Showing posts with label ATHLETICS. Show all posts
Showing posts with label ATHLETICS. Show all posts

Sunday, September 13, 2009

Stunning Jeter run upstages Bolt

Carmelita Jeter

Replay - Jeter streaks to 100m win

Carmelita Jeter upstaged Usain Bolt with a stunning run in the women's 100m at the World Athletics Final in Greece.

She posted a time of 10.67 seconds to become the third fastest woman in history behind Florence Griffith-Joyner and Marion Jones.

"I couldn't believe the time. It didn't feel that fast but I will take it," said Jeter, who defeated world champion Shelly-Ann Fraser in the process.

Bolt ended his season with an emphatic 200m victory in 19.68 sec.

Jeter's time - the fifth-fastest ever run - was 0.18 sec behind Griffith-Joyner's world record of 10.49 sec and 0.02 sec behind the quickest time ever run by Jones, who was stripped of her five medals from the 2000 Olympics after admitting using steroids.

I knew I had one more good race in me and I gave it my best

Sprint sensation Usain Bolt

Griffith-Joyner's mark has been considered untouchable but after her display on Sunday Jeter is refusing to rule out the possibility of breaking it in the future.

"It might be touchable now," she said. "I didn't even know I would come out and do that time today but with a little bit more work under my belt I should go a lot faster."

Bolt, who warmed up by playing air guitar while Zorba the Greek played over the public address system, was drawn in lane five.

After a false start by Britain's Marlon Devonish, Bolt surged round the bend before easing down at the finish.

Devonish, who was sixth in 20.85, said: "I'm very pleased to be here. I don't know how he does it, I wish I did!"

Tired Bolt looking forward to break

Bolt himself said: "I knew I had one more good race in me and I gave it my best.

"I'm going back home to celebrate and chill out until training starts again in November.

"I didn't expect this because I'm really tired and the endurance training didn't go too well in the early part of the year, but I'm really happy."

World bronze medallist Jenny Meadows produced Britain's best performance with third place in the women's 800m.

American Sanya Richards struggled round the top bend in the women's 400m, before battling through to win in 49.95 seconds, with British duo Nicola Sanders and Christine Ohuruogu fourth and sixth respectively.

Sanders clocked 51.01 and said: "Coming home I thought 'I've got a bit left' and I went for it so I'm quite pleased, but I definitely want to improve next year."

Ohuruogu ran 51.42 and commented: "It's been very much an up and down year. I lost a lot of momentum with my injury but at least it has taught me about how to manage my injuries."

Britain's Chris Tomlinson was seventh in the long jump, recording 7.85m as Australia's Fabrice Lapierre won the four-jump competition with 8.33.

Usain Bolt

Replay - Bolt wins 200m in Greece

Thursday, July 23, 2009

British sprinters lazy - Powell

Former 100m world record holder Asafa Powell says the reason British sprinters are not challenging on the track is because they are lazy.

Powell, who is due to race in the 100m at the London Grand Prix on Friday, believes athletes in his native Jamaica have a greater desire to succeed.

"I've said over the years that British sprinters are very lazy and don't really want to practise," he said

"Maybe it's comfort. In Jamaica, you have to work harder for what you want."

Commonwealth 100m champion Powell, 26, hails from Spanish Town, Jamaica and believes the economic hardship experienced there instils budding athletes with a determination to succeed that is lacking in their British counterparts.

"We have a different mindset," he said. "You have to make a living out of it because you don't get a living from anywhere else.

The ankle is in shape to go 9.7 but I'm not sure it's in shape to go below that

Asafa Powell

"You have to go out there and make something of yourself."

Britain's main hope in the 100m at Crystal Palace is 23-year-old Simeon Williamson, who comfortably beat Dwain Chambers in the UK trials with a time of 10.05 seconds.

However, this is some way off the time needed to challenge the top athletes in the event, including Powell, and the Jamaican says Williamson must be prepared to put the effort in to earn the rewards.

"Simeon came to Jamaica and from what I observed he is a bit lazy," said Powell.

"He did well though and he made a lot of improvements and if he puts in the effort and the hard work there is a lot more to come."

Powell will face off against Olympic 100m champion Usain Bolt on Friday in an eagerly anticipated 100m contest.

Bolt took world athletics by storm at the Beijing Olympics last year, winning gold in the 100m, 200m and 4x100m relay, setting new world records in each event, and will start Friday's race as favourite.

However, Powell - who has been suffering from an ankle injury - is unbeaten over the distance at Crystal Palace having run under 10 seconds in his previous three races at the venue and is predicting a spectacle.

"I'm sure a lot of people are looking forward to it," he said. "I'm excited to see what kind of shape I'm in right now. I feel in pretty good shape."

"The ankle is in shape to go 9.7 (seconds) but I'm not sure it's in shape to go below that.

"I'm in better shape than I thought I was, and maybe some of the other guys will go below 9.7 so we will wait and see."

One sprinter who will not be competing in the 100m is American triple world champion Tyson Gay, who has a persistent groin strain and decided to concentrate on the 200m.

However, Powell feels having himself, Bolt and Gay on the scene is extremely beneficial to the sport.

"At first there was really only me, and then Tyson came on board and now we have three guys who are capable of running below 9.8 seconds," he said. "It's fantastic and it has done a lot for the sport.

"Having three guys like that out there, the world record is likely to get broken."

Thursday, July 9, 2009

Kluft is the reigning world heptathlon champion

Carolina Kluft
Kluft is the reigning world heptathlon champion

Sweden's Carolina Kluft will miss next month's World Championships in Berlin and the rest of the season after suffering a hamstring injury.

Kluft, the reigning world heptathlon champion, picked up the injury in a meeting on home soil on Monday.

"This is the worst setback of my sporting career," the 26-year-old told Swedish radio.

She is expected to have surgery this week, after which she will need around six months rehabilitation.

Kluft is unbeaten in 22 heptathlon and pentathlon competitions since March 2002, winning nine consecutive gold medals in major competitions, but chose to compete in just the long jump and triple jump in last year's Olympics.

She finished ninth in the long jump but failed to qualify for the triple jump final in Beijing.

She said earlier this month that she would be concentrating on the long jump this year.

Monday, June 29, 2009

Fountain's neck problem got worse in the long jump

Hyleas Fountain
Fountain's neck problem got worse in the long jump

Injured Fountain to miss Worlds

Olympic hepathlon silver medallist Hyleas Fountain will not compete at the World Athletics Championships in Berlin after pulling out of the US trials.

Fountain hurt her neck in the high jump on Saturday but carried on and led the competition in Oregon after day one.

But the 28-year-old aggravated her injury in the long jump on Sunday and had to withdraw.

Fountain won bronze in Beijing but was promoted to second after Ukraine's Liudmyla Blonska failed a drugs test.

Her withdrawal from the US Championships in Eugene follows that of Olympic decathlon champion Brian Clay with a hamstring injury.

US Track & Field rules stipulate that only athletes who qualify through the trials can make the national team for major events.

Wednesday, June 24, 2009

Turner aims to overcome setback


Nottinghamshire athlete Andy Turner says he is capable of achieving more, despite having had his lottery funding cut by UK Athletics last year.

The 28-year-old won the 110m hurdles at the European Team Championships in Portugal last week.

He said: "To be where I am now is a dream come true but I'll never be satisfied until I'm in a world or Olympic final and in the mix.

"Until then I'm going to keep giving it everything I've got."

The Hucknall hurdler believes UK Athletics are wrong to think he cannot succeed at the highest level.

He added: "I ran 13.2 here in a not very fast race and that would have made the final in Beijing. Say no more."

Thursday, June 18, 2009

Bolt has been named the 2009 world sportsman of the year


Usain Bolt ran the 100 metres in a breathtaking 9.77 seconds - the fastest time in the world this year - at the IAAF Golden Spike meeting in Ostrava.

But the wind was a fraction over the legal limit, meaning the event record of 9.85 set by Bolt's fellow Jamaican Asafa Powell in 2005 still stands.

Britain's Craig Pickering, the 2007 Ostrava champion, ran a superb race to finish second in 10.08.

Meanwhile, Mark Lewis-Francis was fifth in the 100m 'B' race in 10.40.

Lewis-Francis, back after a year out injured, finished two places ahead of fellow Briton Christian Malcolm.

Marilyn Okoro produced the best British performance of the night, winning a closely-contested 800m in a season's outdoor best of 2:00.21.

Okoro just managed to hold off France's Elodie Guegan with another Briton, Jenny Meadows, finishing narrowly behind in 2:00.48.

Elsewhere, Olympic champion Dayron Robles comfortably won the men's 100m hurdles with an impressive time of 13.04, while Ireland's Paul Hession won the 200m.

But Bolt was the stand-out performer and again showed that he will be the man to beat at the World Championships in August.

The 22-year-old was slowest out of the blocks but delighted the Czech crowd by storming to a resounding victory.

Runner-up Pickering, whose legal best is 10.14, finished well clear of Frenchman Ronald Pognon in third.

Sunday, June 14, 2009

Medals, money or both?


Nine weeks before it hosts the World Championships, Berlin's historic Olympic Stadium is on Sunday the venue for the start of the most important circuit of meetings in athletics, the AF Golden League.

And if previous results are any guide, only the very best athletes will be able to target success in both.

GOLDEN LEAGUE MEETINGS
Berlin - 14 June
Oslo - 3 July
Rome - 10 July
Paris - 17 July
Zurich - 28 August
Brussels - 4 September

From 2010 the league is to be expanded and renamed the "Diamond League" and will include two of Britain's top meetings.

But for now the Golden League provides the world's top athletes with the chance to win the "grand slam" of athletics.

A share of a million-dollar jackpot is on offer to all who can achieve victories at the same event in six out of six of Europe's biggest one-day meetings between June and September.

Only a handful of British men and not one British women have won designated 'golden' events since the league started

Last year the sole winner was the teenage Kenyan 800m sensation, Pamela Jelimo.

She not only won all six Golden Leagues hands down, but was unbeaten at seven other meetings including the African Championships and Olympic Games.

Sadly she now seems to be experiencing something of a reaction to her success with two comprehensive defeats in recent days, but in 2008 she proved that it is possible to win on the circuit and at championships in the same season.

'GOLDEN' EVENTS IN 2009
Men: 100m, 400m, 3000m/5000m, 110m hurdles, javelin
Women: 100m, 400m, 100m hurdles, high jump, pole vault

Taking up this challenge means being ready to travel and compete at the highest level throughout the whole season.

Traditionally British athletes have not been dominant in the Golden League.

Only a handful of British men and not one British women have won designated "golden" events since the league started in 1998 and none have won a share of the overall jackpot.

That might well have something to do with the fact that every year is a major championship year for British athletes.

In the even year between the Olympics we have both the European Championships and Commonwealth Games to consider.

How the $1m jackpot has been divided over the last 10 years


So how have past Golden League jackpot winners fared in World Championship years?

I am discounting 2001 when (as in 2000), the IAAF softened the rules and the prize was halved to $500,000, shared by athletes winning at only five out of seven meetings.

There have been just six jackpot winners across 1999, 2003, 2005 and 2007. Each has won a share of or all of the $1m purse in those years.

Of those, four (Wilson Kipketer and Gabriela Szabo in 1999, Maria Mutola in 2003 and Yelena Isinbayeva in 2007) also won world golds in the same year.

The other two (Tatyana Lebedeva in 2005 and Sanya Richards in 2007) did not even win an individual medal at the Worlds.

Lebedeva and Richards
Lebedeva and Richards both prioritised the Golden League over world gold

We will never know if Lebedeva and Richards would have been world champions in those years had they not chased the money.

Triple jumper Lebedeva actually qualified for the World Championship final in 2005, but with the prospect of winning $1m a few days later, decided not to risk her Achilles tendon injury and did not jump.

In 2007, Richards interrupted her build-up to the US trials by travelling to Europe to win the first Golden League in Oslo.

But she then went on to place only fourth in those cut-throat trials and so was not even selected to compete at 400m in the Osaka World Championships.

606: DEBATE

In that event both gold and silver went to Britain through Christine Ohuruogu and Nicola Sanders.

Each were soundly beaten by Richards after Osaka as she claimed her Golden League reward.

They had the medals, she had the money. The 10 event winners in Berlin on Sunday will be on their way to the jackpot and may be forced to decide which prize is their priority before the summer is over.


Golden League jackpot winners 1998-2008

(On 11 June 2008, $1m = £611,853)

1998 (7/7 wins needed)

Total jackpot: $1,000,000 (each awarded $333,333.33)

Hicham El Guerrouj (MAR) 1500m

Haile Gebrselassie (ETH) 3000/5000m

Marion Jones (USA) 100m

1999 (7/7 wins needed)

Total jackpot: $1,000,000 (each awarded $500,000)

Wilson Kipketer (DEN) 800m

Gabriela Szabo (ROU) 3000/5000m

2000 (5/7 wins needed)

Total jackpot: $500,000 (each awarded $166.666.66)

Gail Devers (USA) 100m hurdles

Trine Hattestad (NOR) javelin

Tatyana Kotova (RUS) long jump

2001 (5/7 wins needed)

Total jackpot: $500,000 (each awarded $83,333.33)

André Bucher (SUI) 800m

Hicham El Guerrouj (MAR) 1500m

Allen Johnson (USA) 110m hurdles

Marion Jones (USA) 100m*

Violeta Szekely (ROU) 1500m

Olga Yegorova (RUS) 3000m

2002 (7/7 wins needed)

Total jackpot: $500,000 (each awarded $125,000)

Hicham El Guerrouj (MAR) 1500m

Felix Sánchez (DOM) 400m hurdles

Marion Jones (USA) 100m*

Ana Guevara (MEX) 400 Metres

2003 (6/6 wins needed)

Total jackpot: $1,000,000 (one winner)

Maria Mutola (MOZ) 800m

2004 (6/6 wins needed)

Total jackpot: $1,000,000 (each awarded $500,000)

Christian Olsson (SWE) triple jump

Tonique Darling (BAH) 400m

2005 (6/6 wins needed)

Total jackpot: $1,000,000 (one winner)

Tatyana Lebedeva (RUS) triple jump

2006

Main jackpot $500,000 (6/6 wins needed), secondary jackpot $500,000 (5/6 wins needed)

Each awarded $249,999 (one third of main jackpot plus one sixth of secondary jackpot):

Asafa Powell (JAM) 100m

Jeremy Wariner (USA) 400m

Sanya Richards (USA) 400m

Each awarded $83,333 (one sixth of secondary jackpot):

Kenenisa Bekele (ETH) 5000m

Irving Saladino (PAN) long jump

Tirunesh Dibaba (ETH) 5000m

2007 (6/6 wins needed)

Total jackpot: $1,000,000 (each awarded $500,000)

Sanya Richards (USA) 400m

Yelena Isinbayeva (RUS) pole vault

2008 (6/6 wins needed)

Total jackpot: $1,000,000 (one winner)

Pamela Jelimo (KEN) 800m

*All Jones's performances since 2000 were annulled in 2008 for doping violations

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