by Larry Eder
Bernard Lagat, 2011 WC 5,000m qualifying, photo by PhotoRun.netPAULA – MOMENT OF TRUTH
BERLIN (GER): It should be a match made in heaven,
the women’s marathon world record holder finally running on the universally
recognised fastest marathon course in the world. But it’s been two years since
Paula Radcliffe ran a 42.195k race, finishing fourth in New York 2009, and, on
her own admission today, “I was hurting”. Her only race since then was, again
in her own words, “a bit of a disaster”. That was a 10k in London in May, when she finished a poor
third, in 33.17, the sort of time that she did for each 10k section of her
world record 2.15.25 in London 2003. Writes Pat Butcher. The fact that the IAAF
is proposing (just two days ago) that that record now be considered a ‘world
best,’ since it was paced by men, has not pleased her, although she still holds
the ‘world record’ 2.17.52 from London 2005. But with two Olympic disasters
behind the most accomplished women’s distance runner in history, and a need to
run close to 2.20 here in Berlin, both to qualify her for London 2012, and to
give her the springboard to a potential Olympic victory, it is not untoward to
suggest that Sunday’s 38th BMW Berlin Marathon is going to be a (long) moment
of truth for the 37 year old Briton. At today, Thursday’s press conference,
Radcliffe and Berlin
race director Mark Milde reciprocated that they were both top of each other’s
wish list. And given that Radcliffe spent some of her university year abroad in
Germany,
and is more than adequate in the language, she has already endeared herself to
the population by fielding press and TV questions in the local lingo. With no
mention of pacemakers, Radcliffe’s principal opponent here on Sunday morning is
likely to be Kazakh born German Irina Mikitenko, who won both London
and Berlin in 2008, and won again in London the following
year. An injury forced her out of London
last year and, also struggling with injuries, she could only finish seventh
this year. The other contenders are all Russian – Lidiya Grigorieva, a winner
in Boston and Los Angeles in the last five years, Tatyana Petrova, who also won
Los Angeles, two years ago, and reigning European champion, Nailya Yulamanova. “I
honestly don’t think that running with men makes any difference. I would still
have done in the 2.15,” said Radcliffe.
SUAREZ
AND CHERNOVA
MONACO (MON): IAAF confirmed what EME NEWS reported
already on Sunday that Cuba’s
Leonel Suárez and Russia’s
Tatyana Chernova are the overall winners of the 2011 IAAF Combined Events
Challenge and will each receive a payment of $30,000 from the IAAF. Suárez, who
was second in the Challenge last year and took bronze at the IAAF World
Championships, produced another consistent season to tally 25,172 points. Eelco
Sintnicolaas of The Netherlands, who was fifth at the World Championships and
most recently third in Talence, was second with 24,772 points, ahead of Mikk
Pahapill of Estonia,
who was third with 24,746. Chernova, who also won the series title in 2010,
produced a memorable season winning three of the four Heptathlons she
contested, capped by her 6680-point total to take gold at the IAAF World
Championships in Daegu. The 23-year-old tallied 20,332 points in the series,
well ahead of Germany’s
Jennifer Oeser, the World Championships bronze medallist, who totaled 19,594.
Natallia Dobrynska of Ukraine,
who was fifth at the World Championships, finished third in the series with a
19,408 point total. 2011 was the 14th successive year of the Combined Events
Challenge, and, as well as the five individual permit meetings (Desenzano,
Götzis, Kladno, Ratingen and Talence), this season the series included the IAAF
World Championships, the African Combined Events Championships, the three
European Cup Combined Events competitions, the U.S. Championships, the Asian
Championships, and the World University Games. Top 8 will recieve prize money.
Suarez average is 8391, the best ever was the 8825 average by Tomas Dvorak in
1999. For Chernova her average was 6777 points with top average in the
Challenge 6847 of Carolina Kluft in 2004.
PARS AND
HEIDLER
MONACO (MON): Krisztián Pars of Hungary and Germany’s
Betty Heidler are the winners of the IAAF World Hammer Throw Challenge and will
each receive a prize of US$30,000 reports the IAAF. Pars is the silver
medallist of the IAAF World Championships and achieved a 239.03 m score clearly
ahead of Dilshod Nazarov 235,72 and Primoz Kozmus 233,90. Pars was better than
inaugural year winner Murofushi (238.52). Also Betty Heidler who repeated her
women series win from 2011 had a better finals score 228.09 m than in 2010
(225.88). Second was Yipsi Moreno 220.46 ahead of Kathrin Klaas 219.77 and
World Champion Tatyana Lysenko 218.51. Men´s world champion Koji Murofushi
competed in only one challenge event.
MULLINGS
AND RODGERS STILL WAITING
KINGSTON (JAM): Nearly a month after requesting that the B sample for
Steve Mullings be re-tested, lawyers for the Jamaican sprinter are still
awaiting the procedure to be carried out at an independent laboratory reports
The Jamaican Observer. Mullings was suspended after testing positive for the
banned substance, Furosemide at the Jamaican national championships earlier
this year. With time running out for the paperwork to be filed and the
disciplinary meeting to be reconvened in mid-October, Mullings hopes that the release
would be granted soon and the process can go ahead. Also in other sprinting
case of the summer of Mike Rodgers no final verdict was announced yet.
FARAH
THINKS MARATHON
LONDON (GBR): Mo Farah has been enlisted to promote London’s bid to host the
IAAF World Championships in 2017 and he has revealed plans to compete in the
marathon there. Farah said but said that by 2017 he hopes to be competing in
front of a home crowd in the marathon rather than on the track. “If we got 2017
it would be amazing. I don’t think I’d be competing on the track but I’d be
competing on the road,” he said. “Twenty-six miles is quite a long way but if I
had the home crowd and everyone got behind me, it would make a big difference.”
Farah was quoted The Guardian.
BLAKE
MORE 200 M
NEXT YEAR
KINGSTON (JAM): World champion at 100 m and world leader at 200 m Yohan Blake arrived
home. “If you look at my reaction time (.269) and I ran the turn a bit slow,
you can see that I can go faster in the 200m and also my 100m technically can improve,”
said Blake, who will now enjoy a couple of weeks off before heading back into
training. “My start has been poor, I have been getting bad starts and if I can
improve that my, time can be much better over the 100m,” he continued between
camera flashes and signature-searching fans. “I can hardly walk in Europe, my life has changed significantly,” Blake
exclaimed. “Once I could walk in Europe and
people didn’t even know who I am, but now I am like a public figure … my life
has changed. Usain (Bolt) and I are very close. We have been training together
for two years now and I don’t think that anything has changed, but it’s going
to be more intense in training next year and also in competition,” Blake
agreed. Another thing that’s for certain is that the former St Jago High school
man will be paying far more attention to the 200m next season after running the
half-lap event only four times this year. “My coach will now take that into
consideration even though I joke around with the 200m, but he’ll get me more
serious about it,” Blake noted. Blake, who met Prime Minister Bruce Golding and
Sports Minister Olivia ‘Babsy’ Grange at Jamaica House, was also grateful for
the appreciation shown and attention given for his achievements. Writes Jamaica
Gleaner.
US PAN-AM TEAM
INDIANAPOLIS (USA):
Athletes with World Championships and Olympic experience, and a core group of
young talent, will lead Team USA
into the 2011 Pan American Games slated to be held October 24-29 in GuIadalajara, Mexico.
Fourteen 2011 World Championships team members are on the 90-person Team USA roster for
the Pan Am Games. The roster consists of 46 men and 44 women. Top names are USA
Outdoor hammer throw champion Kibwe Johnson, who will be making his second
appearance at the Pan Am Games and placed second in 2007; 2011 USA Outdoors
discus champion and 2008 Olympic Trials champion Jarred Rome; 2011 USA hammer
throw runner-up Michael Mai; two-time USA discus runner-up Jason Young; and
2009 USA Indoor pole vault champion Jeremy Scott. On the track, World Outdoor
4x400m gold medalist Michael Berry will compete in the open 400. In Daegu, Berry
clocked a split of 43.83 in
the first round of the relay. Although he did not compete in the final, Berry’s split was the fastest of the Championships for
Team USA.
The women’s team is led by two-time (’99, ’03) Pan Am Games gold medalist and
three-time Olympian Aretha Thurmond in the discus and 2008 Olympic Games silver
medalist and 2008 World Indoor silver medalist Jenn Suhr in the pole vault Suhr
is the American indoor and outdoor record holder and currently owns five USA
Outdoor and five USA Indoor titles. Sprints will be run by Rae Edwards with
Calesio Newman (100 m)
and Deun White with Newman at 200
m. High hurdles athletes are Jeff Porter with Dominic
Berger and 400mHurdles duo Reuben McCoy with Lee More. Experienced Stephanie
Durst is selected for women 200
m. Strong team is selected for 100 m hurdles with Ginnie
Crawford and Nia Ali.
SAVIGNE
RECOVERED
HAVANA (CUB): 2009 Triple jump world champion Yargelis
Savigne is recovered and will defend her Pan American Games title in Guadalajara. Savigne
injured herself during World Championships final and finished only sixth and
missed the remainder of the European circuit including Diamond League final
where she was the leader. Dayron Robles is also expected to compete there along
with the four Daegu medalists (Lazaro Borges in pole vault, Yareli Barrios in
discus, Guillermo Martinez
in javelin and Leonel Suarez in decathlon). From other top names also triple
jumper Alexis Copello and former world champion in hammer Yipsi Moreno are
expected to compete.
OTHER
NEWS
ROTTERDAM (NED) : The ABN AMRO Rotterdam Marathon will
stay a mixed race announced race director Mario Kadiks. Organizers of the
marathon report that it would be technically impossible to split the race in a
men’s and women’s race and add that the new IAAF rule will not affect the
event.
BERLIN (GER): World javelin champion Matthias De
Zordo traveled with his coach Boris Henry and visited soccer club VfL
Wolfsburg. They shared their knowledge and De Zordo demonstrated his throwing
skills after which also the soccer players gave it a try according to
leichtathletik.de.
TOKYO (JAP): The Japanese sports ministry is considering renovating Tokyo’s National Stadium which could be used as the main
venue for the Opening Ceremony and track-and-field events, should Tokyo be selected host
city for the 2020 Summer Olympic Games. The ministry reportedly hopes to boost
seating capacity for the stadium which was built in 1958, and increase the
number of track lanes to raise the facility to Olympic standards according to
gamesbids.com.
LONDON (GBR): Sebastian Coe has claimed that everyone
working on the London
bid for the 2017 IAAF World Championships will continue to do so until the very
end in order to convince the IAAF and the athletics family that the capital
should stage the event. The double Olympic 1500 meters champion
has claimed that the key to winning the race to host the 2017 competition is
convincing his colleagues at the IAAF that London is the best place for the
event before the IAAF’s ruling Council gather to vote on the hosts in Monte
Carlo on November 11 writes Insidethegames.
SOCHI (RUS): Sochi 2014 is claiming its first world record after a
series of new partner deals signed last week took its sponsorship total to 877
million euro, surpassing the figure that Beijing raised for the 2008 Summer
Olympics and Paralympics reports Insidethegames.
AMSTERDAM (NED): Organizers of the TCS Amsterdam
Marathon have confirmed the participation of Wilson Chebet for the 36th edition
on October 16th. Chebet holds a personal best of 2:05.27 which he ran last year
in the marathon of Rotterdam
and aims at breaking the course record of 2:05.44. Last year Chebet made his debut
in the Amsterdam Marathon running 2:06.12. The TCS Amsterdam Marathon is also
the Dutch national championships and will feature Dutch athletes Koen
Raymaekers, Michel Butter and Patrick Stitzinger. In the women’s race Lornah
Kiplagat is the favourite to take victory.
BORDEAUX (FRA): Bertrand Valcin, coach of European
decathlon champion Romain Barras, has been severely injured following an
incident in which he was set on fire. Following the Decastar combined event
meeting, in which Barras had to pull out after three events, the team of
Barras, Yean-Yves Cochand and Bertrand Valcin went to the house of El Hassan El
Ouakkali. El Ouakkali claimed Valcin had an affaire with his wife and the two
started a fight. El Ouakkali then poured gasoline over Valcin and set him on
fire. Jean-Yves Cochand managed to help Valcin but the coach remains in the
hospital with second and third degree wounds.
MONACO (MON): Steve Hooker wrote in his IAAF online
Diary that he is not as devastated as people think by his disappointing
appearance at the IAAF World Championships. “It wasn’t as upsetting as you
might think, because I knew that I wasn’t ready. Especially with the quality of
the guys in the final – five at 5.85 – I don’t think I was in that shape. So it
was nice being able to watch it” Hooker wrote for the IAAF. Hooker now wants to
refocus on the 2012 Olympic Games and hopes to start the year with some good
performances in the Australian domestic season.
MOSCOW (RUS): High jumper Tatyana Kivimiagi gave
birth to a son (52 cm,
3.08 kg).
The 27-years old Russian has indoor and outdoor PB´s of 198 and was in recent
time seeking Estonian citizenship.
LONDON (GBR): Double Olympic champion Seb Coe has been confirmed as
guest of honour and after-dinner speaker at the ‘Coaching Legends’ Gala Dinner
which forms part of the 2011 European Endurance Conference weekend hosted by
UKA, England Athletics, the British Milers’ Club and the Ron Pickering Memorial
Fund on October 8 and 9.
NEW YORK (USA): World 1500m leader and Diamond League trophy winner
Morgan Uceny joins a strong field for the fifth Avenue Mile in New York this
weekend. Uceny, who disappointingly fell at the World Championships, hopes to
close off a successful season with a win in New York.
OSAKA (JPN): Kenyan Salim Kipsang with 2:07:29 best
is the top foreign entry for first Osaka Marathon on October 30. The first
annual Osaka
marathon is a mass race with a few elite runners. Top female entry is former
world champion Lidia Simon of Romania.
Japanese runners list is headed by Kenjiro Jitsui and Yuki Kawauchi with Kiyoko
Shimahara and Yukari Sahaku.
RESULTS
SOSNOWIEC (POL, Sep 21): At SilesiaAthletics meet Igor
Janik achieved 80.60 in
the javelin. Dawid Tomala got 3000
m walk win in 11:10.79 over Rafal Augustyn 11:17.82.
MARANO (ITA, Sep 20): European junior bronze winner Jose de Leon of Italy
improved here to 49.94 at 400
m hurdles. It is second best mark in Europe 2011 by an
junior. Kenyan Eric Chirchir posted 28:32.73 in the 10 000 m.
SOCHI (RUS, Sep 17-18): Decathlon winner in the
Russian team combined events championships was Aleksandr Tabala with 7892
points and in women heptathlon Marina Goncharova with 5653 points. Team wins
for men of Moscow and women of Kemerovo region.
ADDIS ABABA (ETH, Sep 18): History was made in Addis Ababa when more
than 3000 participants took part in the first race of the 2011 Coca-Cola Road
Race Series, the first-ever race in Ethiopia where chip timing was being used
for all the participants. The success of the race was a huge personal triumph
for Great Ethiopian Run General Manager Ermias Ayele who over the past six
months has masterminded an operation of the necessary hardware and software
from Europe and Australia
to achieve yesterday’s race outcome. The 7km race was won by Mewesinet Geremew
in a time of 21:46 and Itenesh Diro in women category with 25:52. Winning
prizes for the first race was awarded by Haile Gebrselassie, one week before he
attempts to record a fifth victory in the Berlin Marathon next Sunday.
