JETER VS. FRASER-PRYCE

EUGENE (USA):
Also the sprint fields have now been revealed for the Saturday’s Prefontaine
Classic in Eugene,
the fourth stop of the Samsung Diamond League series. In the men´s 100 m world leader Steve
Mullings runs against last year co-world leader Nesta Carter and third top
Jamaican in the field is Michael Frater. US Indoor champ Mike Rodgers and
returning Justin Gatlin are adding the spice into the race. In the 200 m Olympic 2008 medalist
Walter Dix is the top name. Women´s 100 m will see first this years duel of olympic
and world winner Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce against fastest US sprinter
Carmelita Jeter. Other Jamaicans include Kerron Stewart and Sherone Simpson
along with top US
runners Lauryn Williams and Marshevet Myers.

FAST STEEPLE EXPECTED

OSLO (NOR): With the advice that France’s European champion Mahiedine
Mekhissi has confirmed his entry into the 3000m Steeplechase at Samsung Diamond
League ExxonMobil Bislett Games, we can now expect the race will produce a rash
of very fast times. Bob Tahri’s continental record stands at 8:01.13, whilst
Mekhissi’s best is 8:02.52. In the right conditions and with the right pace
Mekhissi feels that not only can he take the European record but that he has a
realistic chance of achieving a sub-8 minute performance. Olympic and World
champion Brimin Kipruto, who has yet to run under 8 minutes for the 3000m
Steeple will also appreciate the fast pace and will be looking for a new
personal best to become the eighth Kenyan born athlete to achieve this feat.
Also in the field and providing great encouragement will be prolific sub
8-minute steeplechaser Paul Koech. The Kenyan Olympic silver medallist has been
under the magical 8-minute barrier on no fewer than eight occasions and would
like nothing better than to erase Moses Kiptanui’s long standing stadium record
of 8.03.36 that dates back to 1995. Informs IAAF.

EL FOR POLAND´S NOWICKI

DESSAU (GER, June 1): 13th Anhalt meet was first this
years EA Classic one day event. Nadine Muller confirmed excellent discus shape
with 65.55 ahead of Chinese guests Xuejun Ma (63.93), Li Yangfeng (63.33) and
Tan Jian (63.04). Cuban Diamond Race winner Yarelis Barrios was fourth (61.19).
Nadine Kleinert achieved another home win in the shot put (18.48). Levern
Spencer of St. Lucia cleared
192 in
high jump and Ari Mannio of Finland
achieved solid 83.57 in
javelin ahead of Mark Frank (82.13). Surprise in pole vault as Kostadinos
Filippidis went over 552 and beat home elite headed by Malte Mohr (also 552).
Bartosz Nowicki of Poland
achieved European leading 3:37.97 to beat Barcelona
medalist Carsten Schlangen 3:38.50 and Austrian Andreas Vojta who improved his
best to 3:38.55 in the 1500 m.
Kenyan Japhet Korir won the 3000
m (7:52.44) and Denisa Krebs the 1500 m (4:10.29) ahead of
French record holder Hind Dehiba (4:10.62). In sprints former long jump world
champion Tianna Madison won the first race of 100 m in 11.48 (+1.7) but
Poland´s Marta Jeschke was faster in second one (11.46, +2.4) although wind
assisted. Lee McConnell of Great
Britain won the 400 m (52.14) ahead of US
Mary Wineberg (52.36). Christine Spence was the best at 400 m hurdles (57.00) and
South African Thuso Mpuang in the 200
m (20.87, +0.5).

1 WL AND 7 EL

YALTA (UKR, May 30-June 1): Ukrainian Cup meet which
was selection for the European Team Championships produced on world lead and
seven European leading marks of the season. Lilya Lobanova surprised with huge
1:58.30 800 m
world lead. It was for her first sub 2 minutes of the career. Great shape for
top sprinters. Olesya Povh clocked lifetime best 22.58 (0.0) to win the 200 m (EL) over Marya Ryemyen
22.84 PB, Elizaveta Bryzhina 23.03 and Darya Pizhankova 23.13 (but PB 22.91 in heats). In the 100 m another name appeared
as winner Natalya Pohrebnyak in 11.22 (0.0 and PB 11.17 in heats). Another
continental top marks for Antonina Yefremova at 400 m (50.69) and the 4×100 m
team in 43.03. Hana Titimets posted not only EL but also national U23 record
with 54.69 at 400 m
hurdles. Second Ana Yaroshchuk improved to 54.95. Doha winner Ana Mishchenko achieved another
top time 4:03.71 in the 1500
m. In jumps excellent improvements in triple jump as
Natalya Yastrebova got 14.50 EL (+1.7) over Ruslana Tsyhotska 14.45 (+1.3, also
PB). Viktoriya Styopina cleared 195
in the high jump, Viktoriya Rybalko got 671 in long jump and Vira
Rebryk 61.60 in
javelin. New national junior record for Hanna Sheleh 430 in the pole vault. On
the men side Turkish guest Ramil Guliyev clocked 10.16 (-1.3) what is new
national record. Two European leads in distances. Sergiy Lebid 7:52.25 in the 3000 m and 8:26.21 of Vadim
Slobodenyuk in steeple. Good jumps as Dmytro Demyanyuk cleared 231, Maksim
Mazuryk 571 and Viktor Kuznetsov 17.01 (+1.5). Superb javelin quality. Dmytro
Kosynskyy new national U23 record 83.39 ahead of Aleksandr Pyatnytsa 82.61 and
national record holder Roman Avramenko 81.69.

TOP MEN´S 800 M EXPECTED

BYDGOSZCZ (POL): European Athletics Premium category
circuit starts on Friday in Bydgoszcz
at the Enea Cup, the 11th edition of European Athletic Festival meet. The top
event will be the last one. In the 800 m duo of best home runners, European
champion Marcin Lewandowski and European indoor champion Adam Kszczot will
clash with reigning world champion Mbulaeni Mulaudzi of South Africa.
World champion Philips Idowu is the star of triple jump. Another Berlin winner competing
is Ryan Brathwaite at 110 m
hurdles. Great men´s pole vault will see best Poland´s jumpers Pawel
Wojciechowski, Lukasz Michalski against Ukrainian Maksim Mazuryk and former
olympic medalist Yevgeniy Lukyanenko who is returning after illness to the
place of his highest jump (601
in 2008). Kenyan junior Hillary Yego is the best in the
steeple, former world champion Perdita Felicien at the 100 m hurdles. Men´s hammer
will see European Champion Libor Charfreitag against Krisztian Pars, Markus
Esser, Sergey Litvinov and Dilshod Nazarov. Recently improved to sub 11
Nigerian Damola Osayomi is the star of women´s 100 m. European 400 m hurdles leader Hana
Titimets of Ukraine will
clash against Jamaican Nickiesha Wilson.
Briton Marilyn Okoro and Canadian Diane Cummins are the favorites for women 800 m. Jamaican veteran Danny
McFarlane is the 400 m
hurdles favorite (against young generation Bultheel, Melnykov, Robertson). In
the flat 3000 m
race the return after injury for steeple specialist Wioletta Frankiewicz. Berlin discus fourth placer Zaneta Glanc will fight
against 2004 olympic winner Natalya Sadova of Russia.

OSTRAVA 50TH CELEBRATION

OSTRAVA (CZE): Javelin legend Jan Zelezny was
satisfied after the 50th jubilee Ostrava Golden Spike meeting on Tuesday (IAAF
World Challenge). In total 3 world leads and 7 meet records in excellent
weather and before full stadium (18 000 this time allowed) was a superb
birthday party for the meet. In the stands legends like Irena Szewinska,
Donovan Bailey, Maurice Greene, Uwe Hohn, Grazyna Rabsztyn, Tana Kocembova,
Imrich Bugar, Sarka Kasparkova, Roman Sebrle, Helena Fibingerova added by
ice-hockey star Jaromir Jagr and legendary tennis player Ivan Lendl. The best
mark of the evening was the 100
m improvement of Veronica Campbell-Brown to 10.76 in the 100 m. It is 8th best
performer, 20th best performance ever and 4th fastest performer after 2000. And
for statisticians the world best at 100 yards when she was timed en-route to her 100 m world lead with 9.91
(and Katerina Cechova 10.49 European best). Usain Bolt achieved 9.14 in the 100 y split. Of
course there would be faster times, but were not officially timed. Another top
ones included four seconds meet record improvement of Paul Kipsiele Koech in
solo steeple race after 1.8
km (and missed WL by only 0.27), first ever sub 48
second in Czech Republic by LJ Van Zyl. Others were
close. Ivan Ukhov with Raul Spank at would-be WL 236. Silke Spiegelburg also
tried 472 WL in the pole vault. Mariya Abakumova missed the WL in javelin by 8 cm, De Zordo got second best
mark of the season in javelin. Betty Heidler got 9th best ever hammer
performance. Blade Runner Oscar Pistorius clocked his fourth fastest of the
career 46.19 and best at IAAF category meeting. Interesting outing by US hurdler
Johnny Dutch who first improved his season best to 48.72 at 400 m hurdles and after 50
minutes won the B-race at 110
m hurdles with another 2011 top mark 13.64. Usain Bolt
won for fifth time in Ostrava
(2006, 2008-11) and Dayron Robles for fourth time (2008-11). Zelezny was asked
by Czech media whether the meet would be ready to join the prestigious Samsung
Diamond League in case such a possibility opens. “As we said from the beginning
the Ostrava
meeting is ready and would be happy to join the series at any time. One
important step is that the stadium will be renovated and standing places will
be changed to seating positions. The work will start in autumn, first Ostrava will host in July
the European U23 Championships,” said meeting director Zelezny.

OTHER NEWS

AMSTERDAM (NED) : After a disappointing outing at the
FBK Games in Hengelo
last weekend Rutger Smith will skip his upcoming competitions and return in
July. The Dutch athlete feels he needs more time to train and be fit by the
IAAF World Championships in Daegu in August.

LAUSANNE (SUI): World triple jump champion Phillips
Idowu has confirmed he will compete for the British team at the 2011 SPAR
European Team Championships in Stockholm
on June 18th and 19th. Idowu added that he expects world record holder Teddy
Tamgho to be present as well in Stockholm, in
what will be their second duel of the season after also competing in New York on June 11th.
2004 Olympic triple jump champion Christian Olsson is also expected to jump
writes European Athletics.

LAUSANNE (SUI): Former European U23 silver medallist
Indrek Turi has been selected to design the medals for the European junior
championships in Tallinn
in July. Turi, a former decathlete and now graphic student at the Estonian Academy of Arts, has made a design that
symbolises the unstoppable force of young athletes reports European Athletics.

RATINGEN (GER): Jennifer Oeser has announced she is
aiming to win for the third time in as many years the IAAF Combined events
Challenge meeting of Ratingen
in July. The 15th edition of the Erdgas-meeting in Ratingen promises to showcase the top German
athletes such as Lilli Schwarzkopf and Julia Mächtig in the heptathlon, as well
as Pascal Behrenbruch and Normal Müller in the decathlon. Sensationally
improved Jan Felix Knobel remains uncertain as he might prefer the European U23
Championships who are held in the same week. For the top German athletes Ratingen will be decisive
for the World Championships selections. Double Ratingen winner Yordani Garcia as well as
fellow Cuban Leonel Suarez will compete too. Over 4000 spectators are expected
to attend the event reports Leichtathletik.de.

BERLIN (GER): German decathlete Michael Schrader ends
his season and again will undergo surgery on his foot. Schrader has been
troubled with stress-fractures in his feet throughout his career and only
managed one decathlon in 2010 when he won the German national championships
with 8003 points confirms leichtathetik.de.

EUGENE (USA): A special 10,000-meter race set up on ‘Distance Night in
Eugene’, one day before the Prefontaine Classic on June 4th, to help Ethiopian
and Kenyan runners make their cases to represent their countries in the World
championships has landed the presence of former University of Oregon star Galen
Rupp.

NEW YORK (USA): Reigning World Champions Phillips Idowu and Brittney
Reese, as well as world leaders Renaud Lavillenie and LJ van Zyl are among the
athletes named to the star-studded lineup for the adidas Grand Prix on June 11
organizers report. Idowu will face Christian Olsson in what promises to be a
fascinating match-up between triple jump champions, while van Zyl tops off a
deep 400-meter hurdles field that already includes the top three hurdlers in
the world last year: Bershawn Jackson, Kerron Clement and Javier Culson.

LONDON (GBR): London 2012 has signed up Thames Water
as the Official Water Utility Services Provider of the London Olympic Games. As
part of the deal, Thames Water will be a Tier Three sponsor and will provide
all water utility and waste water services at London 2012 venues, ensuring
clean, reliable tap water and sanitation to the Games reports Insidethegames.

LONDON (GBR): London Mayor Boris Johnson has
announced that he is giving each Borough in the capital 82,000 dollar to
decorate high streets, squares and public spaces in order to spread the “look
and feel” of the Olympics and Paralympics across the capital reports Insidethegames.

LONDON (GBR): The proposed London 2012 Olympic
marathon course has received a glowing review as the first test event for the
Games took place and saw just under 50 athletes try out the iconic route around
the capital which starts and finishes in front of Buckingham Palace.
Athletes described the course as portraying the city well and gave positive
scorings. The only minor glitch for the London 2012 organisers came from
complaints about the Paralympic course writes Insidethegames. In the 20 km walk Chinese Wang Zhen
achieved 1:24:10 and in women race home Jo Jackson 1:31:50.

MONTE CARLO (MON): The IAAF reported that they had
approved the change of allegiance for marathoner Adriana Nelson, the former
Adriana Pirtea, an Romanian national who became a USA citizen last year. Nelson’s
performances were eligible for USA
recognition on 04-Apr-2011, but she has not been cleared to represent the USA until
04-Apr-2014. Informs RRW.

BALTIMORE (USA):
World Long Jump Champion Brittney Reese enjoyed her first trip to Italy
as well as her first time in Europe before the US Championships. The
3-time US
Champion wants to continue her streak of consecutive national titles and
prepares for her 4th defense in June. Thus traveling to Europe
in May wasn’t in her immediate plans. But as the defending Diamond
League
champion in the long jump, Reese also wanted to begin a winning streak
there as
well. When asked about the Golden Gala meeting Reese stated, “I enjoyed
my
first time in Rome.
We got to tour the ancient city as well as focus on performing well in
the
meet. I was relaxed and had some excellent practices before we left the
US. Everything
at the meeting was first-class (hotel, practice track, hospitality). I
wanted
to jump over 7.00 meters
and had a long foul but I know it is coming. I had several goals to
accomplish
in Rome and
achieved two of them. Unfortunately I didn’t get the world-leading mark
but
have another opportunity for that next weekend”. Reese’s next meet will
be in
NYC at the Adidas Grand Prix on Saturday, June 11th. It will be her
first trip
to the Big Apple and she again wants to achieve several goals which
include
jumping 7.00 meters
and taking the lead in the Diamond League jackpot race. It will also be
her
final tune-up before the US Championships on June 23-26th in Eugene
Oregon.

SINGAPORE (SIN): Organizers of the Standard Chartered
Marathon Singapore
announced that they had landed a three-year sponsorship deal valued at S$9.75
millions (USD 7.9 million) from title sponsor, Standard Chartered Bank. The
Singapore Sports Council, which operates the event, said that the sponsorship
renewal would extend through the 2013 edition of the race. Last year’s event,
which included a marathon, half-marathon and 10-K, attracted about 60,000
entrants, organizers said. Kenyans Kenneth Mungara (2:14:06) and Irene Jerotich
(2:35:22) were the winners in steamy conditions, and each received S$65,000
(USD 52,780). The 2011 Standard Chartered Marathon Singapore is scheduled for Sunday,
December 4.

HELSINKI (FIN) : The Helsinki 2012 Local Organising
committee released they already have 80% of sponsorship revenues for the
Helsinki 2012 European Athletics Championships. Helsinki 2012 introduced
Li-Ning/L-Fashin Group, Securitas, Puustelli Group, Sodexo, Valio and Veikkaus
as National Partners who will join the European Athletics international
partners SPAE, Omega, Le Gruyére and Eurovision. Sponsorship revenues of 2
million euros out of a total revenue target of 2.5 million are now in place.
The total budget for the championships is 14 million euros writes European
Athletics.

NEW YORK (USA):
American and New Zealand
5000m record holders Molly Huddle and Kim Smith announced that they would both
be racing on the weekend of the ING New York City Marathon in November, but in different
events. Huddle will run a new 5K road race while Smith will run the ING New
York City Marathon the following day reports RRW.

NAIROBI (KEN): There were more questions than answers
after the first post-mortem examination on marathon star Samuel Wanjiru as it
has emerged that the fatal injury could not have been sustained as a result of
a fall. It is argued that the injuries to Wanjiru’s palms and knees indicated
that the athlete landed on his fours and was conscious that he was jumping,
which could therefore not explain the fatal injury to the back of his head,
which preliminary investigations indicated was inflicted by a “blunt force”
reports The Daily Nation.

DALLAS (USA): American sprinter Wallace
Spearmon has admitted that he has lost ground on Usain Bolt and Tyson Gay, but
is confident of racing on the same level with the stars again. “When we first
started off, there was Bolt, Tyson and myself. I beat them, they beat me,”
Spearmon said in a report by AP and added that once he can get healthy again he
is confident he can be back up there with Bolt and Gay.

SAN DIEGO (USA):
American Meb Keflezighi is ready to compete in the Dodge Rock ‘n’ Roll Marathon
and Half-Marathon in San Diego
on Sunday. Keflezighi on Sunday morning will compete in the half marathon and
will also be promoting his book ‘Run to overcome’.

PARIS (FRA): The Paris Stade de France stadium has been equipped with a
brand new track and an all new sound system ahead of the Diamond League stage
in Paris the
Meetig Areva on July 8th. It is now the only stadium in France to be
equipped with the Mondotrack FTX product provided by the Mondo company.

RESULTS

JINAN (CHN, Jun 2): At National Junior Champs first
day good long jump for Li Minja 654 (+0.5).

CHISINAU (MDA, May 28-29): New national shot put record by Ivan
Emilianov 20.64 during the national championships. Another top mark was
national junior record in hammer by Serghei Marghiev 76.45 m.

BEDFORD (GBR, May 30): Jody Williams the World junior champion started
her season in bad weather with 11.35 (+0.9) at the 100 m.

LONDON (GBR, May 30): Mo Farah and Jo Pavey clinched the British 10 kilometer road
running titles at the Bupa London 10,000, while Paula Radcliffe struggled to a
third place finish in her first race after an 18 month layoff. Farah,
representing the Newham and Essex Beagles club, got an easy 22-second victory
over Solomon Mehretab (Victoria Park Harriers and Tower Hamlets), clocking
29:15, well off of the 27:44 course record he had run last year. Andrew
Lemoncello (Fife AC) finished third in 29:38. Pavey led the race from the
start, and was never seriously challenged. She clocked 32:22, 26 seconds up on
runner up Gemma Steel, who had caught Radcliffe in the sixth kilometer to move
into second place. Radcliffe, who has not raced since finishing fourth at the
2009 ING New York City Marathon, struggled from the starter’s gun to establish
a rhythm. The 37 year-old marathon world record holder, who gave birth to her
second child last September, gritted her teeth to finish in 33:17.

ZARY (POL, May 29): At the 8th Slusarski Pole Vault memorial meet Pawel
Wojciechowski cleared 550 for the win.

CHELYABINSK (RUS, May 29): European champion Mariya
Savinova clocked fast 1:58.9 at Ural Championships. Anna Shorstova cleared 194 in high jump for new
personal best.

WUNJIANG (CHN, May 29): During last meet of Asian series again fast
relays, China locked 39.46
ahead of Hong-Kong 39.47 and Korea
39.61. Mahmoud Samimi of Iran
won the discus (63.21). In the women tripl jump home win for Liu Xiemei 14.16
(-0.2) ahead of Li Yanmei (14.05, -0.3) and third Mayokha Johny new national
record for India
14.02 (+0.1).

KAOHSIUNG (TPE, May 27-28): Jamaican relay world record
holder Michael Frater clocked fast 10.06 (+0.3) at the International Championships
of Chinese Taipei. Another meet record for Australian Matt Davies who won the 200 m in 20.81 (+1.4). Polish
guest Igor Janik won the javelin with 80.75, also a meet record. German Nadine
Kleinert was the best in women shot put (18.63).

ATHENS (GRE, June 1): Paraskevi Papahristou shined at
the 12th edition of Filothei Women Gala meet. She leaped to 655 (+0.1) in long
jump and 14.34 (-0.5) in the triple jump. Venelina Veneva of Bulgaria was the best in high jump
(187).

HELSINKI (FIN, May 31): Kenyan Lewis Korir achieved
excellent 27:41.33 in the 10
000 m here.

SAN JOSE (CRC, May 27-28): Nery Brenes won the 400 m at the national
championships of Costarica with 45.92.

HAVANA (CUB, May 26-28): At the traditional
Barrientos Memorial new generation of names emerged. Raidel Acea improved to
1:45.62 in the 800 m.
Orlando Ortega coached by Santiago Antunez posted fast PB 13.56 (0.0) at 110 m hurdles. Noel Ruiz
achieved 45.94 in
the 400 m
(and was second in the 200m 20.70 PB). Michael Herrera won both sprints 10.34
(-1.6) and 20.63 (-0.9). Dena Caballero improved in women discus to 62.94.

GUELPH (CAN, May 28): At this low-key meet, Taylor
Milne set a Canadian record for the rarely run 2000m, clocking 5:01.57. Informs
RRW.

OREBRO (SWE, May 28): World junior record holder
Angelica Bengtsson is back from injury, she cleared 420 here.

MONROE (USA, May 28): New Jamaican record
for Jason Morgan in discus with 64.11
m.

ASHGHABAD (TKM, May 20-21): Late addition from Turkmenistan. Guest from Iran Ali
Akbar Rabiei clocked hand-timed 9.9 at the 100 m.

SAD NEWS

MINSK (BLR): Hammer Throw legend Romuald Klim died
on on 28 May after a long and difficult illness. Klim was 78 and captured two
Olympic medals for the former Soviet Union. He
won the gold medal in the Hammer Throw at the 1964 Olympic Games in Tokyo, and
struck silver in the event four years later in Mexico City. Klim also won the
European title in Budapest in 1966 and took
continental silver in Athens
in 1969. He was also a World record holder in the event, throwing 74.52m at the
International Nepszava Cup meeting in Budapest
on 15 June 1969. Informs IAAF.