by Larry Eder
BOLT AND MANY MORE
LONDON (GBR): Now it is confirmed, Usain Bolt will compete at the IAAF Diamond League meet in London, the Sainsbury´s Anniversary Games. He will run the 100 m on July 26 and 4×100 m on July 27. He will compete in this event in London for the first time since 2009. “I haven’t competed at the London Diamond League since 2009 but it has always been a great meet with lots of Jamaican support: it almost feels like running at home,” Bolt said in a statement. Confirmed for the race is 2003 World Champion Kim Collins. In what promises to be one of the most highly anticipated events of the weekend, Australia’s World and Olympic 100m Hurdles champion Sally Pearson will face a field which includes the American pair of 2011 World Championships silver medallist Danielle Carruthers, 2012 Olympic bronze medallist Kellie Wells and Great Britain’s Olympic heptathlon champion Jessica Ennis. The men’s 110m Hurdles is also set to be a mouth-watering encounter as the USA’s Aries Merritt, the Olympic champion and world record holder, goes head-to-head with the two men who finished directly behind him in London: USA’s 2011 World champion Jason Richardson and Jamaica’s Hansle Parchment. The men’s 400m will also have the full complement of medallists from London 2012, with Grenada’s gold medallist Kirani James taking on Trinidad and Tobago’s Lalonde Gordon and Dominican Republic’s Luguelin Santos. USA’s 2012 Olympic gold medallist Sanya Richards-Ross headlines the women’s 400m as she continues her rivalry with her predecessor as Olympic Champion, 2012 silver medallist and local London hero Christine Ohuruogu. Great Britain’s double Olympic champion Mo Farah will run in the 3000m while Farah’s training partner, Olympic 10000m silver medallist Galen Rupp, will join fellow American and Olympic 1500m silver medallist Leo Manzano in the historic Emsley Carr Mile. US sprinter Carmelita Jeter will star in the women’s 100 m and in the men’s 400m Hurdles , Puerto Rico’s 2012 Olympic bronze medallist Javier Culson will go head to head with Great Britain’s reigning World champion, Dai Greene. In the field, the two Pole Vault competitions will boast of five of the six Olympic medallists from last summer. US women’s gold medallist Jenn Suhr is the star of women pole vault with Cuban Yarisley Silva and home top name Holly Bleasdale. France’s 2012 European and Olympic champion Renaud Lavillenie will again face his regular rivals from Germany, Bjorn Otto and Raphael Holzdeppe, who were the silver and bronze medallists both in Helsinki and then in London. After two successive victories over Australia’s Olympic silver medallist Mitchell Watt already this year, Olympic champion Greg Rutherford will face his him once again in London. Russia’s two-time European indoor Long Jump champion Darya Klishina will do battle against local stars Shara Proctor, Jessica Ennis and 2012 World junior champion Katarina Johnson-Thompson. In the throws, two-time Olympic and three-time World champion Valerie Adams, who won the IAAF Diamond Race last year, will headline the Shot Put field. From the IAAF.
AUSTRALIAN SELECTION: +14
SYDNEY (AUS): Twenty-five athletes are officially headed to the IAAF World Championships in Moscow, with Athletics Australia Selectors confirming the addition of 14 automatic selections to the Australian Flame team after their performances at the Qantas Australian Athletics Championships this past weekend. Added to the team in individual events after winning the national title with an IAAF World Championships A-Qualifier are London Olympians Julian Wruck (discus throw) and Kim Mickle (javelin), with the impressive duo to be joined by B-Qualified national champions Alana Boyd (pole vault), Lauren Boden (400mH), Zoe Buckman (1500m), Kelly Hetherington (800m), Tristan Thomas (400mH), Brandon Starc (high jump) and Josh Ross (200m). Ross’ national title in the men’s 100m also ensures he will compete in the men’s 4x100m relay alongside fellow automatic selections Tim Leathart and Jarrod Geddes, while the men’s 4x400m relay team as of today includes Alex Beck, Ben Offereins and Joshua Ralph. A further six female athletes – Ashleigh Whittaker (4x100m), Margaret Gayen (4x100m), Angela Byrt (4x100m), Caitlin Sargent (4x400m), Anneliese Rubie (4x400m), Jacinta Doyle (4x400m) – have been automatically selected to the team pending the qualification of the women’s 4x100m and 4x400m relay teams. Now it is 25 athletes confirmed as competing at the World Championships, and should the women’s relay teams qualify this number will immediately grow to 31. The Athletics Australia Selectors will meet again shortly after 12 May 2013 to determine final selections for the marathon, the men’s and women’s 20km race walk and the men’s 50km race walk. The Final Selectors Meeting will determine all remaining discretionary selections after the close of the IAAF Qualification Period on 29 July 2013. Informs Athletics Australia.
LAVILLENIE ON A BIKE
PARIS (FRA): Pole Vault olympic winner Renaud Lavillenie ended his training camp in Mauritius and plans this weekend to compete, but not in athletics. It is the Bol d´Or bike race at Magny Cours on a Suzuki 1000. Informs L´Équipe. Next week travel to US is planned, first on Wednesday the pole vault at the mall in Des Moines and on Saturday during the Drake Relays on the stadium against another olympic medalist German Bjorn Otto. His schedule is set for the summer: after US trip on May 5 and 19 the club competitions at 110 m hurdles, long jump and 4×100 m. On May 26 French meet in Forbach, June 1 Pre Classic in Eugene, June 6 Rome Golden Gala, June 15 in Besancon, France. After that he plans to jump at European Team Championships in Gateshead, Golden Spike in Ostrava, Athletissima of Lausanne, Areva in Paris, French Championships and last two meets before World Championships should be Herculis in Monaco and as announced the London Diamond League meet.
MARATHON NEWS
BOSTON (USA): The executive director of the Boston Athletic Association Thomas Grilk said via a Facebook post that the organization will continue the rich tradition of the Boston Marathon, following Monday’s multiple bombings at the event. „Boston is strong. Boston is resilient. Boston is our home. And Boston has made us enormously proud in the past 24 hours. The Boston Marathon is a deeply held tradition – an integral part of the fabric and history of our community. We are committed to continuing that tradition with the running of the 118th Boston Marathon in 2014,” he said.
LONDON (GBR): Athletics Weekly informs that one of the top favorites for Sunday London Marathon Kenyan Wilson Kipsang said athletes should not be nervous just six days after bombs along the course of the Boston Marathon killed three people. “When you are running and you are thinking something like that can happen, you can’t concentrate. We should have no fear during the race because security matters will be put in place and we will run feeling free,” said Kipsang. Meanwhile, organisers confirmed they would be laying on pacemakers to reach 20 miles at 2:03:30 pace at the request of the elite athletes. Kipsang also said as The Telegraph writes that the presence of Mo Farah who will run the half marathon could help in achieving the world record pace.
KYIV (UKR): London Olympic 5th placer in women marathon Tetyana Hamera-Shmyrko told to official FLAU’s web about her frustration and further plans for current season. After her win at Osaka marathon on January 27, 2013 Tetyana planned to perform at Boston marathon. “Unfortunately I was taken ill with very high fever before my departure to USA and had to refuse from Boston event. We didn’t plan any more marathons for this year even at world championships in Moscow cause of very difficult Olympic year. I felt too tired physically and mentally” said 29-year-old Ukrainian. “Now I’m just resting. Maybe I’ll compete on 10000m at National championships but we’ll make final decision depend on my recovering after illness.”
LONDON (GBR): To have run every London Marathon since 1981 is an achievement worthy of praise, but to have accomplished that feat under three hours on every occasion marks Chris Finill out as a special runner indeed. But there is a thread of consistency and application in Finill’s story that offers an explanation, for the man has been a Harrow Athletics Club member since 1974 and recalls, at the age of seven, running around the family garden while his mother called out laps. Informs London Marathon release. Finill’s best time in London and personal best for the distance came in 1985 with 2:28:27. Last year, at the age of 53, he finished in 2:50:32.
LONDON (GBR): Kenyan African CC champion from 2012 Joyce Chepkirui is the most interesting debutant at the distance on Sunday at the London Marathon. She will have the number 24. Her best half-marathon time is 67:03 from last year win in Praha. She showed top shape when winning end of February the San Juan 10 km on the road with fast 31:40.
LONDON (GBR): Former race director David Bedford will be the official starter at this year’s Virgin London Marathon. Bedford, who was London Marathon race director for 19 years until 2012, will send some 36,000 runners off on their 26.2-mile journey through the capital to The Mall when he pushes the famous red button at the blue start on Shooters Hill. The winning runners will receive a Royal greeting at the other end where they will be presented with medals and prizes by Prince Harry, patron of the London Marathon Charitable Trust. His Royal Highness will hand trophies to the first three finishers in the elite men’s, women’s, wheelchair and IPC Athletics Marathon World Cup races. The Mini Marathon races will be started by Arsenal and England footballer Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain.
LONDON (GBR): Former Olympic heptathlon medallist Kelly Sotherton will compete in her first marathon in London on Sunday and believes the race will be a fitting tribute to those killed and injured in Boston. The 36-year-old, bronze medallist in Athens in 2004, insists that she never even considered withdrawing from the race and will wear a black ribbon in tribute to Boston when she runs on Sunday. UK media are informing.
MADRID (ESP): Participants of the Madrid marathon on April 28 will pay tribute to those killed and injured in Boston, the president of the Spanish race, Guillermo Jimenez informed. The Madrid event would go ahead with greater security measures.
LONDON (GBR): There will be a period of silence lasting 30 seconds prior to the start of the elite men’s race and mass start at this Sunday’s race to mark the tragic events that have unfolded in Boston. This period of silence will be observed on all three London Marathon starts (red, blue and green) and will be signaled by a whistle at both the start and finish of the 30 seconds. Organizers are informing. As a show of solidarity with all those affected in Boston, the London Marathon organisers are encouraging runners to wear a black ribbon at Sunday’s race.
OTHER NEWS
MOSCOW (RUS): Anti-doping commission of All-Russian athletics federation confirmed 2 years ban for pole vaulter Ivan Gertleyn. Sample of 25-year-old athlete was collected on October 15, 2012 at training camp in Sochi and gave positive results for anabolic steroids. Ban is valid from October 31, 2012 till October 30, 2014. In 2009 Gertleyn became the European U23 finalist. His PB is 555 cm from 2010.
LONDON (GBR): The London 2012 Olympics included 1233 more male athletes and offered 30 more medal events for men than for women competitors, according to a new report by researchers at University of Southern California (USC) and the University of Toronto’s Centre for Sport Policy Studies. Nearly half of the sports, including racewalking, canoe/kayak, rowing, shooting, boxing and wrestling, at last summer’s Games allowed more men the chance to compete with no matching equivalent for female athletes, despite some calling it „The Women’s Olympics”. In 11 of 26 sports, international rules more severely limited the number of female competitors who were allowed to compete. Informs insidethegames.
SOCHI (RUS): Nigerian Mitchell Obi has been elected President of the AIPS Africa at the elections held in Sochi, Russia. With the involvement of 24 countries the assembly backed proposals for a consensus to pick the 13 members for the AIPS Africa Executive Committee following the withdrawal of three candidates Kabulo Muana Kabulo (DR Congo), Mamadou Koume (Senegal) and Morad Moutaouakkil (Morocco) in favour of Mitchell Obi (Nigeria).
SOCHI (RUS): President Gianni Merlo, unopposed for the position of AIPS chief, was unanimously reelected at the congress. The latest 4 year office term became the third for Merlo. Esat Yilmaer of Turkey, remained in the position of the First Vice-President. The President Sports Media Austria Michael Kuhn will join the Executive as the AIPS treasurer. A number of candidates have contested the positions of the Vice-President and members of the board. As the result of the voting, Laima Janusonyte-Steinhoff(
MONACO (MON): The IAAF World Youth Championships, which will take place from 10 to 14 July 2013 in the Ukrainian city of Donetsk, is on course to become the biggest gathering of participating athletes in the history of the Championships. With the deadline for the Preliminary Entries now closed, the IAAF announced that no fewer than 1542 athletes have been entered. Previously, the best-attended World Youth Championships was two years ago in Lille, where 1322 athletes took part. With 174 IAAF National Member Federations signalling their interest in participating in these Championships, it is set to be the second-best represented edition of the World Youth Championships. The most attended edition was Marrakech 2005, when 177 countries made the trip to Morocco.
PARIS (FRA): Newly crowned French 10K champion Christelle Daunay is happy about last weekend’s race and about her new personal best. Daunay is returning to competition after an injury kept her from competing at the London Olympics and told athle.com she is preparing for the 10 000m at the IAAF World championships in Moscow this summer. After her win last weekend Daunay has now been national champion in every distance from 5000m to the marathon.
WATTENSCHEID (GER): German athletics club Wattenscheid is saved, its manager Michael Huke told leichathletik.de after they received the news that they will still receive 2,7 million euro in sponsorship money. For a long time it was unsure whether the main sponsor of the club would continue to support the club.
LAUSANNE (SUI): European Athletics is pleased to announce that former world javelin champion Tero Pitkämäki of Finland and two-time SPAR European cross country champion Fionnuala Britton of Ireland have been as the European Athletes of the Month for March. 18-year-old French sprinter Mickael Meba-Zeze, who set a European junior indoor best over 200m when he sped to a time of 21.11 when winning his national junior title in Lyon on 17 March, was voted second in the men’s poll. Spain’s Sergio Sanchez, the European indoor record holder over 2000m and 3000m, was the first European man home at the IAAF World Cross Country Championships and was voted third. In the women’s poll, the 2011 World Championships javelin gold medallist Mariya Abakumova of Russia was voted second and Turkey’s Emel Dereli won the under-23 shot put at the European Cup Winter Throwing with 16.78m on 16 March was voted third.
ALICANTE (ESP): French triple world indoor record holder Teddy Tamgho is since April 8 at training camp in Alicante, south of Spain. He will return end of this week. His next competition is planned for April 28 at the 1st round of the Interclub competitions in Creteil. Informs L´Équipe.
WALNUT (USA): French athletes will also compete at the MtSAC Relays this weekend as they are at training camp at University of Southern California. 2012 World indoor medalist Pascal Martinot-Lagarde will run the 110 m hurdles and French teams should compete in the 4×100 m relays. From L´Équipe. Over 7000 competitors from throughout the world are expected to compete at the World’s Largest Track and Field Competition. The event will once again live up to it’s motto, „where the world’s best athletes compete” when it hosts numerous Olympians and Olympic Medalists from this past London Olympics. Former NFL and Track and Field great, Willie Gault, will attempt to break his own world masters record in the 100 m (10.88). This former professional athlete, singer, bobsledder and actor continues to defy the laws of nature and at age 52, continues to clock sub 11, 100 times. One event seems to really shine at Mt. SAC history in terms of who competes and takes part and that event is the men’s 110 m hurdles race. The talent that assembles each and every year is nothing short of amazing and this year the organizers plans to induct a number of men who have competed in that event into the event Hall of Fame. They are Tommy White, Dedy Cooper, Mark Crear, Greg Foster, Tonie Campbell, Dominque Arnold and Allen Johnson. In addition they will be honoring another great hurdler and current Hall of Fame member who will be visiting the Relays this year, the women star Chi Cheng.
ADDITIONS
NASSAU (BAH): From the Chris Brown Invitational to add the technical events. High jump was won by US Kevin Moffatt with 228. Home jumpers followed Ryan Ingraham who equaled his best of 228, Jamal Wilson with new best 228 and then tie for fourth by world medalist 2011 Trevor Barry and world champion 2007 Donald Thomas, both 220. In women long jump as reported new British Virgin Islands national record by Chantel Malone 665 (+0.8) but she was second, winner Chelsea Hayes leaped to 672 (+0.9).
BOSTON (USA): Three national records from Boston Marathon as reported by athlerecords.net. In men race for Bermuda by Chris Estwanik 2:19:55 and for Iran Shaleleh Tarbiat 3:17:06. In women category high quality 2:29:54 for Burundi by Diane Nukuri-Johnson.
CORRECTION
WARSZAWA (POL): Henryk Szost was not European leader 2012 in marathon with his 2:07:39 national record. The top European time last year was France’s Patrick Tambwe with 2:07:30 at the Tiberius Marathon on January 12
