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Athletics News - 19.04. |
Hellebaut to start the season in Doha
BRUSSELS: Belgian European champion Tia Hellebaut announced her first meet of outdoor season. She will compete at Qatar Grand Prix in Doha on May 11. The High Jump European undercover champion bettered her overall best in March to 205 cm. The meet record in Doha 196 by Hestrie Cloete (RSA) in 1999 will be clearly under threat. Hellebaut also signed for the whole Golden League series which starts on June 15 in Oslo.
Baala against Lagat in Paris
PARIS: Second leg of Golden League early July in Paris announced at its website fine 1500 m duel. Local hero and European Champion Mehdi Baala (he did not competed indoors) will race against Bernard Lagat who now represents USA (formerly Kenya). In this case to beat the meet record 3:28.38 by Hicham El Guerrouj will not be so easy. Baala´s calendar before that race is not yet known, but Lagat will come to Europe after US Nationals in Indianapolis.
Wariner in Des Moines
DES MOINES: Olympic and world 400 m Champion Jeremy Wariner will compete at 200 m during the 98th Drake Relays end of the month in Des Moines. He already run a relay race in this season and it is expected to show up along with Sanya Richards this weekend at Michael Johnson Invitational in Waco. Wariner´s best at 200 m is 20.19 since last year. He will try to defend his last year win here (20.67 against -1.1 wind). This week the organisers announced that only less than 1000 tickets remained available for the main action on Saturday (Apr 28) afternoon. Other top names announced are miler Alan Webb, high hurdler Ron Bramlett, ageless pole vaulter Jeff Hartwig, shot put world lists 2006 leader Christian Cantwell and female hurdler Lolo Jones.
Gardener and Pickering for Ostrava
OSTRAVA: Top British sprinters confirmed their appearance at Ostrava Golden Spike IAAF Grand Prix on June 27. Jason Gardener and Craig Pickering will ran 100 m, billed as „Continental Champions Race“ and also as 2nd Istvan Gyulai Memorial. Gardener will be in Ostrava for third time in his career, young Pickering will debut there. Four time European Indoor Champion will before this meet compete at Artur Takac Memorial in Beograd on May 29 (along with Mark Lewis-Francis), Norwich Union Glasgow Grand Prix on June 3 and European Cup. Pickering has Glasgow and Munich in his plans. It is expected that already in early races the Birmingham silver medallist will be able to better his 100 m best 10.22 from 2005.
Keita runs in Bamako and Dakar
BAMAKO: French 400m Hurdler and European relay champion Naman Keita (a native from Mali) will compete on Friday in his former country at 400 m Hurdles during an Area Permit Meet. As gazdefrance meet website informs he will stay in Africa for one more week and compete at 400 m flat during Dakar Grand Prix (part of IAAF World Athletics Tour) on April 28. Last year he was 4th at European Championships in Goteborg.
Powell and Simpson in Kingston despite smaller budget
KINGSTON: Main organiser and olympic champion Don Quarrie informed about outstanding fields for Jamaica International Meet on May 5 in Kingston. Nearly all top Jamaican athletes are scheduled to compete. Including world bests like Asafa Powell or Sherone Simpson in sprints. „I hope Asafa will be ok, but let us see his relay in Philadelphia. In any case he will be patient with his competitions before Osaka,“ added his agent Paul Doyle after his recent withdrawal in Walnut due to knee strain. In Philadelphia no more MVP team will ran the relay but official Jamaican select. As Jamaican media are informing apart of Powell also Michael Frater, Lerone Clarke and Dwight Thomas should be team members. There is also talk about letting the young talent Yohan Blake (10.11 recently at Carifta Games) to run in Kingston with the older stars. But His coach Danny Hawthorne sees no rush to push the talented boy. He will concentrate on junior races, but will try to make the Jamaican team to Osaka end of June at the National Trials/Championships. It is fourth staging of the meet and as Jamaican Observer says with smaller budget than in past editions. The restriction as per Jamaican media is from 700 000 to 600 000 USD.
Road to Eugene held in May
EUGENE: New meet called Road to Eugene´08 will be held this year on May 27. It was announced by the organisers. Last year it was organised in August. This new meet will give the opportunity for athletes to get qualifiying marks for different competitions.
Pilny announced he will finish as national president in 2009
PRAHA: European Athletics Treasurer (since 1999) Karel Pilny of Czech Republic announced that he will finish in his post as President of Czech Athletics Federation in 2009. The next election General Assembly of Czech Federation will be held in Spring 2009 and Pilny will left his place open for other candidates. But he wants to continue and concentrate on his work with European Athletics. He is president of the national body since December 1992.
Liu plans fourth win
BEIJING: Olympic 110 Hurdles champion Liu Xiang spoke again to media and said he wants the fourth win at Osaka Grand Prix, the early season fixture in Japan. This year the event will be held on May 5 and as organisers are saying is registering more interest from overseas than in past years. The reason is clear, athletes want to test the environment before the summer World Championships. Liu won in Osaka in last three years achieving 13.06 (2004), 13.12 (2005) and 13.22 (2006). It remains unclear who from the world elite will compete against him at the meet. So far it is also not known whether he will compete at Golden League meetings as his event is included in the series in 2007. It is only known that he is returning to Lausanne, the place where he broke the world record last year and will end his European campaign before world championships on July 15 in Sheffield.
Confirmed – Demus is pregnant
INDIANAPOLIS: 24 years old Vice-world champion 2005 at 400 m Hurdles Lashinda Demus is pregnant. EME News learned about it already during indoor season from well informed source, but could not get the confirmation. Now it was confirmed by USATF release. She expects twins (boys) and will not compete as expected this season. The birth is expected in late spring/early summer. She wants to return on time for Olympic Games 2008 in Beijing.
Chistyakov now officially again Russian
MONTE CARLO: IAAF confirmed in the latest Newsletter some nationality changes. Pole Vaulter Viktor Chistyakov is since Feb 12 this year again representing Russia. Since beginning 1999 he switched to Australia where he was also living. Last time at big event he competed for Australia was at the 2003 Worlds in Paris (11th). Now he is back. Another interesting move is 39 years old runner Brahim Lahlafi who is since March 15 able to compete for France. He won olympic bronze medal in Sydney 2000 at 5000 m for his former country. On Sunday he finished 13th in his marathon debut in Paris (2:15:09).
European Athletics has new partner from Sweden
LAUSANNE: Swedish merchandising company NeH Svenska AB is the new official distributor and licensee of European Athletics. Merchandise and souvenir products including internet sales for European Athletics and its 17 top events until the end of 2011 will be in hands of this company. It is first agreement of this kind for the european governing body ever.
Add from Weekend
DENTON (USA): New best for 21 years old Mike Rodgers who achieved at 100 m 10.21 (+1.8). He had before 10.29 since Kansas Relays in last year.
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