Liu Xiang en route to his first world title (© Getty Images)
The Shanghai stop on the IAAF's annual Asian tour has become a fully world-class event. On Friday (28) evening the event will have its third annual meeting and Liu Xiang, China's native son and the hope of all of China for 2008 gold, will be there. He'll be joined by an impressive group of World champions and World record holders in a total of fourteen events in the biggest international track meet to be held in China ahead of next year's Olympic Games.
This third edition of the Shanghai meeting has been designated as the start of the 2008 IAAF World Athletics Tour, a qualifying event for the IAAF / VTB Bank World Athletics Final 2008, with athletes competing at the meet able to get a head start on qualifying for next year’s final, to be held 13 - 14 September 2008.
Liu Xiang takes to the spotlight
The marquee event in China will of course be the men's 110-meter hurdles event. Track and field still pales in popularity to ping pong in this country of 1.3 billion people, but Liu Xiang's triumphs on the world stage have made track fans out of millions of Chinese. Liu comes to Shanghai knowing that he holds the ultimate hat trick coming into the Olympic year – he's the reigning World champion, Olympic champion, and World record holder in his event – and the Shanghai meet will be a chance for China's fans to see him in a far more intimate environment than the hulking National Stadium: the 15,000-seat Shanghai University Town Stadium in Shanghai's southwest Songjiang district, a new venue for this event that was formerly held at Shanghai Stadium.
Most of Liu's major rivals will make the trip to Shanghai. World silver medalist Terrence Trammell will not be here, but the rest of the strong American contingent of 110m hurdlers will be, including surprise world bronze medalist David Payne and veteran Allen Johnson, the four-time World champion. Cuba's Dayron Robles, who smashed his own PB with a 12.92 at last weekend's IAAF / VTB Bank World Athletics Final (setting a Caribbean and Central American record, and putting him fourth on the all-time list), figures to be a major factor after missing out on a medal at the world championships.
Event previews for the other events to be contested are as follows:
Men -
100m: Triple world champion Tyson Gay of the United States headlines the field. He'll be challenged by Churandy Martina, the fifth-place finisher in the World championships final in Osaka; Michael Frater, who has had a strong September with second and third place finishes in Rieti and Brussels, respectively, and Americans JJ Johnson and Marcus Brunson.
200m: Every meeting between 100m World record holder Asafa Powell and Gay, the 100/200 World champion, is eagerly anticipated, but it's not to be this time in Shanghai as Gay has opted for the 100 and Powell for the longer sprint. Powell, who did not contest this event at the World championships, will face a group of men who did: Osaka finalists Rodney Martin (4th), Churandy Martina (5th), and Christopher Williams (7th); and semifinalists Brian Dzingai and Brendan Christian. Martina and American JJ Johnson are slated to run the 100/200 double in Shanghai.
400m: World champion Jeremy Wariner, undefeated in 2007, is the headliner and heavy favourite here, but world bronze medalist Angelo Taylor, Osaka sixth-place finisher Tyler Christopher, and World Athletics Final fourth place finisher Gary Kikaya will do their best to derail Wariner, whose personal best run of 43.45 in Osaka bodes well for his next goal: Michael Johnson's eight-year-old world record. Darold Williamson, Kerron Clement and Sanjay Ayre round out the field, along with Chinese entrants Wang Xiaoxu and Liu Xiaosheng.
1500m: Without World champion Bernard Lagat of the United States, the race will be a showcase of Asia's and Africa's best. Kenenisa Bekele of Ethiopia makes a rare appearance at this distance, and will face off against seven Kenyans including World Athletics Final champ Daniel Kipchirchir Komen, plus former Kenyan Yusuf Saad Kamel of Bahrain, who won the 800m in Stuttgart.
High Jump: World champion Donald Thomas, who tied his personal best of 2.35 to win Osaka gold, is the headliner. He's had a phenomenal year, notching a win at the World Athletics Final in addition to world gold in only his first year of top-flight competition. Swede Linus Thornblad and Americans Tora Harris and Jesse Williams come to Shanghai from Stuttgart, where they placed third, fifth, and eighth, respectively. China's Huang Haiqiang, the 2006 World junior champion, is sure to fire up the home crowd as he did in Beijing last August at junior worlds.
Long Jump: None of the Osaka medalists are entered here, giving an opportunity to five finalists from Stuttgart. American Brian Johnson (second in Stuttgart) and South African Godfrey Mokoena (fifth in Osaka and third in Stuttgart) are the likely favorites. They'll be challenged by Chris Tomlinson, John Moffitt, and Miguel Pate.
Triple Jump: Four Chinese men who have made the list of 2007 top performances in the triple jump will wow the crowd in an all-Chinese affair. Top competitors include Zhong Minwei, Gu Junjie, Wu Bo and Zhu Shujing.
Women -
100m: This event showcases the last two World champions in the event – 2007 winner Veronica Campbell of Jamaica and 2005's Lauryn Williams of the U.S. Sanya Richards, co-winner of this year's IAAF Golden League jackpot at 400m, will make an appearance at the shorter distance. Other challengers include consistent world-level competitors Chandra Sturrup of the Bahamas and Aleen Bailey of Jamaica, as well as a pair of Chinese competitors, Tao Yujia and Ha Xianping.
400m: With Sanya Richards opting for the 100 in this meet, this could be Christine Ohuruogu's chance to rekindle Osaka glory after her third-place finish in Stuttgart. Challengers include Ilona Usovich (8th in Stuttgart), Osaka semifinalist Christine Amertil, Jamaicans Shericka Williams and Shereefa Lloyd, and American veteran Monique Hennagan.
5000m: Ethiopian Meseret Defar has had a spectacular 2007, with a World championship crown in the 5000m, a World outdoor record (14:16.63 in Oslo), and a World Athletics Final record at 3000m, her fourth WAF crown in the five-year history of the event. Sylvia Jebiwot Kibet, fourth in Osaka at this distance, is among the challengers who will try to disrupt Defar's stellar season.
100m Hurdles: World champion Michelle Perry continued her winning ways last weekend in Stuttgart. In Shanghai she'll face Jamaica’s Vonette Dixon (7th in Osaka, 5th in Stuttgart), and American Nichole Denby, who missed the Osaka final by one placement in the semis. Americans Danielle Carruthers and Dawn Harper, Andrea Bliss of Jamaica, and Natalya Ivanova of Russia are also entered, as are Chinese competitors Zhang Rong and He Liyuan.
400m Hurdles: Jana Rawlinson (nee Pittman), the 2003 and 2007 World champion will have to contend with the home crowd's support of Huang Xiaoxiao, fifth in Osaka but a strong part of China's second tier of track and field stars behind Liu Xiang. Tiffany Ross-Williams, the fifth-place finisher in Stuttgart and seventh at outdoor worlds, Yevgeniya Isakova (6th in Osaka), Natalya Ivanova (6th in Stuttgart) and Tasha Danvers-Smith (8th in Osaka) are also entered.
High Jump: Croatian star Blanka Vlasic was arguably the most entertaining world champion to emerge from Osaka, with a pitch-perfect competition topped off with three marvelous attempts at Stefka Kostadinova's 1987 world record. Vlasic, who notched the World Athletics Final crown last weekend, will be in Shanghai, as will Russia's Anna Chicherova, third in Stuttgart, and Osaka finalists Vita Palamar (7th) and Barbora Lalakova (15th).
Long Jump: It's an all-Chinese affair with six women entered, including Zhang Lan, a member of China's 2006 World junior championships team. Chen Yaling, the top Chinese performer in 2006 with a 6.62m jump in Shijiazhuang, is also entered.
Pole Vault: In the world according to Yelena Isinbayeva, everyone else is vaulting for second place. Form should hold in Shanghai for the World record holder and two-time World champion, though fellow Russian and 2007 World bronze medalist Svetlana Feofanova could push Isinbayeva if she's in perfect form. Other contenders include world champs 9th-place Tatiana Polnova, Asian record holder Gao Shuying of China, and Osaka 8th-place Anna Rogowska.
Mary Nicole Nazzaro for the IAAF
