by Larry Eder
Morgan came back at the Brussels meeting, winning the DL and running fastest time of the year with her fine 4:00.06 for the 1,500 meters.
Morgan Uceny is one of those athletes who we will see on the medal stands over the next few years. As in life, in our sport, one has to hit the lows to appreciate the high points .
DECANATION
NICE
(FRA): Seventh Decanation (teams match in decathlon events) will see 8
teams battling for the overall win. In previous editions USA won four
times and Russia with France got one each. Also this year team USA will
compete as favorite with world finalist Maggie Vassey in the 800 m, shot
put world medalist Jill Camarena-Williams on the women side, sprinter
Justin Gatlin and pole vaulter Derek Miles to name on the men side. But
Russia will be also strong with world champion Tatyana Lysenko in
hammer, Anastasiya Kapachinskaya in the 400 m, Yelena Slesarenko in high
jump and Aleksandr Menkov in long jump. Home team of France will have
two stars Christophe Lemaitre in the 100 m and Renaud Lavillenie in the
pole vault. Germany as usual strong in throws with world champion David
Storl in shot put, Markus Esser and Kathrin Klaas in hammer. Malte Mohr
is entered into the pole vault. The other teams are South Africa, China,
Spain and England.
DOHA BID FOR 2017
BRUSSELS
(BEL): Doha unveiled in Brussels more details of its bid to host the
2017 World Athletics Championships, including staging the long distance
events like the marathon at night to avoid the worst of the heat and
also offering to organise the International Paralympic Committee World
Championships immediately afterwards. It also, not surprisingly, was
keen to emphasise that it already had the majority of its infrastructure
in place to stage the Championships, unlike its only rival London,
whose bid continues to suffer from uncertainty over the future of the
Olympic Stadium. The Khalifa Stadium will feature the latest
state-of-the-art cooling technology for the Championships, which would
take place in the middle of September if Qatar’s bid is successful. The
marathon, which traditionally takes place in the morning, would be
scheduled in the evening, along the Corniche waterfront, including one
of the races being incorporated into the Opening Ceremony. Doha is also
proposing to build Athletics City to accommodate the the competitors and
officials during the Championships The development would offer luxury
apartments, five star hotels, restaurants and entertainment facilities.
They also promised that the Khalifa Stadium would be full to its 40,000
capacity each day.
PLS IS A HAPPY MOTHER
TORONTO
(CAN): Canadian hurdling star Priscilla Lopes-Schliep is a mom. The
olympic medalist gave birth Friday to a baby girl Nataliya Ava, who
weighed in at eight pounds one ounce. It’s the first child for the
Olympic bronze medallist from Whitby, Ont., and husband Bronsen Schliep.
Lopes-Schliep posted on Twitter: “Thank you everyone for all your
support, Bronsen & I our very happy to announce the birth of our
daughter Nataliya Ava Schliep!” She trained through most of her
pregnancy with her sights set on next summer’s London Olympics.
OTHER NEWS
KINGSTON
(JAM): Two of MVP star athletes, Brigitte Foster-Hylton and Michael
Frater are now representing 361 degree, a Chinese company. Track Alerts
contacted their agent Paul Doyle who confirmed: “Yes, I can confirm that
Brigitte and Michael are now representing 361.” Also signed to 361 is
400 m hurdles runner and world championships semifinalist Josef
Robertson.
MADRID (ESP):
Spanish sprinter Estela Garcia (11.68 and 23.87 bests) did not
participate in Daegu after failing a doping test conducted during the
national championships early August. Daily “Publico” revealed that that
was the real reason why she was removed from the national relay team for
Korea. At that time the reason presented publicly was an injury. Papers
are reporting that she still waits for the results of B sample
analysis.
TALLINN (EST):
The Estonian Athletic Federation has invited coaches, athletes and
combined events enthusiasts to take part in the 1st European Decathlon
Conference in Tallinn, 5 and 6, October 2011. Olympic Champion Erki Nool
and Russia’s Yevgeniy Zagorulko will be the headline speakers at the
conference, which is part of the 2011 European Athletics Coaching Summit
Series and will include presentations, sample training sessions and
biomechanical analyses focused on the High Jump and Long Jump in the
context of the decathlon.
BERN (SUI):
Swiss javelin record holder Stefan Muller is ending his career. He will
have his last competition on Saturday during Swiss Team Championships in
Bern. His national record from 2006 is 82.07 m. In that year he was 7th
at European Championships in Goteborg. He will be 32 next week.
.
ELDORET (KEN):
Hundreds of people turned up for the grand homecoming ceremony of World
double gold medallist Vivian Cheruiyot in Eldoret on Wednesday. At hand
to receive the queen of distance running back from South Korea were
family members, relatives, top athletes and a senior colleague from
Criminal Investigation Department (CID) officer, Patrick Ndunda. And at
the official reception at the Mayor’s Parlour, Eldoret Mayor William
Rono announced that the municipality will name one of the town’s streets
in honour of the 5,000m and 10,000m winner in Daegu. Writes The
Nation.Vivian’s mother Angelina and father William Cheruiyot rubbed her
with the ornamental plant sinendet that is used to bless heroes from the
Kalenjin community. Mama Angelina then led the mursik (sour
milk)-drinking fanfare that usually greets their returning world
beaters. Cheruiyot revealed a plan to do a double at next year’s London
Olympics.
BRUSSELS FLASH-BACK
BLAKE:
His reaction time was 0.269. This is nearly one tenth to normal. 19.26
minus 0.1 makes…He said he had been “patient” at the start.
CORRECTION: Matthias De Zordo is Diamond Race winner, not Thorkildsen.
SCORING: In all-athletics.com scoring Van Damme is number four of the season (top three are Monaco, Eugene and Zurich).
DIAMOND RACE:
Each of the 32 overall event winners receives a spectacular Diamond Race
Trophy and a cash prize of US$40,000 ($1,280,000), which combined with
the US$480,000 ($6,720,000) available at each of the 14 meetings, brings
the total prize money distributed by Samsung Diamond League in 2011 to a
total of US$8 Million. Four athletes repeated their DR wins also in
2011 from Zurich winners (Koech, Cheruiyot, Spencer and Reese) and seven
more came in from Brussels winners (Rudisha, Merga, Lavillenie, Jeter,
Chemos, Vlasic and Barrios). Interesting also to note that all last year
winners competed in the final also this year except of two in Zurich
(Gay and Wariner) and seven in Brussels (Spearmon, B. Jackson, Tamgho,
Felix, Langat, Lopes-Schliep, Savigne). Last year Vlasic was the only
one with winning all seven meetings in her event, this year there was
not such athlete, closest with five wins Adams, Chemos and Montsho. On
the other side of barrier is high jump winner Jesse Williams who won
only one meeting.
DR winners
2011 in Zurich events – 100 m: Powell (2010 Gay), 400 m: James
(Wariner), 1500 m: Chepseba (Kiprop), SC: Koech (Koech), 110mH: Robles
(Oliver), HJ: Williams (Ukhov), LJ: Watt (Phillips), DT: Alekna
Malachowski). Women – 200 m: Jeter (Felix), 800 m: Meadows (Jepkosgei),
5000 m: Cheruiyot (Cheruiyot), 400mH: Spencer (Spencer), PV: Spiegelburg
(Murer), LJ: Reese (Reese), SP: Adams (Ostapchuk), JT: Obergfoll
(Spotakova).
DR winners
2011 in Brussels events – 200 m: Dix (Spearmon in 2010), 800 m: Rudisha
(Rudisha), 5000 m: Merga (Merga), 400mH: Greene (B. Jackson), PV:
Lavillenie (Lavillenie), TJ: Idowu (Tamgho), SP: Armstrong (Cantwell),
JT: De Zordo (Thorkildsen). Women – 100 m: Jeter (Jeter), 400 m: Montsho
(Felix), 1500 m: Uceny (Langat), SC: Chemos (Chemos), 100mH: Carruthers
(Lopes-Schliep), HJ: Vlasic (Vlasic), TJ: Saladukha (Savigne), DT:
Barrios (Barrios).
RESULTS
BELLINZONA
(SUI, Sep 15): Italian sprinter Jacques Riparelli clocked fast 10.26
(+0.5) to win at a international meet here. Top duel in long jump ended
with a win for French Eloyse Lesueur 668 beating Swiss record holder
Irene Pusterla 655. Rieti hurdles winner Emanuele Abate continued in
that way and won again in 13.58 (+0.6). Ukrainian Natalya Pyhyda posted
51.98 at 400 m ahead of European U23 Champion Olga Topilskaya of Russia
(53.42). Melanie Melfort cleared 188 to win the high jump ahead of world
finalist Deirdre Ryan of Ireland (184) and best Swiss Beatrice Lundmark
(also 184).
