Jenn Suhr, the American record holder, indoors and out, cleared 4.71m at the Ontario T&F championships over the weekend. Suhr is getting into shape again after a tough 2010. Suhr will be leading the field at the 2011 USA Indoor Champs, which will be held in Albuquerque, New Mexico, February 26-27, 2011!.

KENYAN
TEAMS WITHOUT TITLE DEFENDERS

NAIROBI (KEN): After National Championships
which served as trials for African Championships and World Championships the
Kenyan National CC Teams were named. For Punta Umbria world event in March head-coach David
Letting will rely mainly in men´s race on Geoffrey Mutai, Mathew Kisorio,
Vincent Kiprop, Philemon Limo, Hosea Macharinyang and Leonard Patrick Komon.
That means Joseph Ebuya will not defend his title, the same for women race with
Emily Chebet. But women will remain equally strong headed by both track world
champions from Berlin 2009 Linet Masai and Vivian Cheruiyot. They will be
supported by Priscah Cherono, Sylvia Kibet, Pauline Korikwiang and Lineth
Chepkurui. Junior men will be headed by fresh World indoor best holder Isaiah
Koech with Justin Cheruiyot, Philemon Yator, Geoffrey Kipsang, James Gitahi and
Patrick Mutunga. Junior women will have Janet Kisa, Janet Jepkorir, Faith
Chepng’etich, Nancy Chepkwemoi, Naomi Chepng’eno and Purity Cherotich in the
team.

BIG
INTEREST

MONTE CARLO
(MON): 69 Member Federations have already indicated that they will be sending teams
for World CC Championships in Punta Umbria.
If the figures are maintained by the end of the Final Entry deadline (7 March
2011), Punta Umbria
would be the most attended edition of the IAAF World Cross Country
Championships in seven years. Writes IAAF. In addition to the main programme, a
“Celebrities” race will be hosted on Saturday 19 March with special focus on
social responsibility and charity. The 4Km race will be run on the same
circuit.

BERCY NEWS

DUBLIN (IRL): World indoor champion 2006 at 60 m hurdles Derval O´Rourke
leads the team for Bercy. Other four women are Ailis McSweeney (60 m), Mary Cullen (3000 m), Tori Pena (pole
vault) and Kelly Proper (long jump). Both men are runners – Brian Gregan for 400 m and Darren McBrearty
for 800 m.
O´Rourke and Cullen won bronzes in Torino two
years ago.

WARSZAWA (POL): Top medal
contenders in Poland´s squad for European indoor championships are Barcelona 800 m winner Marcin
Lewandowski (accompanied by Doha medalist Adam Kszczot) and pole vault world champion
Anna Rogowska. Also sensational national record holder this winter in pole
vault Pawel Wojciechowski should not be forgotten. Other strong runners are
Bartosz Nowicki, Mateusz Demczyszak and Adam Czerwinski for 1500 m and Lukas
Parszczynski for 3000 m.
On the women side Silwia Ejdys to double at 1500/3000 m and at longer distance
accompanied by former champion Lidia Chojecka and Renata Plis. The other
representatives are Malgorzata Trybanska for both long jump and triple jump and
invited men´s 4×400 m relay and Karolina Tyminska in pentathlon.

BRATISLAVA (SVK): Slovak team will have 6
athletes in Bercy, five of them jumpers. Dana Veldakova will try to defend her
bronze from Torino 2009 in
triple jump. Her twin-sister Jana Veldakova and Renata Medgyesova will compete
in long jump, Jaroslav Dobrovodsky in men´s long jump and Peter Horak in high
jump. The only non-jumper is hurdler Matus Janecek.

BIRMINGHAM
(GBR): Mark Lewis-Francis (groin) is definitely out of Paris and Harry Aikines-Aryeetey (torn hamstring)
is under question. Both British athletes sustained the injury when competing in
the final of the Aviva Birmingham Grand Prix last weekend. Their injuries might
select Joel Fearon and Craig Pickering for the GB team traveling to Paris next week along
with Dwain Chambers at the 60 m.
Also pole vaulter Steve Lewis sustained a severe injury in Birmingham when breaking his pole during a
jump. Lewis was taken to the hospital with a suspected thumb fracture. Head
coach Charles van Commenee has played down fears athletics golden girl Jessica
Ennis is set to miss Paris. Mo Farah after his excellent European indoor record
at 5000 m
last Saturday confirmed he will try to defend his title at 3000 m from Torino in Paris.

OTHER NEWS

JOHANNESBURG (RSA): Leonard Chuene, the
disgraced former President of Athletics South Africa (ASA), has been banned for
seven years from all involvement in sport by the South African Sports
Confederation and Olympic Committee (SASCOC). This decision came a few days
after it was announced that Chuene had been found guilty on charges of poor
corporate governance, misappropriation of funds and tax evasion. The
disciplinary inquiry was instituted by SASCOC after Chuene, his entire
executive and three employees were suspended in late 2009. Writes Race Results
Weekly. The final decision was handed down after Chuene, his deputy Kakata
Maponyane and ASA Board member Simon Dlamini failed to beat Thursday’s deadline
to appeal against the guilty verdict. Maponyane was given a 5-year ban and Dlamini
received a 3-year ban.

PALO ALTO
(USA): RRW informs that the
most important track meet in the United States
for distance running, the Payton Jordan Cardinal Invitational at Stanford University, has been rescheduled for
Sunday, May 1, according to Edrick Floreal, Stanford’s track and field
director. The meet has originally been scheduled for Saturday, April 30. The
meet’s new date brings the event into the 2012 Olympic Games qualifying window
for running events of 5000m and shorter. The window for the 10 000 m already opened on
January 1, 2011.

PARIS (FRA): Bad luck for
French junior combined events star Kevin Mayer at the French national indoor
championships. The world junior champion was on his way to breaking the world
junior heptathlon record when he twisted his ankle after the 60m hurdles race.
Mayer improved on his hurdles PB to 8.13 but sustained his injury after
crossing the finish line. On the first day Mayer registered 7.14 over 60 m, 729 in the long jump, 13.72
for shot put and 201 in
the high jump confirms Athle.com.

LONDON
(GBR): The London Olympics Opening and closing ceremony are starting to take
shape and plans revealed so far indicate the opening and closing London ceremonies won’t
disappoint. The opening and closing ceremonies of the 2012 Games will probably
attract more tourists and worldwide viewers than the Games themselves. Planners
have decided the last few miles of the Olympic Torch’s journey to the Stratford stadium will be by river, on a floating stage
propelled along the Thames. The opening and
closing ceremonies themselves will be designed by experts from Take That’s
‘Circus Live’ show, the designer is Es Devlin and artistic director Kim Gavin
will make sure everything’s all right on the nights’. Composer for James Bond
films and the Chronicles of Narnia David Arnold will be joined by Billy Elliot
director Stephen Daldry and the opening celebrations will be under the specific
charge of Slumdog Millionaire director Danny Boyle.

MELBOURNE (AUS): Sally
Pearson’s quest for the Australian national 100m record will be pushed by the
appearance of Miki Barber at the 3rd (Melbourne)
and 4th (Sydney)
leg of the Australian Athletics tour. Barber’s PB of 11.02 is just slightly
better than the 11.14 that stands next to Pearson’s name and should help push
Pearson to the national record.

DAEGU (ROK): Broadcasters
participating in the IAAF World Championships in Daegu gathered in the host
city this week for the World Broadcasters’ Meeting. Over the course of the
two-day meetings the broadcasters expressed their high satisfaction with the
level of preparations and proposed media services. “The LOC and the KBS have
worked very hard together to deliver the most adequate media facilities and
services during the Championships,” said Local Organising Committee
Co-President Hae-Nyoung Cho. “With your continued support, we will organise the
best-ever IAAF World Championships in history.”

KINGSTON (JAM): The Jamaica Amateur Athletic
Association (JAAA) which had retained its name since it was formed in 1932, is
to become the Jamaica Athletic Administrative Association, thereby retaining
the acronym JAAA. JAAA president Howard Aris confirmed the sport is now no long
an amateur sport writes Jamaica Observer.

ROME
(ITA): Ferrari President Luca di Montezemolo has been asked to lead Rome’s bid to host the
2020 Olympics and Paralympics revealed the Italian Games Committee (CONI).
Montezemolo, who organised the successful FIFA World Cup in Italy in 1990, and has been
chairman of Fiat, is expected to give a response at the start of next week and
would work alongside Ernesto Albanaese, who has been nominated to be the bid’s
chief executive writes Insidethegames.

FRANKFURT
(GER): A group of current and former German top athletes wrote an open letter
to German TV Stations ARD and ZDF along with Chancellor Angela Merkel and
different ministers. They try to achieve that the World Championships in Daegu
this year will broadcasted live. For the moment it looks like for first time
since 1983 there will be no live transmissions from World Athletics
Championships in the country. The letter was supported by all Top Team 55
athletes and also formers stars like Armin Hary, Manfred Germar, Martin Lauer,
Willi Holdorf, Ulrike Nasse-Meyfarth, Franka Dietzsch, Astrid Kumbernuss and
Thomas Schönlebe.

MONTE CARLO
(MON): IAAF informs about the conclusion of a broadcasting agreement in
Italy, by IEC in Sports, IAAF’s exclusive media
rights agency for Europe and Africa, with
public broadcaster RAI, for the 2011-2013 IAAF World Athletic Series
(WAS). The
deal includes mainly both world championships held during the period in
Daegu
and Moscow.
“Following deals in the UK
and France with Channel 4 and France Televisions, I am encouraged that
the IAAF
has now secured the third of the top five European territories,”
commented IAAF
President Lamine Diack. The IAAF now has confirmed deals in some 65
territories
throughout IEC’s territory, and all but one of those concluded so far in
Europe are with terrestrial broadcasters, and additional
announcements are expected in the near future.

ZURICH (SUI): Organizers of Weltklasse
Zurich, part of Samsung Diamond League, announced a new children competition
for age up to 15 years. It will be three-event challenge called UBS Kids Cup
starting at local level, Kantonal level and finals at the meet itself. Zurich will also as last
year have the so-called Big Shot one day before the meet on Wednesday,
September 7. The SDL final meet will be held on Thursday on September 8.

PARIS (FRA): French world
silver 400m medalist from 2003 Marc Raquil has been suspended from February 1st
2011 to January 31st 2012 for missing out of competition drug tests. Raquil
retired from the sport several months ago and hasn’t competed on a high level
since 2008. The athlete couldn’t be traced for tests since the start of 2009
and now has to sit out a one-year suspension writes L’equipe.

RESULTS
(Savigne 14.92, Suhr 471)

HAVANA (CUB, Feb 17-18): Triple jump world
champion Yargelis Savigne achieved at another open meet at Estadio Panamericano
excellent 14.92 (0.0). In great depth second Yosleivis Ribalta improved from
14.14 to 14.61 (-0.2). Third World junior
champion Danilenis Alcantara also registered life-time best 14.56 (+2.0) ahead
of Yarianna Martinez 14.42 (+1.2). Yarisley Silva improved Cuban pole vault
record with 455 in
first attempt, she also tried at 460
cm. In long jump Suslaydis Giralt improved to 661
(+0.7). In men events world medalist Guillermo Martinez achieved 82.29 in javelin, Roberto
Janet go 75.58 in
hammer and Jorge Fernandez 62.76
in discus. Junior Ernesto Reve (18) bettered his career
best in triple jump to 17.05 (+0.6). David Lescay clocked hand time 10.1 (-1.2)
to win the 100 m.

TORONTO
(CAN, Feb 20): US
record holder Jenn Suhr cleared 471
in pole vault at Ontario Indoor Championships.

SYDNEY (AUS, Feb 19): Windy
10.14 (+5.1) were clocked at 100
m by Isaac Ntiamoah at All-Comers meet here.

RANCHI
(IND, Feb
21): The athletics competitions of 34th National Games have ended with Kavita
Raut winning the 5000 m
in event record 15:54.26.

CANNES
(FRA, Feb 20): Jean Claude Niyonizigiye clocked new course record 1:02:58 at
the Cannes Half-Marathon.

POTCHEFSTROOM (RSA, Feb 19): To
first Yellow Pages Series meet to add that last year African Champs silver
winner Cornel Fredericks posted solid 49.60 at 400 m hurdles. Roscoe Engel
won the 200 m
in life-time best 20.76 (+0.4).

ASUNCION (PAR, Feb 20): Senior races victors
at the 26th South American CC Championships were Brazilians. Solonei da Silva
at 12 km
in 36:39 in the men race and Simone Alves da Silva 27:05 at 8 km.

ADDIS ABABA (ETH, Feb 20):
Berlin 10 000 m
silver winner Meselech Melkamu won the Ethiopian CC Trials with 21:23 at 8 km in the absence of olympic
winner Tirunesh Dibaba. Second Hiwot Ayalew (24:31) beat Belaynesh Oljira
(24:37) still ahead of Wude Ayalew (24:40) and Genzebe Dibaba (24:48). Men´s 12 km race winner was young
Hunegaw Mesfin in 32:20. Second Diamond League winner Imane Merga 32:33 ahead
of Dino Sefer 32:35. Marathon runner Feyisa
Lelisa was fourth (32:40). Tesfaye Chernet won boys 8 km junior competition
(21:32) and the World Youth 2009 medalist Genet Yalew the girls 6 km (18:27). With help from
IAAF.