Sanya Richards defeats the half-lap specialists to win the 200m (© Getty Images)
The final day of this year’s IAAF / VTB Bank World Athletics Final, which marks the very last day of athletics in Stuttgart’s Mercedes Benz Arena, will see more thrilling battles between Olympic champions and their challengers.
Three of the most eagerly awaited clashes will come in the women’s 100m, 400m and the High Jump, which is appropriate in a year the IAAF is celebrating 80 years of women’s athletics at the Olympic Games.
For a number of athletes, who had lived through disappointments this season, the World Athletics Final will be the opportunity to end the season on a high note. Among them are two who today could become double winners in Stuttgart. Sanya Richards (USA) will run the 400m after winning the 200m on day one and Meseret Defar will go for the 3000m. The Ethiopian took the 5000m on Saturday.
Women’s Events: Ohuruogu versus Richards
The women’s 100m will feature three out of the top four from Beijing: Olympic champion Shelly-Ann Fraser, silver medallist Kerron Stewart (both Jamaica) as well as fourth placed Lauryn Williams (USA) will be in the field. While this could normally suggest very fast times as well, the weather might reduce such expectations. Weather forecasts suggest that it could be unseasonal cool on Sunday with temperatures around 13° Celsius.
The clash between World and Olympic champion Christine Ohuruogu (Great Britain), who is unbeaten at 400m this season, and Sanya Richards (USA) will be another highlight this Sunday in Stuttgart. While Ohuruogu had decided not to run against Richards in Zurich right after Beijing she now feels ready for another race against the American, who had been regarded as the big gold favourite in Beijing and then had to settle for third. With silver medallist Shericka Williams (Jamaica) also in the race the top three from Beijing will be present.
The expected cool weather will be more suitable for the runners. In the 800m, Pamela Jelimo will have earned $1 Million once she has started the race. It is obligatory for the winners of the AF Golden League Jackpot to participate at the IAAF / VTB Bank World Athletics Final. But of course the 18-year-old African record and World junior record holder from Kenya will not just be looking to compete but to win. Not having lost at all at the 800m, Stuttgart could become race number 14 that she wins since switching to this event this year. World champion Janeth Jepkosgei, who played a part in convincing Jelimo to go for the 800m this season, will probably once again have to settle for fighting for second place.
In the 3000m, Meseret Defar will again be up against Vivian Cheruiyot (Kenya), who was second in Saturday’s 5000m but who beat her in Brussels. Those two look likely to battle it out once more.
While the focus will probably be on two athletes in the Triple Jump, when Olympic Champion Francoise Mbango Etone (Cameroon) meets Beijing’s silver medallist Tatyana Lebedeva (Russia), it will be a different story in the High Jump.
Talking about a replay of Olympic finals this one is almost perfect. From Beijing’s top eight athletes in the High Jump, seven will be in contention in Stuttgart. The only one missing at the World Athletics Final is Ukraine’s Vita Palamar, who took fifth in the Olympic final. Therefore Marina Aitova (Kazakhstan), who was tenth in Beijing, qualified for Stuttgart.
Germany’s Ariane Friedrich, who surprisingly beat Blanka Vlasic (Croatia) and the Olympic champion Tia Hellebaut (Belgium) in Brussels little more than a week ago and thus denied Vlasic half a million of the AF Golden League Jackpot, will be keen to do well in front of a home crowd.
Vlasic, who of course also had to cope with just missing the Olympic gold, seems to have recovered from the blow in Brussels on a wet surface (which she does not like). On Tuesday she won in Zagreb with 2.04m.
Another almost complete Beijing final will be seen in the 400m Hurdles. Here the top five from the Olympics are on the start list, headed by gold medal winner Melanie Walker (Jamaica).
Men’s Events: Thorkildsen versus Pitkämäki
If the Olympic champion Andreas Thorkildsen meets Tero Pitkämäki the World champion the outcome is hardly predictable, but it is certain that the spectators will always see a high-class javelin competition.
Taking just the last two years of the World Athletics Final in Stuttgart into account the score between the two is 1:1. In 2006, Norway’s Thorkildsen was the winner while a year ago Finland’s Pitkämäki secured the prestigious win at the end of the season.
The Finn also beat the Norwegian in 2005 when the Final celebrated its last edition in Monaco (2005). This year they will be up against the surprise silver medallist from Beijing, Ainars Kovals (Latvia), as well as Tero Järvenpää (Finland), who took fourth place behind Pitkämäki at the Olympics.
The fastest and most dominant runner of the year, Paul Kipsiele Koech, had been unfortunate when he missed qualifying for the Olympics at the Kenyan trials. It was fellow Kenyan Brimin Kipruto, the World champion who took the chance to win the Olympic laurels in the 3000m Steeplechase. But after Beijing Paul Kipsiele Koech was right back in winning form. He took the races in Zurich and Brussels and now looks again the favourite against Brimin Kipruto in Stuttgart. Eight of the twelve runners entered are Kenyans.
Almost as many (seven) will feature in the 5000m final. But a Kenyan win is less secure in this event. While the double Olympic champion Kenenisa Bekele will not compete in Stuttgart his brother Tariku will. This season he has improved to 12:52.45 minutes in the 5000m. Eliud Kipchoge (Kenya), the World Championship gold medal winner from 2003, has come back strong this season placing second in the Olympic final.
Due to the foot injury Dayron Robles (Cuba) picked up in Zagreb on Tuesday the 110m Hurdles will be without the Olympic Champion and defending champion. The men’s sprint hurdles had been a highlight in the past two editions in Stuttgart with Liu Xiang (China) winning in 2006 in 12.93 seconds and then Robles running one hundredth of a second faster a year ago. Now it looks as if David Oliver (USA), the Olympic bronze medallist, could achieve his biggest career win so far.
In the Pole Vault, Brad Walker (USA) will want to make up for his Olympic misery, when he missed qualifying for the final with no height. He is the world leader this year with 6.04m and will meet number two, Yevgeniy Lukyanenko (Russia/6.01), who won the silver in Beijing.
Jörg Wenig for the IAAF
