by Larry Eder
Jessica Ennis, WC 2009, photo by PhotoRun.net.
Jessica Ennis, the WC 2009 gold medalist in the heptathlon and Vivian Cheruiyot, the WC 2009 gold medalist at 5,000 meters, are two of the top picks for the World Indoor Champs, in Doha, Qatar from March 10-15, 2010….of Doha’s excellent facilities, it was remarked last weekend, in Birmingham, UK that it will be colder around the track in Doha than it surely would be outside!
Vivian Cheruiyot, WC 2009, photo by PhotoRun.net.
ASIAN CHAMPIONSHIPS UNTIL FRIDAY
TEHRAN (IRI): The Fourth Asian Indoor Athletics Championships will start on Wednesday in Tehran. Three days meet will be held for second time in Tehran after 2004. A total of 27 countries including China, Japan, India, Kazakhstan, Taiwan, Lebanon and Malaysia have announced their participation. Asia is the only continent except Europe staging its continental indoor championships.
JAMAICAN NEWS
KINGSTON (JAM): World and olympic 100 m champion Shelly-Ann Fraser has been appointed the first national Goodwill Ambassador for UNICEF Jamaica. Writes TrackAlerts.com. In another starting story for next weekend at Gibson Relays Usain Bolt and Asafa Powell could clash together but of course in relays, not in individual events.
AGE CHANGE IN KENYA
NAIROBI (KEN): Cheating returned to Athletics Kenya on Monday as it emerged that Paul Mutero, second in the junior men‘s eight-kilometer race at last weekend‘s national trials, was actually overage and ineligible to compete in that category at next month‘s World Cross Country Championships in Poland. He will be replaced in Bydgoszcz team by Clement Lagat. Also Mathew Kisorio was dropped from senior men team. He was only 20th but named based on coaches decision. Athletics Kenya changed that coaches view.
ELITE FIELDS FOR BOSTON
BOSTON (USA): John Hancock Financial announced the elite field of 44 athletes from ten countries for the 114th running of the Boston Marathon on April 19. Headlining the field, and recently announced, are defending champions Deriba Merga and Salina Kosgei, and past champions Robert Kipkoech Cheruiyot, Catherine Ndereba, Dire Tune and Lidiya Grigoryeva. On the men‘s side, nine have raced under 2:07 with top contenders, Abderrahim Goumri, Evans Cheruiyot, Gilbert Yegon, Robert Kiprono Cheruiyot and Chala Dechase leading the challenge. Americans chasing the champions are Ryan Hall, Meb Keflezighi, Jason Lehmkuhle, Josh Rohatinsky and Antonio Vega. International newcomers to the course include Elijah Keitany, Samuel Mugo, David Mandago, Mohammed Amyn. In the women‘s race the four returning champions will face Teyba Erkesso, Yurika Nakamura, Weiwei Sun, Nailya Yulamanova, Agnes Kiprop and new marathoners Mestewat Tufa and Chaofeng Jia. Madai Perez also returns after maternity leave and Burna Genovese, Albina Mayorova, Koren Jelela Yal, American Michelle Frey and Waynishet Girma are among other women in the mix.
DOHA NEWS
SYDNEY (AUS): World and Olympic pole vault champion Steve Hooker will lead a small but world-class Australian contingent in action at the IAAF world indoor championships in Doha. Twenty-seven-year-old Hooker will be joined by Australian Flame teammates Mitchell Watt (long jump), Fabrice Lapierre (long jump), Petrina Price (high jump), Scott Martin (shot put) and Sean Wroe (400m), the selection of Martin and Wroe subject to the two athletes achieving entry standards. That means Tamsyn Lewis will not defending her 800 m title from Valencia 2008.
DORMAGEN (GER): Former European pole vault medalist Bjorn Otto has stopped to compete in the indoor season because of heel injury. Also 1500 m runner Christoph Lohse despite fulfilled standard is not planning for Doha because of his studies program.
NAIROBI (KEN): World 5000 m champion Vivian Cheruiyot is the star of Kenyan team for Doha. She will run the 3000 m and her expected duel with Meseret Defar could be one of the highlights in Doha. She will be accompanied by another world medalist Sylvia Kibet in her event. In total only 7 athletes, all distance runners. Another strong medal contenders are both 3000 m runners, number one and three of current indoor list Augustine Choge with Sammy Mutahi. Gideon Gathimba who improved this winter to 3:35.40 and Haron Keitany will run the 1500 m. The only 800 m entry will be Boaz Lalang, as The East Standard writes, his manager, James Templeton will cover his costs since he was the seventh runner selected.
BIRMINGHAM (GBR): UK Athletics announced World Champions Jessica Ennis and Phillips Idowu will travel to the IAAF World Indoor Championships in Doha. World Champion triple jumper, Idowu will be defending the World Indoor title he won in Valencia two years ago, whilst heptathlon World Champion Jessica Ennis will look for a return to the podium in the pentathlon. Also named were sprint duo Dwain Chambers and Harry Aikines-Aryeetey who set the standard for British 60 m sprinting with their blistering dash at the recent Aviva World Indoor trials and UK Championships, Chambers setting the fastest time in the world this year with a time of 6.50 and Aikines-Aryeetey close behind with 6.55. British record holders Jenny Meadows and Kate Dennison who set new 800m and pole vault national records respectively at the Aviva Grand Prix in Birmingham are also included in the squad. The team: 60 m: Dwain Chambers, Harry Aikines-Aryeetey, 400 m: Richard Buck, Dale Garland, 800 m: Andrew Osagie, Ed Aston, 1500 m: Tim Bayley, 3000 m: Scott Overall, 4×400 m: Richard Buck, Dale Garland, Chris Clarke, Nigel Levine, Conrad Williams, Luke Lennon-Ford, High Jump: Samson Oni, Tom Parsons, Pole Vault: Steve Lewis, Long Jump: Greg Rutherford, Chris Tomlinson, Triple Jump: Phillips Idowu, Shot: Carl Myerscough. Women – 60 m: Joice Maduaka, 800 m: Jenny Meadows, Vicky Griffiths, 1500 m: Helen Clitheroe, Charlotte Best, 3000 m: Gemma Turtle, Barbara Parker, 60m H: Gemma Bennett, 4×400 m: Victoria Barr, Hayley Jones, Dawn Hunt, Lee McConnell, Perri Shakes-Drayton, Kim Wall, High Jump: Vikki Hubbard, Pentathlon: Jessica Ennis.
LJUBLJANA (SLO): Slovenian fastest sprinter and world 2007 finalist Matic Osovnikar decided after Tuesday practice, that he will travel to Doha for World Indoor Championships to contest the 60 m.
SAO PAULO (BRA): Nine athletes will represent in Doha the strongest South American athletics nation Brazil. Two of them already won medals at previous championships. Triple jumper Jadel Gregorio and in-shape pole vault record breaker Fabiana Murer. Also in the team Vicente Lenilson for 60 m, Davide Kleberson and Fabiano Pecanha for 800 m, Jefferson Sabino in triple jump on the men side and Eliane Martins (long jump) and Gisele de Oliveira (triple jump) on the women. Also pre-selected were three athletes who at the end are not able to compete due to injuries (olympic winner Maurren Maggi, Jesse de Lima in high jump and sprinter Jose Carlos Moreira).
BOGOTA (COL): Colombian representative at World Indoors in Doha will be national hurdles record holder Pablo Villar. He will travel to Europe before the event to train and compete at Lievin meet on March 5.
LISBON (POR): World indoor long jump title defender Naide Gomes is still undecided about traveling to Doha. During the weekend after wining in Birmingham she was quoted as saying the decision will be made early this week. Now she postponed it until after the national championships which will be held this weekend in Espinho.
OTHER NEWS
BOSTON (USA): As www.boston.com informs Bernard Lagat was wearing at last Boston meet a prototype wireless tracking tag from Lynx System Developers Inc. The tag relayed information about his precise position on the track to a Lynx computer system in a control room above the action, which enabled a robotic camera to closely follow Lagat, and provided detailed new information for the ESPN announcers who were calling the race. Lynx, founded by MIT grads almost twenty years ago, has high hopes for the new system, which it describes as „radar for sports.“ At the Reggie Lewis Center, the chips talk to six wireless data receivers located around the building. The collected data about runners‘ location can be viewed in real-time on a laptop, to give announcers information about estimated finish times, for instance, or can be replayed afterward by a coach to help runners identify the points in a race where they may have slowed down.
DES MOINES (USA): Elite milers and weekend warriors will converge on Locust Street the evening of April 20 for a new annual road race. That before the classical Drake Relays. Drake Relays officials and corporate sponsor Wellmark Blue Cross and Blue Shield have teamed to create the Grand Blue Mile in downtown Des Moines. The event will feature runners from USA Track and Field and amateur competitors. Writes Des Moines Register.
SYDNEY (AUS): Jamaican 2004 Olympic medallist Danny McFarlane arrived in Sydney as first international athlete for Sydney Track Classic meet. „ I‘m thinking about running 47 this season at 38 years of age. I haven‘t been to Australia since 2001. I‘m definitely looking forward to putting down a really good competition on Saturday, „ he said.
ALBUQUERQUE (USA): Race Results Weekly writes, the last month and a half has been extra special for Sara Hall of the Mammoth Track Club. Besides setting an indoor personal best in the mile and nearly setting another in the 3000 m, the 26 year-old placed sixth at the USA Cross Country Championships, earning a trip to the IAAF World Cross Country Championships on March 28 in Bydgoszcz, Poland. But before she books her flight to Poland, Hall will compete at this weekend‘s USA Indoor Championships in Albuquerque, N.M., racing in both the 1500m and 3000m. A top-2 finish would put her on yet another national team. If she qualifies for the IAAF World Indoor Championships in Doha, Qatar, next month, Hall said she would discuss with her coach, Terrence Mahon, what will happen next: World Indoor Championships, World Cross Country Championships or both.
SAN FRANCISCO (USA): A group of elite athletes and coaches based in the San Francisco Bay Area have recently come together to form the Bay Area Track Club (BATC), the latest group to be recognized by USA Track & Field as a USA Distance Center. The says it has two main goals: to provide support for Olympic athletes and emerging elites, and to promote running, health, and fitness within the community. The BATC‘s members have represented the United States in international competition 19 times, and includes national champions and even an international medallist, Shannon Rowbury. Rowbury, a San Francisco native who still lives and trains there, was one of the key people behind setting up the group. The club‘s current roster includes four Olympians: Rowbury (1500m), Blake Russell (marathon), Magdalena Lewy Boulet (Marathon) and Bolota Asmerom (5000m). Other members include aspiring Olympians David Torrence (1500m/3000m), Garrett Heath (1500m), Alysia Johnson (800m), Jon Rankin (1500m), Clara Horowitz Peterson (5000m/road), Tom Kloos (steeplechase), Francis Gadayan (800m), and Peter Gilmore (marathon). The club also has a foreign member, Briton Tim Bayley (1500m).
LONDON (GBR): Latest Pat Butcher´s blog at www.globerunner.org about Sahara Marathon named The Forgotten People.
STOCKHOLM (SWE): Direct 8, the French digital terrestrial television broadcaster is to show athletics for the first time. IEC in Sports continues with deals for IAAF events. Under the agreement Direct 8 will show exclusively in France both weekend finals session live from Doha with additional highlights show planned.
RESULTS
SANTO DOMINGO (DOM, Feb 21): Kelvin Herrera improved in the 400 m to solid 45.78 to beat experienced Arismendy Peguero who clocked 45.79.
BUCURESTI (ROU, Feb 20): European indoor bronze medalist Anca Heltne started her indoor season with life-time best over the weekend with 19.90 in shot put.
GOLD COAST (AUS, Feb 20): Olympic medalist Sally McLellan clocked 11.54 (+0.4) win at 100 m.
MELBOURNE (AUS, Feb 20): Last year 800 m world number one David Rudisha of Kenya won at Peter Norman Classic the 400 m in 46.5 at the beginning of his Australian tour.
MOGILYOV (BLR, 19-21 Feb): Olympic silver medalist Andrey Kravchenko won the University Championships in Belarus with high quality 6206 points in heptathlon. He was only 28 points behind his national record from Valencia 2008. But with this mark he jumped into the third place in the rankings of athletes based by 2010 results to qualify for Doha (better only Drozdov and Kasyanov). It is also when assuming Ashton Eaton will give NCAA Championships the priority over Doha. His results were 7.09, 757, 13.77, 211, 7.90 PB, 510 and 2:43.50. Mikhnevich family ruled in shot put. Andrey achieved 21.44 and Natalya 19.18. Maksim Lynsha clocked 7.65 at 60 m hurdles. With help of IAAF and Nastasya Marynina. BAKU (AZE, Feb 19-20): Junior and European junior medalist from Novi Sad Layes Abdullayeva (of Ethiopian origin) clocked two senior records during national indoor championships. 4:18.07 at 1500 m and more impressive 9:00.22 at 3000 m. Informs Tilastopaja.
CORRECTION
VALENCIA (ESP): Finally the Spanish All-Comers was not broken in Valencia last Sunday. It still remains at 2:09:34 by Kenyan Timothy Cherigat from San Sebastian Marathon 2002.
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