Track & Field: Weekly Preview
Posted January 26th, 2008 at 10:30 AM by Bob Ramsak
Section: News & Results, Track & Field
With three major international invitationals set for this weekend –Saturday’s Reebok Boston Indoor Games, Saturday’s Norwich Union International in Glasgow, and the Russian Winter meet in Moscow on Sunday– TPR begins its peak-season weekly previews. Some of the expected key highlights:
In the Sprints…
Thus far in 2008 the major news in the sprints has been off the track, beginning with the New Year’s Day announcement by the US Anti-Doping Agency that Olympic 100m champion Justin Gatlin would have to sit out a four-year ban. (How’s that for setting the tone for the year?) Gatlin is appealing the decision to the Court of Arbitration for Sport. [For a recent interview Gatlin gave Reuters, please click here]
The most solid field of the weekend will be in Boston, where reigning world indoor champion Leonard Scott makes his ‘08 debut. Reigning US indoor champion DaBryan Blanton, and Leroy Dixon [Pictured], a 400m relay gold medallist last summer in Osaka, are also in the field.
In Moscow, The key names include European outdoor 100m medallists Andrey Yepishin (RUS) and Matic Osovnikar of Slovenia, along with Olusoji Fasuba of Nigeria.
In Glasgow, the focus will be on Briton Craig Pickering, the European indoor silver medallist. His chief competition looks to be former world 200m medallist Darvis Patton, who will also contest the 200, where he’ll face Swede Johan Wissman.
The sprints have often sprung surprises in Olympic trials years. This year’s may come from 21-year-old Walter Dix, the Florida State senior who last year wisely chose to put the brakes on his lightning fast spring and end his season at the U.S. Championships (he was third in the 100m) in order to concentrate fully on ‘08. In May, he sped to a 19.69 performance in the 200m (an NCAA record), clocked 9.93 in the 100, and collected three NCAA titles. He will open the season at the Tom Jones Memorial on Saturday in Gainesville, Fla.
The early season world leader in Nigerian-born Qatari Samuel Francis, who won the Asian Games in Macau last October in 6.54. Besides Saudi Yahya Saed Al-Kahes, who finished behind Francis in Macau, no others have dipped under 6.60. Clemson junior Travis Padgett 96.62) is the fastest among collegians thus far.
On the women’s side of things, the key sprinter in Boston will be 2004 world junior champion Shalonda Solomon, the 2006 NCAA indoor and outdoor champion in the 200 who missed much of last season after a late spring injury. In Moscow, European indoor silver medallist Yevgeniya Polyakova (7.17 SB, just 0.01 off of PB) is the woman to beat.
Distance eyes on Boston…
The Boston meet, this year celebrating its 13th edition, has long been synonymous with the distance events, with this year’s no exception. This year the Meseret Defar-Tirunesh Dibaba show returns, and as usual, the two will be running different events.
Defar, last year’s IAAF World Athlete of the Year, will contest the 2 miles. Last year the 24-year-old Ethiopian twice lowered the world best in the rarely contested event, eventually giving the distance respectability with her 8:58.58 at the Van Damme Memorial in Brussels. Even though it’s her indoor debut, there’s little evidence that the indoor mark, 9:23.38 set by the disgraced American Regina Jacobs at this meet in 2002, won’t be undergoing a revision on Saturday. New Zealander Kim Smith and American Jen Rhines are also in the field.
Dibaba, who dramatically defended her world 10,000m title last August, will run the 3000, and will be paced by her older sister, Ejegayehu. An interesting entrant is Kenyan Sally Kipyego, the two-time NCAA cross country champion for Texas Tech. Kipyego, 22, also the reigning NCAA indoor champion in the 3000 and 5000, and this will be the toughest international test of her young career.
Former indoor 3000m world record holder Liliya Shobukhova headlines the Boston mile a week after her victory in New York over the same distance (4:31.90), while in Moscow, Yelena Soboleva, the world indoor record holder in the 1500 (3:58.28) will make her first appearance of the year and over the imperial distance indoors.
In Glasgow, Briton Lisa Dobriskey, the 2006 Commonwealth 1500m champion, is likely to garner the most attention in the 1500m.
The key attraction in the men’s distances will be the 2008 debut of world 1500/5000m champion Bernard Lagat, who’ll contest the shorter distance in Glasgow. His primary challenge looks to be Kenyan Shadrack Korir.
In Moscow, the men’s 800 is the key event, where Olympic champion Yuriy Borzakovskiy and world indoor champion Wilfred Bungei of Kenya will square off, the latter in his ‘08 debut.
Hurdles…
Susanna Kallur will have a busy weekend. The 26-year-old Swede, the European indoor and outdoor champion, is on the slate for both Glasgow and Sunday’s Irish Indoor championships. In Moscow, Tatyana Dektyareva, the young season’s second fastest (PB 8.03), tops the field. in Boston, Aries Merritt and Joel Brown lead a solid domestic field in the men’s 60m hurdles.
Jumps…
Most of the action of note thus far this season has been in the jumps, and the key players are all in action this weekend.
World leader Ivan Ukhov (2.36) and Andrey Silnov (2.34), will both compete on home turf in Moscow, where they’ll be joined by Reigning world indoor champion Yaroslav Rybakov, who’s jumped 2.28 in his lone outing this season. The Moscow pole vault field includes Russians Sergey Kucheryanu and Yevgeniy Lukyanenko, a pair of 22-year-olds who have set or equalled their 5.70 career bests already this winter. Germany’s Danny Ecker, the Osaka bronze medallist last year and a member of the six-meter club, will make his ‘08 debut.
US record holder Jenn Stuczynski, currently the early season world leader (4.71), tops the pole vault field in Boston, while Swede Carolina Kluft, will make her first start of the year in her second event, the long jump.
But the long jump competition in Moscow looks to be considerably deeper. Irina Simagina (6.94), Olga Kucherenko (6.87), and Tatyana Kotova (6.77) are the only jumpers this season to sail beyond 6.70, and all are on tap in Moscow. Osaka silver medallist Lyudmila Kolchanova and 2005 world champion Tianna Madison of the US will make their first appearances of the year.
Throws…
A highlight in Boston will be the four-man showdown in the shot put, lead by world indoor and outdoor champion Reese Hoffa. Hoffa opened his season with a 21.06 win in Fresno on Monday, but he’s not the current world leader. At the moment, that honor belongs to Christian Cantwell, wh0 reached 21.35 in Nordhausen, Germany, last weekend. He, along with former world champion Adam Nelson (20.71 in ‘08), and Dan Taylor, fill out the field.
(c) 2008 TRACK PROFILE Report, all rights reserved. Used with permission.
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Tags: appeal, Bernard Lagat, doping, Glasgow, indoor track & field, justin gatlin, Meseret Defar, Moscow, norwich union international, performance enhancing drugs, preview, Reebok Boston Indoor Games, russian winter, steroids, tirunesh dibaba, track and field, u.s. anti doping agency, USADA, WADA
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The Final Sprint
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January 26th, 2008 at 12:56 pm[…] Track & Field: Weekly Preview […]
January 26th, 2008 at 4:05 pm[…] Christopher Grant wrote an interesting post today onHere’s a quick excerptThe most solid field of the weekend will be in Boston, where reigning world indoor champion Leonard Scott makes his ‘08 debut. Reigning US indoor champion DaBryan Blanton, and Leroy Dixon [Pictured], a 400m relay gold medallist last … […]
January 27th, 2008 at 1:39 am[…] Track & Field: Weekly Preview […]
January 28th, 2008 at 2:04 pm