18 September 2009 - World-class track and field returns to Shanghai Stadium for the fifth annual Shanghai Golden Grand Prix this Sunday (20 Sept) evening.

First held in 2005 as part of the season-ending single-day Asian meets after the World Athletics Final, the Shanghai meet, an IAAF Grand Prix Meeting, has enjoyed solid popularity as the sport's profile continues to grow in the world's most populous country. The field this year features 15 medallists from the 2008 Beijing Olympics and 23 medallists from last weekend's World Athletics Final held in Thessaloniki, Greece.

The event received a tremendous boost after organizers announced last week that 110m hurdler Liu Xiang, China's top athletics star, will be returning to the field after a 13-month absence. The 2004 Athens Olympic gold medallist and 2007 World champion will be running his first race since he was forced to pull out of the Beijing Olympics due to an Achilles tendon injury. As Liu was unable to defend his title as the World record holder in the 110m hurdles (12.88 seconds), Cuba’s Dayron Robles went on to record a 12.87 in Beijing and take home gold.

Though doctors have confirmed that Liu’s foot injury had healed enough for him to return to competition, organizers have appealed to fans to ease up on any pressure on him to win. Still, anticipation runs high for the Shanghai native’s comeback race in front of a hometown crowd.
 
Liu returns to resume his rivalry with American veteran Allen Johnson, whom he beat for gold at the Shanghai meetings in 2005 and 2006. The hurdlers last met in the 2008 Indoor Championships in Valencia, Spain, where Liu and Johnson finished first and second.

Powell Vs Gay - again!

Another highlight of the meeting will be the 100m face-off between former World record holder Asafa Powell of Jamaica and his American challenger Tyson Gay. At last week’s World Athletics Final, Gay came from behind to edge Powell with a 9.88 second performance. American Darvis Patton came in third and will also be competing here. Citing fatigue, Jamaican superstar Usain Bolt pulled out of the competition last week, ending his world-recording shattering season with golds in the Berlin World Championships (100m and 200m) and the World Athletics Final in Thessaloniki (200m).

After an upsetting failure in Berlin earlier this year, losing to Anna Rogowska and Monika Pyrek of Poland, Russia's pole vault queen Yelena Isinbayeva took her revenge in Thessaloniki last weekend, taking the gold with a clearance of 4.80m. Isinbayeva had won all major titles since the 2004 Athens Games until Berlin and faces the Polish vaulters once again in Shanghai. 

Finally, as always at this event, these top performers will be joined by a solid entry of up-and-coming Chinese athletes sure to be crowd favourites. Running in the women’s 100m race are Wang Jing and Tao Yujia, teammates in the 4x100m relay in Beijing.

Following are event-by-event previews based on entry lists provided by the meet organizers as of Friday evening Shanghai time:

MEN -
100m – Jamaican Asafa Powell faces off against American Tyson Gay (see above). Reigning Olympic and World champion in the 100m and 200m, Usain Bolt, ended his season early and will not participate.

110m Hurdles – Liu Xiang and Allen Johnson headline (see above).

200m – American Wallace Spearmon, second in the World Athletics Final after Usain Bolt, takes on Zimbabwean Brian Dzingai, who is the 2008 Shanghai meeting champion.

400m – The field is led by America’s Olympic gold medalist Lashawn Merritt. Merritt also won the World Athletics Final and holds the 2009 World season's best in this event. He faces Beijing Olympics bronze medalist David Neville of America and Gary Kikaya of the Democratic Republic of Congo (5th at 400m at the World Athletics Final). South African LJ van Zyl, a 400m Hurdles specialist, also competes in the flat one-lap race.

800m – Olympic gold medallist Wilfred Bungei of Kenya is the class of this field, which also includes the last two World champions Alfred Kirwa Yego of Kenya, winner in 2007 and Mbulaeni Mulaudzi of South Africa, winner in Berlin 2009.

1500m – Asbel Kiprop, the Olympic silver medallist, is the headliner. Other Olympians in the field include Belal Mansoor Ali (8th in Beijing) and Yusuf Saad Kamel, the Berlin World champion, both of Bahrain.
 
Long Jump – America's Dwight Phillips and South Africa's Godfrey Mokoena put up a fight for the gold, challenged by 2008 and 2009 World Athletics Final winner Fabrice Lapierre of Australia. 

WOMEN -
100m – Jamaica's Sherone Simpson and Veronica Campbell-Brown and America's Camedita Jeter are among the favourites for the gold. Jeter comes off a super 10.67 clocking at the World Atheltics Final a week ago. Jamaicans upset the Americans in Beijing and Berlin, although the Island Nation’s prized gold medalist Shelly-Ann Fraser will be absent. American Lauryn Williams, who placed 4th in Beijing, is also running.
 
100m hurdles – Having just celebrated winning her first World Championship title in Berlin, Brigitte Foster-Hylton of Jamaica will be up against Beijing Olympic gold medallist Dawn Harper of the United States. Harper finished a disappointing 7th in Berlin.

400m – Olympic silver medallist Shericka Williams of Jamaica (2nd at the World Championships) is challenged by fellow countrywoman Novlene Williams-Mills (4th in Berlin ). They'll be joined by Olympic finalist Amantle Montsho of Botswana (8th).

400m Hurdles – World and Olympic champion Melaine Walker of Jamaica who was also supreme in Thessaloniki World Atheltics Final will be joined by Olympic silver medallist Sheena Tosta and Olympic fourth-place finisher Anastasiya Rabchenyuk of Ukraine and fifth-place finisher Anna Jesien of Poland (fifth in Thessaloniki).

1500m – Having reconfirmed her top standing at the World Athletic Final last weekend, Olympic gold medallist Nancy Jebet Lagat of Kenya headlines. Ethiopian Meselech Melkamu, also entered, opted for the 5000m race both in Beijing and in Thessaloniki, placing 8th at the Olympics and 9th at the World Athletics Final.

Pole Vault – Russia's Yelena Isinbayeva is looking to end her season on a high note here after the Berlin upset (see above). Olympic 4th-place finisher Yulia Golubchikova of Russia and 6th-place finisher Carolin Hingst of Germany are also entered.

Triple Jump – Nadezhda Alekhina is the World season leader this year. She faces Olympic silver medallist Tatyana Lebedeva of Russia, who placed 3rd last weekend at the World Athletics Final.

Jean Yung for the IAAF