World 200 metres champion Allyson Felix in the 400m in Mt SAC (© Kirby Lee)
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USAReigning World champions Lauryn Williams, Allyson Felix, and Bershawn Jackson are among the athletes slated to compete in the USA vs. The World competition in the 113th Penn Relays at the University of Pennsylvania’s Franklin Field on Saturday 28 April.
Americans Monique Henderson, Tyson Gay, Wallace Spearmon, Derrick Brew, Andrew Rock and Darrold Williams and Sherone Simpson of Jamaica are some of the other standout names expected to run in the marquee attraction of the three-day meeting that begins Thursday (26).
It will be the third competition for Felix, the 2005 World 200m champion. She opened with a 51.74 win in the Mt. San Antonio College Relays. At the Kansas Relays last weekend (21), Felix ran a leg on a victorious 4 x 100m Relay with training partners Ginnie Powell, Tianna Madison - World Long Jump champion - and Muna Lee that timed 43.77.
Jackson, who will run in the 4 x 400m Relay, is coming off a world-leading 48.75 in his 400m Hurdles season debut at Kansas.
Williams, the 2005 World 100m champion and also the Olympic silver medallist at the dash has run once so far this season clocking 23.02 for the 200m at Miami, Florida on 14 April. Williams was part of the USA sprint relay squad which took World gold in 2005.
The USA vs. The World competition will feature men’s and women’s 4 x 100m and 4 x 400m relays as well as women’s 1,600m Sprint Medley and men’s Distance Medley relays.
Nearly 150 elite athletes from the USA, Jamaica, Russia, China, Great Britain, Germany, The Bahamas, Trinidad & Tobago, Canada and Finland are expected. Complete line-ups will be announced later this week.
Jamaica strong despite Powell's absence
One of the notable absentees will be World 100m record holder Asafa Powell, who has withdrawn because of tendonitis behind his knee – click here for earlier news story - The Jamaican also did not compete because of the condition in cold weather at the Mt. San Antonio College Relays on 15 April.
Despite his absence, Jamaica will have a strong contingent with Michael Frater, Lerone Clarke and Dwight Thomas in the 4 x 100m Relay and Germaine Gonzales, Sanjay Ayre, Leeford Green and Michael Blackwood on the 4 x 400m Relay.
Simpson is expected to run one of the two 200m legs on the women’s sprint medley team that will also include Nadine Palmer (200m), Novlene Williams (400m) and Kenia Sinclair (800m).
The Jamaican women’s 4 x 100m Relay will consist of Brigitte Foster-Hylton, Palmer, Aleen Bailey and Peta-Gaye Dowdie. Shericka Williams, Ronetta Smith, Nadia Davy and Michelle Burger are projected for the 4 x 400m Relay.
Looking back at 2006
Two World bests were set in the USA vs. the World in 2006 by Kenya in the Distance Medley Relay and the U.S. in the Women’s Sprint Medley – click here for last year’s meet report
In the Distance Medley, Alex Kipchirchir ruined Kenya-born Bernard Lagat’s debut in a U.S. uniform by out-leaning Lagat at the tape on the 1,600m anchor in a race for a 9:15.56 to 9:15.63.
U.S. has set World bests in the Women’s Sprint Medley in each of the last two years at Penn, including a 3:37.16 clocking by Rachelle Boone, Williams, Monica Hargrove and Clark in 2006.
Penn by the numbers
The Penn Relays is the largest athletics competition in the U.S. with more than 22,000 high school, university and open athletes participating in front of a crowd of more than 100,000 in attendance over three days.
The first versions of a four-person relay were developed in Philadelphia in 1893 and the inaugural Penn Relay Carnival contested in 1895.
This year’s Penn Relays will be the opening event of the five-meet Visa Championship series that includes stops in the adidas Track Classic in Carson, Calif. (20 May), the Reebok Grand Prix in New York City (2 June), the Prefontaine Classic (10 June), and culminates with the USATF Championships in Indianapolis (21-24 June).
Kirby Lee for the IAAF
