Monte-Carlo - With the start of the ÅF Golden League only a matter of days away we begin our Jackpot event previews, with a summary of who to look out for in the two middle distance events which are applicable for the $1 Million ÅF Golden League Jackpot in 2008.

NOTE. As with all competitions there are likely to be changes to the start list in the final days before this year’s ÅF Golden League commences at the DKB-ISTAF Berlin meeting on Sunday 1 June, and therefore these event category previews are correct as of information available at the time of publication.

Women’s 800m

12 months ago, the crowded women’s 800m field was in search of a standard bearer. By season’s end, Janeth Jepkosgei left little doubt as to who the event’s preeminent force was. In addition to following up her scintillating gold medal run in Osaka with Olympic glory, the 25-year-old Kenyan will also set her sights on the $1 million ÅF Golden League Jackpot when she makes her 2008 debut at the DKB-ISTAF Meeting in Berlin on Sunday (1 June).

Since winning the Kenyan World Championships trials in late July of 2007, Jepkosgei has been unstoppable. Her powerful, confident front-running victories in her Osaka semi-final and final - with the season’s two quickest times – not only electrified the event but also displayed a maturity Jepkosgei had lacked in previous years when she was already among the world’s fastest. After Osaka, she took commanding victories in Zurich, Rieti, Brussels, and the World Athletics Final in Stuttgart.

Last season, Jepkosgei  produced the season’s three fastest performances, topped by her 1:56.04 run in Osaka, won eight of her 12 races and will bring a seven race unbeaten streak to the German capital.

Among her challengers is Australian Tamsyn Lewis, at 29 a veteran in her event, who used her experience to capture a surprise victory at the World Indoor Championships in Valencia in March. Lewis prefaced her Valencia victory with an outdoor career best in the 400m showing that improved speed was in her game plan for 2008.

Another of her chief challengers could be Jamaican record holder (1:57.88) Kenia Sinclair. The 27-year-old made a strong rise in the ranks in 2005, before taking World indoor silver in 2006.  After winning five of her first seven races last summer – including victories in Lausanne and Rome’s Golden Gala – she was slowed by injury and didn’t advance beyond the semis in Osaka.

Russia boasts the planet’s deepest pool of talent in the event, and two runners to watch will start in Berlin. Svetlana Klyuka was an Osaka finalist and has a 1:57.21 PB. Veteran Svetlana Cherkasova, now 30, has sub 1:57 credentials, and finished second at the notoriously competitive Russian championships last year and could be a factor as well.

A pair of talented Ukrainians are also in the line-up, led by Tetyana Petlyuk. Osaka was a disappointment for the 26-year-old, where she made her departure in the semis, but she bounced back with a vengeance last winter to take World indoor silver behind Lewis in Valencia. She’ll be joined to compatriot Yuliya Krevsun, who lowered her PB to 1:57.63 when winning last year’s World University Games title.

Slovenian Brigita Langerholc, fifth in Osaka and fourth in Zurich last summer, will also toe the line. German attention will focus on Monika Gradzki, this year’s national indoor champion, and a two-time European Cup runner-up.

Men’s 1500m

Two years after the formal retirement of the legendary Hicham El Guerrouj, the men’s 1500m is still in search of a successor to the World record holder. Yet again, a slew of would-be challengers to that throne will resume the daunting task when the gun sounds at Berlin’s Olympic Stadium on Sunday.

Among the fastest in recent years has been Daniel Kipchirchir Komen, the 23-year-old Kenyan who raced to his second successive World indoor silver medal in Valencia last March. A sizzling start to his season last summer had him short-listed as a medal favourite, but those hopes were dashed when he took a tumble in the semis and failed to advance. But he bounced back with decisive back-to-back victories in the Brussels and Berlin legs of the Golden League and World Athletics Final. No stranger to the world’s biggest meetings, Komen collected three Golden League victories in 2005; he’ll be gunning for his third ISTAF victory when he makes his 2008 outdoor debut on Sunday.

But he’ll have plenty of company in the battle for Berlin bragging rights. Although he finished a distant 11th in Osaka, Bilal Mansour Ali of Bahrain (PB 3:31.49) produced one of the more solid IAAF World Athletics Tour seasons last year, taking victories in Athens, Lausanne and Monaco. That’s solid momentum for the Kenyan-born 24-year-old to build upon.

The field also includes Adbelaati Iguider, the Moroccan prodigy whose two World junior championships medals - gold in 2004 - hinted that he may be the successor to his legendary countryman. Now 21, he will arrive in Berlin on the heels of his world-leading 3:32.63 from Rehlingen last weekend, a career best. In his season opener earlier this month, he collected a few significant scalps with his 3:33.27 victory at the Doha Super Grand Prix.

Others to watch include Kenyan Augustine Choge, the runner-up in last year’s Golden League opener in Oslo, and this year’s world leader in the 3000m (7:32.01) from his victory in Doha; Kenyan Alex Kipchirchir, the 2006 World Cup winner; And another Kenyan, Shadrack Korir, whose big race experience brought him the World championships bronze in Osaka last summer.

          Athletics’ biggest yearly payday - ÅF Golden League Jackpot

                                          The prize - $1 Million

                                   The requirement - ‘6 out of 6’

In 2008, there are TEN ÅF Golden League event disciplines designated to the Jackpot, six events for men and four for women, as follows:

Men: 100m, 400m, 1500m, 400m Hurdles, Long Jump, Javelin Throw
Women: 200m, 800m, 100m Hurdles, High Jump

Athletes are required to win at all six meetings to acquire at least a share of athletics’ biggest yearly payday.

The possibility of a secondary prize also exists as it did in 2007:

To sustain the active participation in the Jackpot of as many athletes as possible through to the culmination of the series, should NO athlete manage to attain six wins and claim the $1 Million, then anyone with five victories will share half the original prize - $500,000.

NOTE. this secondary prize is only on offer should nobody win his or her event at all six meetings.

Cities and Dates for 2008 - ÅF Golden League

Berlin, GER – Sunday 1 June
Oslo, NOR – Friday 6 June
Rome, ITA – Friday 11 July
Paris, FRA – Friday 18 July
Zürich, SUI – Friday 29 August
Brussels, BEL – Friday 5 September

Bob Ramsak for the IAAF