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Lead Stories: Monday, December 1, 2008

Meet Preview: Zurich Golden League

Posted August 28th, 2008 at 1:46 PM by Jesse Squire

Section: News & Results, Track & Field

Tommorrow the IAAF’s Golden League comes to Zurich for the Weltklasse meet, the fifth out of six competitions in the series.

• IAAf Preview
• EAA Preview
• Meet Website

TV / Web coverage:

• ESPN Classic, 4-6 p.m. Friday (replays Saturday at 7 a.m.)
• CBC, 4-6 p.m. Saturday (replays Monday at 12:30 a.m.)
• Trackshark.com, 2 p.m. (live)

Still in the hunt for the $1 million jackpot are Kenya’s Pamela Jelimo in the 800 meters and Croatia’s Blanka Vlasic in the high jump.

Other superstars among the 41 Olympic medalists slated to compete are Usain Bolt, Kenenisa Bekele, Dayron Robles, and Yelena Isinbayeva. Great matchups are the sixth faceoff of the year between Jeremy Wariner and Kerron Clement, a rematch between Vlasic and her Olympic spoiler Tia Hellebaut, and a men’s 4×100 relay featuring the USA and Jamaica.

A deeper listing of top entrants can be found at The Track & Field Superblog.

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Best Track & Field City in the World?

Posted November 10th, 2007 at 8:30 AM by Jimmie R. Markham

Section: News & Results, Track & Field

The Track & Field off-season is a little rough on us trackies. At least we can console ourselves with the fact that the indoor season is just a couple of months away. We can also take comfort in knowing that the statistics for the current season are just sitting there, waiting to be analyzed. Middle-distance is my specialty, so I will be crunching the numbers for those event over the next few weeks.

I was curious to know what city in the world is the “best” city for watching a world-class middle-distance event. I’m sure the readers of The Final Sprint will also want to know about the long distance track events, too, so I have also included those in this analysis. I went to my favorite statistics site, alltime-athletics.com, for the facts.
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Sanya Richards named USATF Athlete of the Week

Posted September 19th, 2007 at 3:00 PM by Martha Jones

Section: News & Results, Track & Field

Sanya Richards has been named USA Track & Field’s Athlete of the Week after winning the women’s 400 meters Sunday at the 2007 ISTAF Meeting in Berlin, Germany to earn her second consecutive share of the Golden League Jackpot.

The 2006 IAAF Athlete of the Year, Richards earned half of the million-dollar jackpot by going undefeated in the women’s 400 in Golden League competition. In the last meet of the series, she streaked to victory in the women’s 400m in a world-leading 49.27 seconds. Richards’ other Golden League wins came in Oslo June 15, Paris July 6, Rome July 13, Zurich September 7 and Brussels last Friday.
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Encore Performances by Lagat, Jepkosgei and Jamal in Zurich

Posted September 8th, 2007 at 10:18 AM by Bob Ramsak

Section: News & Results, Track & Field

A trio of recently-minted world champions turned in impressive encore performances at Zurich’s Weltklasse, as the IAAF Golden League series resumed here tonight.

Competing in unseasonably chilly conditions before an energetic capacity crowd of 26,500 at the rebuilt Letzigrund stadium, Bernard Lagat, Janeth Jepkosgei and Maryam Yusef Jamal produced victories quite similar to those which brought them their respective world titles in the 5000, 800 and 1500 meters, respectively, in Osaka last week.

Contesting the 3000 just five days after completing his 1500/5000 double at the world championships, it was no contest from the moment Lagat took the lead for good coming off the final bend. Passing Kenyan Edwin Soi, the American crossed the line unchallenged in 7:38.77.
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Richards, Carter, Lagat
win in Zurich

Posted September 7th, 2007 at 7:27 PM by Martin Kennedy

Section: News & Results, Track & Field

The 2006 IAAF World Athlete of the Year, Sanya Richards is now the only American alive in the hunt for the Golden League Jackpot after winning the women’s 400 meters Friday at the fourth meeting of the six fixture series, the Weltklasse Zürich in Switzerland. Athletes must win at all six meetings of the IAAF Golden League series to claim a share of the $1,000,000 Jackpot.

2005 World Outdoor silver medalist Sanya Richards destroyed the field in the women’s 400m, winning in a world-leading 49.36 seconds. Novlene Williams of Jamaica was a distant second in 50.85 while reigning World champion Christine Ohuruogu of Great Britain was fourth in 51.32 and Mary Wineberg was sixth in 51.53.

2006 NCAA 100m and 400m champion Xavier Carter (Pictured) stole the show in the men’s 200m, winning in 19.92 seconds ahead of 2007 World Outdoor silver medalist Usain Bolt of Jamaice, who took second in 20.19. J.J. Johnson finished fourth in 20.49 while Rodney Martin was fifth in 20.53.

Reigning World Outdoor 1,500m and 5,000m champion Bernard Lagat continued his winning ways today in the men’s 3,000m.
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Despite Unprecedented World Double, Some Unfinished Business for Lagat

Posted September 7th, 2007 at 10:27 AM by David Monti

Section: News & Results, Track & Field

Bernard Lagat readily admits that the physical and psychological efforts of his five race visit to Osaka, and an unprecedented 1500/5000m double, have taken their toll. That doesn’t mean though, that the 32-year-old still doesn’t have a few goals remaining for this season.

“I’ve achieved so much in those nine days,” Lagat said of his historical double victory at the World Championships, one which ended a 99-year American gold medal drought in the middle distances. “In nine days running those five events took a lot out of me. I just wanted to conserve my energy for a few more races.”

Most immediately on his calendar is the 3000 tonight at Zurich’s Weltklasse, where he’ll compete for the ninth consecutive year. Although his race, like all other middle and long distance events, won’t be paced, Lagat doesn’t think that precludes fast performances.

“I’m really willing to run fast,” he said. “I really respect the Weltklasse. I’ve run here non-stop since 1999. And I feel like a have a duty here, and really want to make the 3000 meters here the most exciting race to watch.”
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Nixing Pacemakers and Increasing Prize pot, Zurich Introduces new one-day Meet Approach

Posted September 6th, 2007 at 4:39 PM by Bob Ramsak

Section: News & Results, Track & Field

When the IAAF Golden Series resumes on Friday night, Zurich’s rebuilt state-of-the-art Letzigrund Stadium won’t be the only new development at one of the world’s richest single-day meetings. For the first time in the sport’s professional era, the annual Weltklasse competition will not employ the services of pacemakers.

And that suits Bernard Lagat, the recently minted world champion at 1500 and 5000 meters, just fine.

“It’s fantastic,” said Lagat, who will contest the 3000 on Friday. “People always run fast and they get personal bests with pacemakers, but then again it’s so important that the race becomes tactical.”
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