by Larry Eder
Yohan Blake headlines a meet in Luzern on 17 July, which will also feature Wallace Spearmon running 200 meters to Blake’s 100m race.
Yelena Isinbayeva is opening tonight, 10 July, in Sottesville-les-Rouen, where she will debut her 2012 outdoor fitness. Her last competition was her gold medal performance in Istanbul, during the 2012 World Indoor Championships.
Blake for Swiss meet
LUZERN (SUI): Current world list leader and double Jamaican trials winner Yohan Blake will have his first race after the Trials in Luzern. On July 17 he will compete at this EA Classic (Spitzenleichtathleik) meet in the 100 m. Also other Racers TC athletes will compete there Jamaicans Warren Weir, Jason Young and Edino Steele in the 200 m. Another star is Long jump world champion Brittney Reese. In women 100 m hurdles European Champion Nevin Yanit of Turkey will face top US multieventer Hyleas Fountain. Swiss pole vault record Nicole Buchler will have 2009 World Champion Anna Rogowska of Poland in the start list (she is returning after injury). Men´s 200 m star is US Olympic Trials winner Wallace Spearmon (against Jamaicans) and in women javelin European gold medalist Vira Rebryk of Ukraine. Eurosport is preparing a live transmission.
Jamaican Olympic Team
KINGSTON (JAM): Jamaica announced its Olympic Team. As Trackalerts informs there are no surprises and the selection is based on Trials results. Women – 100 m, 200 m: Fraser-Pryce, Campbell-Brown, 100 m: Stewart, 200 m: Simpson, 4×100 m: added Calvert, Henry-Robinson, 400 m: Wiliams-Milss, Whyte, Day, 4×400 m: added Lloyd, Blake, 800 m: Sinclair, SC: Hinds, 100mH: Foster-Hylton, Greaves, S. Williams, 400mH: Walker, Spencer, Wilson, TJ: K. Williams, T. Smith, DT: Randall. Men – 100 m, 200 m: Blake, Bolt, 100 m: Powell, 200 m: Weir, 4×100 m: added Frater, Bailey-Cole, N. Carter, 400 m: Hyatt, McDonald, Gonzales, 4×400 m: added Nolan, Steele, Hylton, 110mH: Parchment, Riley, R. Phillips, 400mH: L. Green, Robertson, Cato, LJ: Forbes, SP: Scott, DT: Smikle, Morgan, dec: M. Smith.
Yelena returns
SOTTEVILLE (FRA): Tuesday´s French Premier meet in Sotteville les Rouen will see the return of pole vault queen Yelena Isinbaeva into the competition. Her last meet was when winning the World Indoor Title in March in Istanbul. She will not have it easy in France with UK record holder Holly Bleasdale, Cuban Yarisley Silva and returning 2009 World Champ Anna Rogowska. World leader and olympic winner LaShawn Merritt returns here to Europe after Olympic Trials win for the first time in the 400 m. 100 m duel Mike Rodgers vs. Kim Collins is another highlight. Lolo Jones is the women hurdles favorite and European heptathlon champion Antoinette Nana Djimou competes in the javelin.
Top junior stars thinking Olympics
BARCELONA (ESP): IAAF World Junior Championships are starting in Barcelona on Tuesday. Some top names beeing ready also for Olympic Games in London will be the headliners. Like UK sprinter Adam Gemili, Luguelin Santos of Dominican Republic in the 400 mm Russian world junior record holder Sergey Morgunov in long jump and Angelica Bengtsson from Sweden in the pole vault. Great duel is expected in the 800 m from Nijel Amos of Botswana and Kenyan Timuthy Kitum. Unfortunately the fastest Kenyan junior Abraham Kipchirchir achieved his fast times too late for selection, the same for Albert Rop in the 5000 m. Also Ethiopion Hagos Gebrehiwot will give preference to the olympic 5000 m. In technical events decathlon duel of Australian Jake Stein and US Gunnar Nixon could produce something special. Shaunae Miller of Bahamas is the title defender in women 400 m but she will face NCAA Champion Ashley Spencer of USA. Anothet title defender competing is New Zealand shot put star Jacko Gill. High jump will see World indoor record holder Mariya Kuchina against improved Italian Alessia Trost.
Ethiopian controversy
ADDIS ABABA (ETH): Ethiopian paper The Reporter are informing that the newly emerged Ethiopian athlete, Abeba Aregawi, who won the 1500 m Diamond League in Rome last month and is one of the hopefuls for London 2012 has sparked controversy as the Swedish government filed a suit to the International Association of Athletics Federation (IAAF) claiming Abeba has been granted Swedish citizenship and that she should not represent her homeland for the coming London Olympics. However, following her remarkable achievement in the Diamond League, the Swedish Government granted her the citizenship on June 8, 2012 after reviewing the application she submitted back in 2009. The Swedish government, moreover, wrote a letter to IAAF saying that she would represent Sweden for the London Olympics. Currently, Abeba is training alongside the national squad. Informs The Reporter.
London SDL News
LONDON (GBR): Superb 110 m Hurdles field is ready for Aviva Grand Prix in London. Not only home lite but also Chinese Liu Xiang and top 3 US olympic bound hurdlers (Merritt, Richardson, Porter) will be in the field. Another star entry here is the world record holder Ashton Eaton who is also a fast hurdler. Kenyan long distance star Vivian Cheruiyot will not run in London. An ankle injury, which she aggravated while competing at the Kenya trials for the Olympics is the reason. “I have to be careful of choosing the races, trying not to burn myself out prior to the Olympics. I have made up my mind to skip the London Diamond League meeting to focus on my preparations for the Olympics,” said Cheruiyot. French European Champion Christophe Lemaitre will run his last race before the Games in London at the 200 m. “I’m expecting a good place and to bring my time down. I can do better than the 20”31 I’ve run this year. If conditions are good, I’d really like to run a sub-20 second time. The weather may prove quite difficult in London though. After this final race, it’ll be necessary to polish up the preparation. I’m really going to have to step things up! However, I repeat that I’m not concerned about the fact that I haven’t run as fast as last year yet. I’ve still managed to run a sub-10.10 time regularly.” About his event at the Games he says: “The 100m at the Meeting Areva was my most recent so I have all that data to hand. It’s my favourite distance; it’s the star event. At the same time though, my aim this year is still to win a medal at the Games. As such, I’ll choose the event where I have the most chance of achieving that objective. To be honest, I couldn’t give a damn if it’s the star distance. I’ll be able to make that decision (whether to double) at the last minute, but I don’t think so.”
Shot put returns to Train Station
ZURICH (SUI): Weltklasse Zurich Samsung Diamond League meet announced that again the Main Train Station will witness top shot put competitions. As usual it will happen one day before the track action on Wednesday, August 29. World champion Valerie Adams who trains in Magglingen, Switzerland will have her Fan Club there. Tickets for shot put are still available at cost of 22 Swiss Francs.
OTHER NEWS
RIJEKA (CRO): At the general assembly of Croatian Athletics Federation the former 800 m Europeanm champion Luciano Susanj achieved his fourth term mandate as president. He got 33 votes, the other candidate Marijan Grendel 20.
AMSTERDAM (NED): Dutch sprinter Guus Hoogmoed is ending his career. The Dutch sprinter has PB’s of 10.15 and 20.48 and is a Beijing Olympic 4x100m finalist. However, the last year was disappointing causing Hoogmoed to hang up his spikes reports losseveter.nl.
BRUSSELS (BEL): Belgium is sending four boys, three girls and a girls 4x100m team to the IAAF World junior championships in Barcelona. Combined events is doing well in Belgium with the representation of talented Nafi Thiam in the heptathlon and Arne Broeders in the decathlon. Also on the team are 800m runners Brecht Bertels and Joren Bouckaert as well as talented thrower Jolien Boumkwo, sprinter Imke Vervaet and pole vaulter Arnaud Art.
BERLIN (GER): Four years after ending his professional career German atlete Ingo Schultz has returned to the track for a bet stating he would not be able to run under 52.5 seconds before the London Olympic Games. Schultz managed a time of 51.1 over 400m reports leichtathletik.de.
LONDON (GB
R): IOC President Jacques Rogge has admitted there was a “question mark” over the sponsorship of the Games by McDonald’s and Coca-Cola amid concerns about growing obesity. Rogge said the companies had been asked to address the issue and that extending the sponsorship deal for McDonald’s was not an easy decision according to The Telegraph.
