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IAAF Super Grand Prix Preview: DN Galan

Posted July 22nd, 2008 at 8:00 AM by Jesse Squire

Section: News & Results, Track & Field

DN Galan Stockholm Logo The IAAF’s World Athletics Tour comes to Sweden on Monday and Tuesday for the second of its five Super Grand Prix meets, the DN Galan, in the Stockholms Olympiastadion.

Meet Website
Web coverage: WCSN.com, Tuesday at 1 p.m. (EDT)
IAAF Preview

Event-by-Event Previews:

The men’s and women’s shot put competitions will be held Monday evening in downtown Stockholm. A ring has been set up along with seating for 500, and it will be held on live TV (Sweden only, unfortunately for us!). This special attention has attracted the top four putters from the US Olympic Trials, #1 Reese Hoffa, #2 Christian Cantwell, #3 Adam Nelson and #13 Dan Taylor, along with Canadian Record holder #15 Dylan Armstrong, Jamaican record holder #5 Dorian Scott, and German star #7 Peter Sack. The women’s competition will have #2 Nadzeya Ostapchuk facing off against #3 Nadine Kleinert.

The first of the international-level running events on Tuesday will be the women’s 4×100 meter relay, in which two USA teams will run against teams from Poland and Great Britain.

The women’s long jump competition is loaded with talent. World Indoor champ Naide Gomez, Russian champ Tatyana Kotova, US Olympians Brittney Reese, Grace Upshaw and Funmi Jimoh, and Sweden’s own Carolina Kluft make this the best meeting of jumpers yet this year.

The women’s pole vault brings together the world’s top two vaulters for the first time outdoors in 2008. Jenn Stuczynski, the US record holder and #2 all-time, takes on Yelena Isinbayeva, who set a new world record just over a week ago. Adding consderable depth are #4 Monica Pyrek, #6 Silke Spiegelburg, #7 Fabiana Murer and #8 Tatyana Polnova.

The men’s 400 meters once again brings together #1 Jeremy Wariner and #2 Kerron Clement for their fifth meeting in 2008. The season record is split at 2-2 but Wariner has a two-race win streak including Friday’s world-leading 43.86 in Paris. The rest of the field is hardly chopped liver, with #3 Chris Brown, #4 Tyler Christopher and #5 Ricardo Chambers enetered among others.

Of course, Sweden’s own #2 Stefan Holm and #9 Linus Thörnblad will be in the men’s high jump. Their main challenge likely will come from Americans #5 Jesse Williams and #7 Dusty Jonas.

US Olympian Matt Tegenkamp will get his first taste of the European GP circuit in ‘08 in the men’s 3000 meters against Joseph Ebuya and Abraham Chebii, 2nd and 3rd last Friday in Paris respectively, as well as the always-colorful Craig “Buster” Mottram.

Strangely enough, the Finns will be absent from the men’s javelin, leaving it to be a presumed coronation of #1 Andreas Thorkildsen. #4 Jarrod Bannister, #6 Erik Rags and #7 Peter Esenwein lead the remainder of the field, and Swedish hopes rest with #10 Magnus Arvidsson.

The rarely-run 1000 meter distance will be held for the men and the number to watch is 2:11.96. That is the world record time in the event, set in 1999 by Noah Ngeny, and while it appears beyond the reach of #1 Abubaker Kaki Khamis, nothing should be taken for granted given his astounding accomplishments this year. The stadium record of 2:14.28 is quite doable, considering he ran 2:15.77 indoors, and record-breakers earn a one-carat diamond valued at #US10,000. But don’t forget there are other athletes in the race: #5 Yusuf Saad Kamel and #8 Yuriy Borzakovskiy the best among them.

I say women’s high jump, you think Blanka Vlašic. She will be in action and it is hard to believe she could lose. Sweden’s Emma Green will get the cheers, but the day should belong to #1 Vlašic and #3 Elena Slesarenko.

Possibly the most anticipated #1 versus #2 matchup of the meet will occur in the women’s 400 meters. We have Sanya Richards and Allyson Felix in their first meeting of the year. Jamaicans #4 Novlene Williams and #6 Shericka Williams, African champ #7 Amantle Montsho, and World Indoor champ #11 Olesya Zykina add depth to an already fantastic race.

Another 1-against-2 race will happen in the men’s 110 hurdles. New World Record holder Dayron Robles met US champ David Oliver six weeks ago in Berlin and the American came out on top for Robles’ only defeat of the year. Oliver has been struggling through injury woes as of late, however, and did not look terribly dominant in Barcelona on Saturday. #7 Antwon Hicks or #8 Sergiy Demidyuk could beat him if he is not yet back in form.

These days it seems like the sprints in general, and the women’s 100 meters in particular, is little more than a USA-Jamaica dual meet. Representing the US is trials champ #5 Muna Lee, Olympians #7 Marshavet Hooker, #11 Lauryn Williams and #12 Torri Edwards and World Indoor champ #8 Angela Williams. For Jamaica, there is #4 Sherone Simpson and #6 Sheri-Ann Brooks.

The men’s triple jump will see Sweden’s World and Olympic champ Christian Olsson return to action from injury-forced layoff. Up against him will be #5 Randy Lewis, #7 Leevan Sands, and #12 Jadel Gregorio.

The men’s steeplechase features Trials champ #9 Anthony “Fam” Famiglietti, Kenya’s #4 Mike Kipyego, #8 Collins Kosgei and #10 Patrick Langat, and Sweden’s Mustafa Muhammed, who was third in Friday’s Paris Golden League race.

The headlines for the men’s 100 meters tout the meeting of Usain Bolt and Asafa Powell, the current and former world record holders in the event. It will likely not be close, and Powell’s recovery from surgery would be nothing short of amazing if he even takes second. Look for that position to be close between #4 Derrick Atkins, #6 Kim Collins, #9 Frances Obikwelu, #11 Michael Frater, #12 Churandy Martina, and #13 Richard Thompson.

The women’s 5000 meters is dominated by two women, and of them only Meseret Defar is here. A chase of Tirunesh Dibaba’s world record has been mentioned as a possibility. Adding depth to the race will be Kenyan Olympians Sylvia Kibet and Grace Momanyi, Britain’s Jo Pavey, and Americans Molly Huddle, Amy Rudolph, and Sara Slattery.

The women’s 100 hurdles will see the first action of Sweden’s indoor world record holder Susanna Kallur in more than a month. Earlier in the year she split her two meetings with US trials champ #1 Lolo Jones. This will be a great race, as Jamaica’s three Olympians, #3 Delloreen Ennis-London, #4 Brigitte Foster-Hylton, and #13 Vonette Dixon, will be running, as well as American Olympian #5 Candice Davis.

The final event of the night will be the men’s 4×100 meters. Entered are teams from Great Britain, the Bahamas, Nigeria, and Poland, but those are not the interesting teams. Jamaica has entered and the USA will have two teams. No mention has been made as to who will be on those teams, but enough talent will be present in the stadium to make it a fine race to cap the night.