9 May 2008 - The 2008 Osaka Grand Prix - IAAF World Athletics Tour - meeting in Osaka, Japan, will be held this Saturday 10 May in the Nagai stadium, the venue of the last year’s IAAF World Championships in Athletics. Two reigning World champions will return to the site of their gold medal performances; Liu Xiang and Brad Walker.

There will also be six winners from the last year’s Osaka GP, namely Shingo Suetsugu at 100m, JJ Johnson at 200m, Liu Xiang at 110m Hurdles, Naoyuki Daigo in the High Jump, Mary Wineberg at 400m and Kumiko Ikeda at women’s Long Jump. For some athletes, the meet is an excellent opportunity to hit the Olympic “A” standard. 

Season opener for Liu

In the men’s 110m Hurdles, Liu will be challenged by David Payne, Maurice Wignall and Masato Naito. Liu, the defending Osaka champion, is the World record holder and the reigning Olympic champion.

Earlier this year, Liu won the 60m Hurdles at the World Indoor Championships. Payne was a bronze medallist, while Wignall was eighth in the World Outdoor Championships last year. Payne is also the reigning Pan American champion.

Naito, 2006 Asian Games silver medallist, is the best Japanese. His performance in Oda Memorial meet, 13.78, was hampered by lack of hurdle practice.  

With Donald Thomas not taking part in the men’s High Jump, Germaine Mason, third in the 2004 World Indoor Championships, Huang Haiqiang, the 2006 World Junior champion, Naoyuki Daigo, the Japanese national record (2.33m) holder and Hikaru Tsuchiya, 2003 World Youth bronze medallist are the main protagonists.

Mason, a former Jamaican who now jumps for Great Britain, was fifth in the 2003 World Championships. In addition to the World Junior Championships, Huang also won the 2005 World Youth Championships. Daigo, the defending Osaka GP champion, failed to qualify for the final at the 2008 World Indoor Championships but won the Shizuoka International last week with 2.27m, while Tsuchiya was second in the Shizuoka International with 2.24m. 

Walker returns to site of World champs success
 
Following Daichi Sawano’s withdrawal due to a knee injury, the men’s Pole Vault competition is expected to be a battle between Walker and Russ Buller, the 2003 Pan American Games silver medallist.

Earlier in the year, Walker was second at the World Indoor Championships with 5.85m, which is his indoor personal best. Buller has a personal best of 5.81m, and recorded 5.61m the past indoor season.

JJ Johnson at the double
 
The best Japanese sprinters will face two sub-10 seconds 100m men - Mark Burns, who was eighth at last year’s World Championships, and JJ Johnson, who won the 200m last year at the Osaka GP. The top Japanese are Shingo Suetsugu, the 2003 World Championships bronze medallist at 200m, Nobuharu Asahara, the second fastest Japanese in history with a 10.02 personal best, and Naoki Tsukahara, a two-time national champion and Asian Games silver medallist. 

JJ Johnson is also scheduled to run the 200m. He will be challenged by Patrick Johnson, 4th at the 2006 Commonwealth Games and 6th at the 2005 World Championships, and Shinji Takahira, third at the 2006 Asian Games.

Although Koji Murofushi, the reigning Olympic champion had to pull out of the Osaka meet because he needed more time to get into shape after a back problem earlier in the year, the field is far from weak. Szymon Ziolkowski, the 2000 Olympic and 2001 World champion and Vadim Devyatovski, 2005 World Championships silver medallist will be throwing.

Jeter and Wineberg lead women's sprint field

In the women’s 100m, Carmelita Jeter, 2007 World Championships bronze medallist, will be challenged by Briana Glenn, who has a PB of 11.10, Chandra Sturrup, the 2001 World Indoor 60m champion, and the best Japanese – Chisato Fukushima (PB 11.36), Saori Kitakaze (PB 11.42), Tomoko Ishida (PB 11.45) and Sakie Nobuoka (PB 11.47).

Fukushima, who tied the national record at the Oda memorial meet on 29 April, is expected to challenge the Olympic “A” standard (11.32). In her most recent individual race, Jeter was second with 22.86 at 200m in the Mt SAC.  

At 400m, the defending Osaka GP champion Mary Weinberg will face Christine Amertil, seventh at the 2004 Olympic Games and Asami Tanno, who set a national record (51.75) at the Shizuoka International last week. Tanno, second last year at the Osaka GP, is expected to challenge the Olympic “A” standard (51.55).

In the women’s 400m Hurdles, national record holder Satomi Kubokura will be running after the Olympic “A” standard (55.60). She is hoped to be pulled along by Shauna Smith, who has a best of 54.21, Markita James, who has a best of 54.47, and Huang Xiaoxiao, who has a best of 54.00. 

Winner here in 2006, Sarah Jamieson is returning to the Nagai stadium. She will be challenged by Lisa Corrigan, twelfth at the 2006 Commonwealth Games, and Yuriko Kobayashi, the 2005 World Youth silver medallist and 2006 World Junior bronze medallist. Kobayashi finished second at the Cardinal Invitational on Sunday with 4:12.10 and is expected to run faster in Osaka. 

Other elite athletes expected to compete at the GP are: Kamila Skolimowska, the 2000 Olympic hammer champion and Beatrice Faumuina, the 1997 World discus champion.

Ken Nakamura for the IAAF 

Selected top athletes
100m
JJ Johnson
Mark Burns
Joshua Norman
Nobuhara Asahara
Shingo Suetsugu
Naoki Tsukahara

200m
JJ Johnson
Patrick Johnson
Daniel Batman
Shinji Takahira

400m
Sean Wroe
Jamaal Torrance
Yusuke Ishitsuka
Yoshihiro Horigome

800m
Masato Yokota
Hiroshi Sasano
Ryan Brown

1500m
Fumikazu Kobayashi

110mH
Liu Xiang
David Payne
Maurice Wignall
Naoto Naito
Tasuku Tanonaka
Yuji Ohashi

400mH
Ian Weakley
Dean Griffith
Kenji Narisako
Yoshihiro Chiba

HJ
Germaine Mason
Huang Haiqiang
Naoyuki Daigo
Hikaru Tsuchiya

PV
Brad Walker
Russ Buller

LJ
Daisuke Arakawa
Rogerio Bispo

HT
Szymon Ziolkowski
Vadim Devyatovski
Miloslav Konopka
Artem Rubanko
Hiroaki Doi

Women
100m 
Carmelita Jeter
Briana Glenn
Chandra Sturrup
Chisato Fukushima
Momoko Takahashi
Saori Kitakaze
Sakie Nobuoka
Tomoko Ishida

400m
Christine Amertil
Mary Winberg
Asami Tanno
Mayu Kida

1500m
Sarah Jamieson
Lisa Corrigan
Sonja Roman
Yuriko Kobayashi

400mH
Shauna Smith
Huang Xiao Xiao
Satomi Kubokura

PV
Takayo Kondo
Ikuko Nishikori
Dona Ellis
Paulina Debska

LJ
Bronwyn Thompson
Grace Upshaw
Kumiko Ikeda
Sachiko Masumi

SP
Li Ling
Li Meiju

DT
Beatrice Faumuina
Kateryna Karsak
Yuka Murofushi

HT
Kamila Skolimowska
Erin Gilreath
Zhang Wenxiu
Yuka Murofushi
Masumi Aya