ranging from 25 to 7 minutes) on the three invited professionals; Jimmy Muindi, Nicholas Manza and Patrick Makau. The first person to cross the finish line takes home the prize money. The Hapalua makes up part of the same scenic Honolulu Marathon course, starting in Waikiki, going through historic downtown Honolulu and finishing in Kapiolani Park after rounding the Diamond Head crater. Organizers are informing.
ROTTERDAM (NED): Bib numbers for the ABN AMRO Rotterdam marathon have been sold out, over five weeks before the start of the event. On Sunday April 14th, 10.000 runners will run the marathon. It is the first time th
e event is sold out this early, organizers have announced.
BERLIN (GER): German European sprint champion from 2010 Verena Sailer concludes she is very happy with her indoor season in which she has run eight of her all time top 10 indoor times. Only one time she ran slower than 7.20, which proved she is in top shape although she only managed eight place at the European indoor championships. Sailer is hoping to improve her 100m personal best of 11.05 during the summer season she told leichtathletik.de.
RATINGEN (GER): Good news for athletics on German TV market. The traditional Ratingen Combined Events meeting (part of IAAF CE Challenge) will be broadcasted by one of the two main public TV stations ZDF. The date of the event is June 15-16.
PARIS (FRA): Thursday edition of prestigious sports daily L´Équipe lists 8 names as potential candidates for the IOC Presidency. It should be noted that no one so far officialy confirmed the candidacy, the deadline is June 10 this year before the September election at the IOC session in Buenos Aires. From the world of athletics two names are mentioned. Moroccan IOC Vice-President and 1984 Olympic winner at 400 m hurdles Nawal El Moutawakel who with 51 years is the second youngest from the mentioned names. The youngest from all eight is the second athletics name, legendary pole vaulter Sergey Bubka (49), also IAAF Vice President. The third youngest is German olympic winner in fencing Thomas Bach (59), currently also Vice President of the IOC. The remaining five names are 60+, Richard Carrion (60), Rene Fasel (63), Ser Miang (64), Denis Oswald (65) and C.K. Wu (66).
LONDON (GBR): BBC informs that British javelin thrower Goldie Sayers has suffered a setback in her rehabilitation from an elbow injury. Sayers recently had a second operation on her elbow but will need to go under the surgeon’s knife for a third time. “I’m gutted and incredibly frustrated. Good news – it makes me more determined than ever to make this comeback special,” she said on Twitter.
BIRMINGHAM (GBR): Hammer throwers Sophie Hitchon and Alex Smith will lead a team of seven British athletes at the European Cup Winter Throws in Castellon, Spain. British record holder Hitchon, who finished 12th in the hammer at the London 2012 Olympic Games, is joined in the women’s event by 2009 European Under-23 bronze medallist Sarah Holt, while Smith, who also finished 12th in London last summer, will compete alongside 2010 Commonwealth Games representative Mark Dry. In women shot put Rachel Wallader is listed, in U23 shot put Sophie McKinna (still a junior) and in javelin U23 men Joseph Dunderdale. Writes Athletics Weekly.
STOCKHOLM (SWE): It is now confirmed. The 45 years old Karin Torneklint is the new Swedish athletics head- coach. The former coach of Kallur twins will start to work in the new position in April. The contract period runs until 2016.
ROMA (ITA): More than 14 000 runners have entered the 19th Acea Maratona di Roma on March 17. Live broadcast is planned in 74 countries all over the world. 8000 runners come from Italy, more than 6000 from abroad, 82 countries will be represented. After the withdrawal of Andrea Lalli the favorites are the African runners. Ethiopian Chala Dechase, whose personal best is 2:06.33, Kenyan Slyvester Kimeli Teimet 2:06.49, more Ethiopians Bekana Tolesa Daba (2:07.04) and Getachew Terfa Negari (2:07.32). From Kenyans also to note Stephen Chemlany (2:07.55), Luka Kanda (2:08.40) winner of the 2012 edition and Samson Barmao (2:08.52). From Europeans to follow Russian Artem Aplachkin (2:13.10) and Portuguese Hermano Ferreira (2:13.28). In the women section a European win is possible. Turkish Sultan Haydar 2:25.09 national record, Ukrainian Tetyana Filonyuk (2:26.24), Russian Olga Glok (2:27.18), Belarusian Nastassia Staravoitava (2:27.24) and Lithuanian Rasa Drazdauskaite (2:29.29). On the African side Ethiopian Ashu Kasim, with a highly-valued PB of 2:23.09 and Kenyan Helena Kirop, 2:23.37. Four other Ethiopian athletes will run for victory: Goitetom Haftu (2:26.21), Sechale Adugna (2:26.27), Derbe Godana (2:27.31) and Eshetu Degefa (2:27.34), as well as Kenya’s Hellen Kimutai (2:25.53, defending champion) and Hellen Mugo (2:27.16). Winning prize money is 25 000 E for first place. Organizers are informing in a release.
ATLANTA (USA): World and olympic gold medalist Veronica Campbell-Brown says for IAAF that she hopes to start to compete late March. “I suspect the 400m or a leg in the 4x400m will be my opener given the leaning of my coach. To be honest, I enjoy watching the 400m, it is one of my favorite events to watch and let me emphasize the word ‘watch’….lol! So far, I am quite pleased with my training so I will be ready to take the one lap,” she wrote. As informed earlier she passed the indoor season.
SINGAPORE (SIN): Dates of the Asian Grand Prix 2013 are confirmed by Asian Athletics. First leg on May 5 in Bangkok, second on May 8 in Chonburi, both places in Thailand and the third meet on May 12 in Colombo, Sri Lanka.
RESULTS
NANJING (CHN, Mar 7): Top marks also during second day of Chinese National Indoor GP meet (not in Beijing as wrongly listed in EME NEWS on Mar 6). Olympic finalist Dong Bin achieved Asian indoor triple jump record 17.16. World indoor finalist from Istanbul Zhang Guowei cleared national high jump indoor record 232 cm and Barcelona World junior finalist Xie Zheye clocked national senior mark in the 200 m 20.93. On the women side 200 m national record for Jiang Lan 23.52 and good triple jumping from Wang Rong 14.09 PB and junior Liu Xiaohong 14.06 also PB at age of 18. Informs Tilastopaja.
