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IAAF Golden League Preview: Meeting Gaz de France Paris

Posted July 17th, 2008 at 3:00 PM by Jesse Squire

Section: News & Results, Track & Field

Meeting Gaz de France Paris Saint-Denis The fourth stop on the IAAF’s Golden League circuit, the Gaz de France meeting will take place this Friday in Stade de France in suburban Saint-Denis.

Meet website — IAAF page

TV coverage: 4-6 p.m. Friday on ESPN2 and 2-3 p.m. Saturday on CBC
Web coverage: Trackshark.com, Friday (time TBA) and IAAF Radio, Friday from 1:30-4:00 p.m.

IAAF Preview

An event-by-event preview, in the order of competition…

Men’s Javelin
The best are not here, which is unlike a Golden League event. The top entrant is #5 Erik Rags, winner of Sunday’s Athens Grand Prix. His major challengers will be #6 Jarrod Bannister and #9 John Robert Oosthuizen.

Women’s 1500 meters
US Olympic Trials champion #6 Shannon Rowbury will get her first tough competition in this event since her big breakthrough. Her main competition will be #2 Gelete Burka and last year’s World Champion, #4 Maryam Yusuf Jamal, who won the Athens GP last Sunday in 4:00.67. Adding to the competition will be Kenyan Olympians #9 Irene Jelagat and #11 Viola Kibiwott.

Men’s Pole Vault
Another Trials champ, #3 Derek Miles, makes his 2008 Golden League debut. Top challengers should be #4 Steven Hooker, an Aussie who sports massively cool 80’s hair, and Ukrainian #5 Maksym Mazuryk. Adding depth is #10 Denys Yurchenko and the crowd favorite, France’s #12 Jérôme Clavier.

Women’s High Jump
All three US Olympians–#7 Chaunte Howard, #10 Amy Acuff, and #12 Sharon Day–are on the start list. The headliner is #1 Blanka Vlašic, whose win streak is now more than a year long and is on target to win at least half the Golden League jackpot. Trying to knock her off will be most of the world’s top jumpers, save the Russians (whose championships are this weekend). #2 Ariane Friedrich, #4 Ruth Beitia, #8 Tia Hellebaut and #9 Marina Aitova round out the field.

Men’s 400m Hurdles
Last week #1 Bershawn Jackson was knocked out of the jackpot race by #2 Kerron Clement, his only loss of 2008 so far. They will again do battle and will be joined by #3 L.J. van Zyl, winner in Athens on Sunday, #4 Danny McFarlane, and Americans #9 Angelo Taylor and #13 Reuben McCoy.

Men’s 400 meters
Yet another faceoff between #1 LaShawn Merritt and #2 Jeremy Wariner is yet again the race to watch. #3 Chris Brown versus #5 Tyler Christopher should be another matchup to monitor, as I believe that will be the fight for bronze in Beijing.

Women’s 800 meters
#1 Pamela Jelimo has not been challenged at all and looks to continue her march towards the Golden League jackpot. #3 Janeth Jepkosgei has come the closest, twice being “only” three seconds in arrears, and will be running along with #4 Maria Mutola, #6 Yuliya Krevsun, #10 Tamsyn Lewis and #11 Jenny Meadows.

Women’s 5000 meters
#1 Tirunesh Dibaba has only one rival capable of beating her, and Meseret Defar is not in the race, so the real fight is for second place. #13 Jen Rhines will run her third Golden League meet this year, trying to improve on her two fifth-place finishes. Facing off against her will be Ethiopian #9 Ejegayehu Dibaba and Kenyan Olympians #2 Lucy Kabuu Wangui, #4 Priscilla Jepleting Cherono, and #15 Sylvia Jebiwott Kibet.

Men’s Long Jump
Despite some late scratches, this is still the most loaded field in the meet. All of the world’s top five are entered: #1 Irving Saladino, #2 Godfrey Khotso Mokoena, #3 Hussein Taher Al-Sabee, #4 Mohamed Salman Al Khuwalidi, and #5 Brian Johnson. US Olympian #7 Miguel Pate and (non-Olympian) #12 Dwight Phillips along with last year’s Worlds runner-up, #16 Andrew Howe, make this a fantastic competition. If that’s not enough, home favorite Salim Sdri makes his return to the Golden League after last year’s horrific javelin accident.

Men’s 100 meters
The headliners are all absent from this meet, leaving us with B-level stars, #11 Mike Rodgers and #20 Marc Burns, and 200 specialists, Wallace Spearmon and Shawn Crawford.

Men’s 110m Hurdles
New world record holder #2 Dayron Robles can overtake the top spot in the hurdle rankings with a top-three finish, and would be the #1 male athlete in all events if he won in 12.97 or better. He will be challenget by Ukrainian Sergey Demidyuk and part of America’s seemingly endless procession of hurdlers: #4 Terrence Trammell, #5 David Payne, #9 Anwar Moore and #10 Antwon Hicks.

Women’s 100m Hurdles
Last week #3 Josephine Onyia bombed out of the jackpot race (just as was predicted right here) and finished a well-beaten sixth. She will try to right herself against Jamaica’s #5 Delloreen Ennis-London and a large group of Americans, including #4 Candice Davis, #11 Joanna Hayes, #19 Virginia Powell and #20 Nichole Denby. Carrying hopes for France will be #16 Adrianna Lamalle.

Men’s 3000 meters
Kenyan Olympic Trials champion #1 Edwin Cheruyiot Soi leads an otherwise weak field. The only other entrants who have made an impact this year are long-distance specialists Mark Kosgei Kiptoo and Joseph Ebuya.

Women’s 200 meters
Aside from surprise Trials star #2 Muna Lee, the top sprint stars are absent. Leading the rest of the field is Sanya Richards, making her third foray into the 200 this year, as well as #7 Muriel Hurtis-Houairi, #9 Carmelita Jeter, and #17 LaVerne Jones-Ferrette.

Men’s 1500 meters
Headlining the field are Kenyan Olympians #1 Augustine Kiprono Choge, #12 Asbel Kiprop, and #14 Nicholas Kemboi, as well as some who did not make their team: #8 Shedrack Kibet Korir and #15 Geoffrey Kipkoech Rono. #29 Alan Webb will try to straighten out his season.

Men’s Steeplechase
Can they count the laps right this year? Last year they could not. As you would expect, there are plenty of Kenyans in the race: #1 Richard Kipkemboi Mateelong, #4 Michael Kipyego, #6 Collins Kosgei, #23 Reuben Kosgei, and #24 Wesley Kiprotich. France has two quality entries in #16 Mehiedine Mekhissi-Benabbad and #20 Tareq Mubarek Taher.