Veronica Campbell Brown, Steve Hooker, Andreas Thorkildsen and Bingtian Su at a pre-meet press conference in Shanghai (© Errol Anderson)
Shanghai, ChinaAsafa Powell said in Shanghai today that he remains certain he can win the gold medal in the 100m at the London 2012 Olympic Games - provided he runs his best race.
Powell has run under 10 seconds for the premier track sprint more times than any man in history. He has a margin of over 20, and still counting, over the next most prolific in that regard, Maurice Greene.
But Greene is just one of many sprinters over the Powell era who has the one thing Powell still lacks – a gold medal in a major world title.
On the eve of the Shanghai Golden Grand Prix, the second in the 14-meet Samsung Diamond League series, the Jamaican is confident he has the right stuff to rectify his glaring career deficiency.
"I know for sure if I go out and do what I’m supposed to do, I will be very hard to beat," said Powell of his London chances.
Powell one of several with points to prove
Powell lost to Justin Gatlin in the first leg of the Samsung Diamond League in Doha a week ago. In a race all too familiar to Powell-watchers, he led all the way only to be caught by Gatlin on the line for a 9.87 to 9.88 loss.
Gatlin won again at the IAAF World Challenge meeting in Daegu on Wednesday, but he is not in the field in Shanghai where Powell’s opposition is headed by Michael Rodgers, Daegu 2011 World championships bronze medallist Kim Collins and Michael Frater.
Chinese eyes will be diverted from Xiang Liu for a moment as they watch Bingtian Su, winner in the Kawaskai World Challenge stop in a wind-assisted 10.04 earlier this month. Su is aiming to become the first Chinese athlete to break 10 seconds for 100m and believes he can do it soon.
Several other recent World and Olympic champions find themselves in the same position as Powell, that is, of trying to prove they are not spent forces. Their Shanghai performances will be one of the most interesting aspects of the meeting.
Topping the list, at 6.06 metres above ground level, is reigning Olympic and 2009 World champion in the Pole Vault, Steve Hooker.
Injury reduced Hooker from the invincible force which had conquered Beijing 2008, Berlin 2009, Doha 2010 and the Continental Cup 2010 to the man who could barely clear a height just a few short months ago.
Now, Hooker believes he is back again. After rebuilding his jumping almost literally step-by-step, he cleared 5.72m last week to ensure his selection to defend the Olympic title. The jump was done in his special-purpose indoor training centre in Perth so the Diamond League atmosphere in Shanghai will represent a big step up in competitive pressure.
Also in the vault field is Brad Walker, the Osaka 2007 World champion whose problems started in the same place Hooker’s glory run began, at the Beijing Olympic Games, where Walker failed in qualifying. Walker is a little more advanced in his comeback, having taken the silver medal at the Istanbul 2012 World Indoor Championships.
Heading the competition facing the two returnees are German duo Malte Mohr and Bjorn Otto, Beijing bronze medallist Denys Yurchenko and Greece’s Konstantinos Filippidis.
Kenenisa Bekele is the most decorated of the something-to-prove crowd, having won the 5000/10,000m double at both Beijing 2008 and Berlin 2009. After a so-so race over 3000m in Doha a week ago, he will line up in the 5000m against the winner of the Doha race, Augustine Choge, Yenew Alamirew and a host of other top African runners.
Stephanie Brown-Trafton won the Olympic gold medal in Beijing but has not done much in women’s discus since. She recently improved her personal best to 67.74m and comes into Shanghai on an upward curve. So, too, does Dani Samuels, who is showing encouraging signs of a return to something like the form which made her the youngest-ever World champion in the event in Berlin in 2009.
Kiprop drops down to 800
Olympic and world champion at 1500m, Asbel Kiprop, drops down in distance to contest the 800m. A 1:43.15 personal best suggests he will be pretty competitive, too, especially as the 2012 world leaders David Rudisha (1:43.10 in Doha) and Mohammed Aman (1:43.51 in Daegu) are both absent.
Kenyan Leonard Kirwa Kosencha, who beat Aman to win last year’s World Youth Championship and was second to him in Daegu, and former World champion Alfred Kirwa Yego are in the field, however.
World Indoor champion Genzebe Dibaba heads the women’s 1500m field on reputation, though not yet on time. The latter accolade rests with Eunice Jepkoech Sum after she narrowly defeated Meskerem Assefa and Kaila McKnight in Daegu on Wednesday. So there will be plenty of competition in this event.
The 3000m Steeplechase also makes its 2012 Samsung Diamond League debut with Milcah Chemos, twice a World championships bronze medallist, heading the line-up.
Jeter v Campbell-Brown at 200, plus Liu Xiang v the World
US sprinters made a statement of intent in Doha, with Allyson Felix and Gatlin (both in the 100) and Walter Dix (200) all savouring wins over Jamaican rivals.
Jeter gets a chance to make an even more emphatic statement here when she fronts up to Veroncia Campbell-Brown in the 200m. Jeter holds the world lead at 22.31 but that means little in a race between these two. Campbell-Brown’s 10.94 behind Felix indicates she is in decent form.
In the 400m, World champion Amantle Montsho goes up against 2012 world leader Novlene Williams-Mills, Debbie Dunn, Francena McCoroy and Shericka Williams.
In the men’s 400m Hurdles, 2012 world lead Bershawn Jackson will get a test of his form against Angelo Taylor (sub-45 for the flat 400 in Doha), LJ van Zyl and Isa Phillips.
There is also another sprint event, the men’s 110m Hurdles in which one Xiang Liu goes up against World champion Jason Richardson, World indoor champion Aries Merritt and U.S. record holder David Oliver.
Throws and jumps complete the feast
Ryan Whiting memorably threw 21.97m to take the gold medal at the Istanbul 2012 World indoor championships. He will be tested if he is to maintain his supremacy in Shanghai, however, as his opposition includes former World champions Reese Hoffa and Christian Cantwell, Dylan Armstrong and Adam Nelson.
Daegu 2011 World champion Mattias de Zordo threw only 79.39m on his return to the scene this week. He will need something better to be competitive with dual Olympic champion Andreas Thorkildsen and the like in the men’s Javelin Throw.
The men’s Triple Jump is headed by Daegu 2011 medallists Christian Taylor, Phillips Idowu and Will Claye and also in-form Henry Frayne of Australia.
Chaunte Lowe, the only woman in the field to have cleared two metres this year, headlines the women’s High Jump while Daegu 2011 silver medallist Janay DeLoach stands out in the women’s long jump.
Len Johnson for the IAAF
Click here for startlists and results
Powell has run under 10 seconds for the premier track sprint more times than any man in history. He has a margin of over 20, and still counting, over the next most prolific in that regard, Maurice Greene.
But Greene is just one of many sprinters over the Powell era who has the one thing Powell still lacks – a gold medal in a major world title.
On the eve of the Shanghai Golden Grand Prix, the second in the 14-meet Samsung Diamond League series, the Jamaican is confident he has the right stuff to rectify his glaring career deficiency.
"I know for sure if I go out and do what I’m supposed to do, I will be very hard to beat," said Powell of his London chances.
Powell one of several with points to prove
Powell lost to Justin Gatlin in the first leg of the Samsung Diamond League in Doha a week ago. In a race all too familiar to Powell-watchers, he led all the way only to be caught by Gatlin on the line for a 9.87 to 9.88 loss.
Gatlin won again at the IAAF World Challenge meeting in Daegu on Wednesday, but he is not in the field in Shanghai where Powell’s opposition is headed by Michael Rodgers, Daegu 2011 World championships bronze medallist Kim Collins and Michael Frater.
Chinese eyes will be diverted from Xiang Liu for a moment as they watch Bingtian Su, winner in the Kawaskai World Challenge stop in a wind-assisted 10.04 earlier this month. Su is aiming to become the first Chinese athlete to break 10 seconds for 100m and believes he can do it soon.
Several other recent World and Olympic champions find themselves in the same position as Powell, that is, of trying to prove they are not spent forces. Their Shanghai performances will be one of the most interesting aspects of the meeting.
Topping the list, at 6.06 metres above ground level, is reigning Olympic and 2009 World champion in the Pole Vault, Steve Hooker.
Injury reduced Hooker from the invincible force which had conquered Beijing 2008, Berlin 2009, Doha 2010 and the Continental Cup 2010 to the man who could barely clear a height just a few short months ago.
Now, Hooker believes he is back again. After rebuilding his jumping almost literally step-by-step, he cleared 5.72m last week to ensure his selection to defend the Olympic title. The jump was done in his special-purpose indoor training centre in Perth so the Diamond League atmosphere in Shanghai will represent a big step up in competitive pressure.
Also in the vault field is Brad Walker, the Osaka 2007 World champion whose problems started in the same place Hooker’s glory run began, at the Beijing Olympic Games, where Walker failed in qualifying. Walker is a little more advanced in his comeback, having taken the silver medal at the Istanbul 2012 World Indoor Championships.
Heading the competition facing the two returnees are German duo Malte Mohr and Bjorn Otto, Beijing bronze medallist Denys Yurchenko and Greece’s Konstantinos Filippidis.
Kenenisa Bekele is the most decorated of the something-to-prove crowd, having won the 5000/10,000m double at both Beijing 2008 and Berlin 2009. After a so-so race over 3000m in Doha a week ago, he will line up in the 5000m against the winner of the Doha race, Augustine Choge, Yenew Alamirew and a host of other top African runners.
Stephanie Brown-Trafton won the Olympic gold medal in Beijing but has not done much in women’s discus since. She recently improved her personal best to 67.74m and comes into Shanghai on an upward curve. So, too, does Dani Samuels, who is showing encouraging signs of a return to something like the form which made her the youngest-ever World champion in the event in Berlin in 2009.
Kiprop drops down to 800
Olympic and world champion at 1500m, Asbel Kiprop, drops down in distance to contest the 800m. A 1:43.15 personal best suggests he will be pretty competitive, too, especially as the 2012 world leaders David Rudisha (1:43.10 in Doha) and Mohammed Aman (1:43.51 in Daegu) are both absent.
Kenyan Leonard Kirwa Kosencha, who beat Aman to win last year’s World Youth Championship and was second to him in Daegu, and former World champion Alfred Kirwa Yego are in the field, however.
World Indoor champion Genzebe Dibaba heads the women’s 1500m field on reputation, though not yet on time. The latter accolade rests with Eunice Jepkoech Sum after she narrowly defeated Meskerem Assefa and Kaila McKnight in Daegu on Wednesday. So there will be plenty of competition in this event.
The 3000m Steeplechase also makes its 2012 Samsung Diamond League debut with Milcah Chemos, twice a World championships bronze medallist, heading the line-up.
Jeter v Campbell-Brown at 200, plus Liu Xiang v the World
US sprinters made a statement of intent in Doha, with Allyson Felix and Gatlin (both in the 100) and Walter Dix (200) all savouring wins over Jamaican rivals.
Jeter gets a chance to make an even more emphatic statement here when she fronts up to Veroncia Campbell-Brown in the 200m. Jeter holds the world lead at 22.31 but that means little in a race between these two. Campbell-Brown’s 10.94 behind Felix indicates she is in decent form.
In the 400m, World champion Amantle Montsho goes up against 2012 world leader Novlene Williams-Mills, Debbie Dunn, Francena McCoroy and Shericka Williams.
In the men’s 400m Hurdles, 2012 world lead Bershawn Jackson will get a test of his form against Angelo Taylor (sub-45 for the flat 400 in Doha), LJ van Zyl and Isa Phillips.
There is also another sprint event, the men’s 110m Hurdles in which one Xiang Liu goes up against World champion Jason Richardson, World indoor champion Aries Merritt and U.S. record holder David Oliver.
Throws and jumps complete the feast
Ryan Whiting memorably threw 21.97m to take the gold medal at the Istanbul 2012 World indoor championships. He will be tested if he is to maintain his supremacy in Shanghai, however, as his opposition includes former World champions Reese Hoffa and Christian Cantwell, Dylan Armstrong and Adam Nelson.
Daegu 2011 World champion Mattias de Zordo threw only 79.39m on his return to the scene this week. He will need something better to be competitive with dual Olympic champion Andreas Thorkildsen and the like in the men’s Javelin Throw.
The men’s Triple Jump is headed by Daegu 2011 medallists Christian Taylor, Phillips Idowu and Will Claye and also in-form Henry Frayne of Australia.
Chaunte Lowe, the only woman in the field to have cleared two metres this year, headlines the women’s High Jump while Daegu 2011 silver medallist Janay DeLoach stands out in the women’s long jump.
Len Johnson for the IAAF
Click here for startlists and results
