DIACK WILL NOT NAME

MOSCOW (RUS): IAAF President Lamine Diack said for the German Agency DPA that this is his last term as head of world of athletics. „I m looking forward to give the position to the next person. I am aware that Sebastian delivered great Olympic Games. But Im not ready to name the person who should follow me. I will do it later. I want to prepare it in the tradition of the IAAF where we always had one strong candidate,” said Diack.

QUALIFICATION STANDARDS

MOSCOW (RUS): Qualification standards for technical events are the same as in Daegu 2011 for men high jump 231, 570 in pole vault, 77.00 in hammer and 82.50 in the javelin. Lower in men long jump 810, triple 17.05 and discus 65.00. The only higher standard is men shot put 20.65. On the women side the same as Daegu 2011 high jump 195, pole vault 460, long jump 675. Lower are triple jump 14.30 and higher shot put 18.70, discus 63.00, hammer 73.00 and javelin 61.50.

MOSCOW TEAM NEWS

SPAIN: Spanish record participant at the World Championships in Moscow Jesus Angel Garcia (50 km walk, 11th participation) has not ruled out his participation at the 2015 World Championships in Beijing.

ITALY: Roberta Bruni will not participate in Moscow due to right foot injury, she was due to compete in the pole vault. Recently she was 5th at European Junior Championships in Rieti. The Italian team will have now 56 athletes competing (31 men and 25 women). Sprinter Michael Tumi will run only in the relay due to a minor injury.

SOUTH AFRICA: South African marathoner Lusapho April has pulled out of the World Championships due to achilles tendonitis, reports supersport.com. His next goal is the New York City Marathon in November.

KENYA: The defending World steeplechase Champion Ezekiel Kemboi of Kenya has changed his flight schedule to Moscow without the knowledge of the Kenyan team officials, reports the Daily Nation. Kemboi decided to travel later to Moscow saying that the weather there would affect him.

OTHER MOSCOW NEWS

CAPE TOWN (RSA): South African runner Andre Olivier believes the 800m at the Moscow World Championships will be a level playing field due to the absence of all three Olympic medallists, reports iol sport. The 23 year old fractured a bone in his right foot in 2009 which forced him out of action until the 2011 season. This year he has run1:44.37 and has been figuring prominently in top European races. To get through the semi-finals, a task he couldn’t achieve at the London Games, Olivier realises that there will be “absolutely no margin for error”. He believes that there are at least twenty athletes that could take home the World title.

NAIROBI (KEN): The Kenyan team has left Kenyatta airport on their way to Moscow following delays caused by a pipeline malfunction, reports the Daily Nation. They fly to Moscow via Dubai, where they will stay overnight. They are scheduled to arrive in Moscow on Wednesday afternoon.

ADDIS ABABA (ETH): Tirunesh Dibaba and Meserat Defar will not double in the 5000m and 10,000 meters as previously reported. Dibaba will run the 10,000m while Defar will run the 5,000m, informs the Daily Nation.

NAIROBI (KEN): 5 years ago Kenyan Javelin thrower Julius Yego was not selected by the Kenyan Athletics Federation to go to the World Junior Championships even though he had the standard. Now the national record holder leads the Kenyan team as captain after making an Olympic final last year and throwing a new national record of 82.09 this year. Yego was named the team’s captain after David Rudisha’s withdrawal due to injury. Informs Capital FM Sport informs.

LONDON (GBR): The Women’s marathon World record holder and 2005 World Marathon Champion, Paula Radcliffe says that she thinks it will take time for Mo Farah to master the marathon, informs the London Evening Standard. Radcliffe says that Mo has “all the attributes to run well” but that he will not immediately run times of 2:03 and 2:04like some people are suggesting.

MOSCOW (RUS): The Long Jump event has progressed considerably for both men and women since the Olympic year, reports European Athletics. The Olympic Champion Greg Rutherford is only the 14th best jumper this year. Luis Rivera of Mexico has the World lead of 8.46, which he jumped to win the World Universities title. Behind him in that competition was Olympic 11th placer Aleksandr Menkov of Russia who leaped out to 8.42. The Russian Long Jump record is 8.46, set by Leonid Voloshin in 1988. In the women’s event Sosthene Moguenara of Germany is the new name on the scene after a 7.04 jump last Friday, which ranks her second in the world behind the inconsistent Brittney Reese. The 23 year old German remarked “since I started I dreamed of such a jump but I never expected it”.

LONDON (GBR): World Champion Dai Greene says that he will defend his 400m hurdles title after having to withdraw from both Monaco and London Diamond Leagues due to an inflamed achilles, report the BBC. The 27 year old said that he’ll “be on the start line no matter what is wrong” with him. Greene said that he has trained “really well” throughout the year and that he thinks the event is “very wide open”.

NAIROBI (KEN): Lucy Kabuu debuted in the marathon last year in Dubai running the 9th fastest time in history, 2:19:34. She followed this up with a 5th in the London Marathon and a 3rd in Chicago. Kabuu has good track credentials, running 14:33.49 for 5000m in 2008 and winning Commonwealth 10,000m gold and 5,000m silver in 2010. Following her Commonwealth success she took a break due to an achilles injury and a pregnancy. After her break she moved to the roads, coached by her husband and fellow athlete Josephat Maina. Her results have been impressive, in addition to last year’s world class marathon performances she ran the 2nd fastest half marathon in history this year at the Ras Al Khaimah Half Marathon in the United Arab Emirates, running a time of 66:09.

LONDON (GBR): The UK Athletics High Performance Director Neil Black has said that the team for the World Championships in Moscow is stronger than the team for the Olympics last year, informs the Guardian. Black said that the team were “better prepared” and “more focused” than they were last year. Black thinks that the pre-competition training camp in Barcelona has gone well and that athletes have structured there season better in 2013 so that they will peak at the right time.

LONDON (GBR): With Jessica Ennis-Hill out of the Moscow heptathlon, Katarina Johnson Thompson is Great Britain and Northern Ireland’s only representative in the event, reports the Independent. Johnson Thompson has had her own injury problems this year. In May the 20 year old tore ligaments in her ankle. After 5 weeks off she got in ten days of training before she won the European u23 title in Tampere. That performance ranks her 14th in the world this year. She says that the pressure that surrounded the Olympics has helped her to handle her nerves at other championships.

BRUSSELS (BEL): For Belgian media US former sprinting star Maurice Greene said Kevin Borlée is the outsider for bronze in the men’s 400m. Kevin Borlée currently ranks fifth in the world and is in the Belgian team highest ranked to potentially win a medal.

BRUSSELS (BEL): Belgian talented heptathlete and European junior champion Nafi Thiam will be followed intensively as she travels to her first World championships. Thiam, who is already hugely popular in Belgium, will be writing a daily blog in major newspaper Le Soir and has been recruited for more media opportunities.

MOSCOW (RUS): As an official partner of the IAAF, expect the ‘3-Stripes’ of adidas to be prominent, not only inside the Luzhniki Stadium, but also across the city of Moscow during the duration of the World Championships. The sports clothing giant will be a visible presence through not its many and varied contracts with world-class athletes, as well as through its kit supplied to a core number of leading athletics federations. Spencer Nel, Head of GSM Running/Track and Field, believes the benefits of being closely associated with a global event – expected to attract a total TV audience of six billion – is wide-reaching and of incalculable value. “It has benefits from a pure event perspective in that as a sponsor, it brings us access to tickets and corporate hospitality which help cover our needs across the market,” he explains. “The event also brings with it the rights to put up billboards and exposure in the stadium in terms of video and the number of federations we sponsor (and provide kit for), so we get that added brand exposure.” Informs the IAAF.

MOSCOW (RUS): With the 14th edition of the IAAF World Championships in Moscow set to burst out of the blocks on Saturday 10 August for nine days of scintillating competition, the athletes are fine tuning their final preparations for the premier athletics event of the year. Once again, the IAAF is proud to present its World Record Programme at the Moscow World Championships where athletes achieving a World Record will be eligible for a special World Record Award of US$ 100,000 offered by Toyota and TDK. The performance must be an improvement on the existing IAAF World Record. Performances which equal the existing IAAF World Record will not be eligible for a World Record Award. In the prize money IAAF offers 7 194 000 USD. Individual event winners will get 60 000 USD (until 4000 for 8th place) and relay winning team 80 000 USD (until 4000 USD for the 8th place).

OTHER NEWS

ZURICH (SUI): The IAAF Diamond League final, the Weltklasse of Zurich is again sold out. In total 25 000 spectators are expected for theThursday August 29 at the Letzigrund Stadium. Usain Bolt is confirmed for 6th time, he will run the 100 m. In the women 200 m Allyson Felix will run against Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce of Jamaica. Both will also compete in the 4×100 m relay. Both shot put competitions will be held on Wednesday August 28 at the Zurich main railway station as in the past years.

SAPPORO (JPN): The top international name for the Hokkaido Marathon in Sapporo on Aug 25 is the Ethiopian Gezehegne Abera Hunde with 2:10:17 best. Best Japanese Satoshi Yoshii has 2:10:45 and Ryosuke Fukuyama 2:10:59. In women section Ethiopian Roman Gebregessese with 2:32:28 is the top foreign runner, on the home side Risa Shigetomo 2:23:23 and Yukiko Akaba 2:24:09 with Mai Ito 2:25:26.

RESULTS

SOLLENTUNA (SWE, Aug 5): At an open meet Ayanleh Souleiman of Djibouti clocked world leading 1000 m in 2:15.77. Johan Wissman had 20.81 (+1.7) in the 200 m and Hamada Mohamed of Egypt 1:17.21 in the men 600 m.

CHOJNICE (POL, Aug 4): Angelika Cichocka posted here 2:42.07 in the 1000 m. In the 3000 m Dominika Nowakowska achieved 9:08.46.

CORRECTION

ANKARA (TUR): Gamze Bulut is a silver medal winner at Olympic Games in London at the 1500 m, not bronze.