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Two World Champs Added To The Millrose Games Lineup

Posted January 15th, 2008 at 9:00 AM by Jamal Walker

Section: News & Results, Track & Field

reese hoffa shot putt Two reigning World Champions, shot putter Reese Hoffa (Pictured) and pole vaulter Brad Walker, will return to Madison Square Garden on Feb. 1 to compete in the 101st Millrose Games, organizers announced today. Both were ranked #1 in the world for 2007 by Track & Field News magazine.

Hoffa, a longtime Millrose Games and New York favorite, is coming off the best year of his career, winning world titles both indoors and outdoors in 2007 and notching the two longest throws of the year. Walker, the defending Millrose pole vault champ, is also the 2006 World Indoor Champion and a silver medalist from the 2005 World Championships.

Joining Hoffa will be the #2 and #3 shot putters in the world: 2005 World Champion Adam Nelson, a two-time Olympic silver medalist and three-time World Championships silver medalist, and Christian Cantwell, the 2004 World Indoor Champion who last year set a Millrose Games record with his victory here.

Set to challenge Walker are Toby Stevenson, the reigning Olympic silver medalist, and Derek Miles, coming off a big win earlier this month at the National Pole Vault Summit in Reno, Nev.

Two other World Champions are also on the Millrose Games roster. Bershawn Jackson, who won the 2005 world title in the 400-meter hurdles, will compete in the traditional Mel Sheppard 600, and 2003 100-meter hurdles champ Perdita Felicien. They all join the previously announced Bernard Lagat, who will be chasing his sixth Wanamaker Mile victory. Lagat is a double 2007 World Champion at both 1500 meters and 5000 meters, the first man in history to win both events in the same year in the World Championships.

The 101st Millrose Games, the third stop in USA Track & Field’s Visa Championship Series, is set for Friday night, Feb. 1, at Madison Square Garden. Tickets are now available at Ticketmaster (call 212-307-7171, visit www.Ticketmaster.com or at Ticketmaster outlets); or at the Madison Square Garden box office. For information and a look back at 100 years of tradition, visit the event website at www.Millrose-Games.com.