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Golden League Preview:
Rome Golden Gala

Posted July 11th, 2008 at 8:00 AM by Jesse Squire

Section: News & Results, Track & Field

The Golden Gala, the third stop in the IAAF’s Golden League, will take place this Friday in Rome’s Stadio Olimpico.
Meet’s own website — IAAF page

TV coverage:
live on ESPN Classic from 3-5 p.m. (EDT) Friday
tape-delay on CBC from noon-1 p.m. Saturday
also live online at Trackshark.com on Friday at noon

An event-by-event preview, with references to The Final Sprint’s exclusive world points standings…

Men’s Javelin
The meet kicks off with an event traditionally dominated by northern Europeans, and the start list is heavy with them here. #1 Andreas Thorkildsen, #3 Tero Pitkämäki, #4 Jarrod Bannister, #5 Tero Järvenpää, #7 Eriks Rags and #9 Peter Esenwein make a deep field.

Men’s Steeplechase
Top entries include #3 Brimin Kipruto and #8 Patrick Langat.

Women’s 800 meters
The world’s outstanding runner of the early season, #1 Pamela Jelimo, will be going for her third straight Golden League win. Trying to knock her out of jackpot contention will be #5 Kenia Sinclair, #6 Janeth Jepkosgei, #7 Maryam Yusuf Jamal, and US Trials champ #8 Hazel Clark.

Women’s High Jump
Also trying to remain in the Golden League jackpot hunt is #1 Blanka Vlašic, the world’s outstanding athlete of 2008. Her competition includes #3 Elena Slesarenko, #4 Ruth Beitia, #7 Amy Acuff, #8 Marina Aitova and #9 Tia Hellebaut.

Men’s 5,000 meters
The only world-ranked athletes in this race are #4 Eliud Kipchoge and #5 Tariku Bekele. Unranked but a threat to win are World and Olympic medalist Sileshi Sihine and African champion Gebre Gebremariam.

Women’s Pole Vault
This will be World Record holder Yelena Isinbayeva’s first outdoor meet this year. She is beatable (if only barely), and every top non-American vaulter will be there: #2 Yuliya Golubchikova, #3 Monica Pyrek, #4 Svetlana Feofanova, #5 Silke Spiegelburg, #9 Carolin Hingst and #10 Fabiana Murer.

Women’s 100m Hurdles
Another jackpot contender is in this race, but she is vulnerable to defeat. #2 Josephine Onyia won the first two Golden League races by somewhat slim margins. #3 Brigitte Foster-Hylton and #6 Candice Davis will be the only other top hurdlers in the race, though.

Men’s Long Jump
#3 Hussein Taher Al-Sabee is one of the five jackpot contenders. He has lost to his fellow Saudi countryman, #4 Mohamed Salman Al Khuwalidi, in a minor meet and it could happen again. Back after a six-week knee-injury layoff is #2 Irving Saladino, who is dominant when healthy. Also entered are the three US Olympians, #5 Brian Johnson, #6 Miguel Pate and #9 Trevell Quinley, and the World Indoor champion, #1 Godfrey Khotso Mokoena.

Men’s 110m Hurdles
World Record holder #2 Dayron Robles is entered. His only real competition are Americans #6 David Payne and #9 Anwar Moore.

Men’s 1500 meters
#3 Daniel Kipchirchir Komen, #4 Deresse Mekkonen, #5 Abdalaati Iguider and #7 Shedrack Kibet Korir look to make this a tight battle.

Men’s 100 meters
#4 Kim Collins, #6 Nesta Carter, #7 Derrick Atkins and #8 Mike Rodgers are all entered, as well as an ascending Asafa Powell. Carter and Atkins each have one Golden League victory. A victory by either Collins or Carter would push them into second in the world standings.

Women’s 400 meters
#2 Allyson Felix will run her second 400 of the year, and a victory would put her past Sanya Richards for the top ranking position. She will be challenged by #3 Mary Wineburg, #4 Novlene Williams, #5 Amantle Montsho, #6 Shericka Williams and #7 Natasha Hastings.

Men’s 400 meters
The best rivalry in track gets another edition. #1 LaShawn Merritt meets #2 Jeremy Wariner with the top ranking on the line. The season’s record stands at 2-0 in favor of Merritt. #3 Chris Brown is also in the field, with #8 Sean Wroe and #9 Sanjay Ayre in the B-race.

Women’s 200 meters
400 star Sanya Richards drops down to the shorter distance to do battle with Jamaican Olympians Kerron Stewart and Sherone Simpson.

Men’s 400m Hurdles
Only three nations will be represented: South Africa, Jamaica, and the USA, and all the competitors have been named to their Olympic teams. #1 Bershawn Jackson will be trying to keep his jackpot hopes alive versus #2 Danny McFarlane, #3 LJ van Zyl, #4 Kerron Clement, #8 Isa Phillips and #9 Angelo Taylor.

Women’s 400m Hurdles
#2 Melanie Walker is undefeated in 2008; US Trials champ #3 Tiffany Williams will try to change that. Also taking their shot will be #7 Anna Jesien and #8 Christine Spence. The winner of this race will take over the #1 ranking.

Men’s 800 meters
The overwhelming favorite is #2 Mbulaeni Mulaudzi, who ran 1:43.64 last week. Other notables include #5 Alfred Kirwa Yego and #7 Yusuf Saad Kamel.

Women’s 5000 meters
The meet ends with #1 Tirunesh Dibaba in her signature event. It is always possible that she could break her own World Record, although there has been no announcement as to a record attempt. Everyone else will be racing for second, and the top entries are #8 Ejegayehu Dibaba, #9 Meselech Melkamu, Kenyan trials champ Priscah Jepleting Cherono, and US-based Kim Smith.