2.05m season opener for Blanka Vlasic in Doha (© Getty Images/AFP)
MonteCarloThe 2009 IAAF World Athletics Tour – ÅF Golden League, Super Grand Prix and Grand Prix - offered an entertaining season which climaxed at the IAAF / VTB Bank World Athletics Final, Thessaloniki, Greece (12 – 13 Sep).
Specific websites:
- 2009 World Athletics Final
- 2009 ÅF Golden League
- 2009 World Athletics Tour
The 2009 World Athletics Tour which took us through 21 countries and five continents was highlighted by two World records set by Yelena Isinbayeva in Zurich and a Kenyan men's quartet in the 4x1500m Relay in Brussels.
In the first of a two-part review, David Powell reminds us of some of the highlights of the the Super Grand Prix and Grand Prix meetings which took place September 2008 to June 2009...
20 September 2008
Shanghai, China
Back in China within a month of the end of the 2008 Beijing Olympics, the Shanghai Golden Grand Prix marked the start of the 2009 IAAF World Athletics Tour. And Olympic champions Veronica Campbell-Brown, Angelo Taylor, Wilfred Bungei, Dawn Harper and Yelena Isinbayeva were victorious again.
Athletes competing here were able to get a jump start on qualifying for the 2009 VTB Bank World Athletics Final, in Thessaloniki, Greece, 51 weeks later. Campbell-Brown, from Jamaica, the Olympic 200m champion, took the 100m in 11.01; Taylor, from the United States, the Olympic 400m Hurdles champion, won the 400m in 44.94; Kenya’s Bungei won the 800m in 1:44.63; Harper, from the US, clocked, 12.56 for the 100m Hurdles; and Isinbayeva, from Russia, cleared 4.60m to clinch the Pole Vault.
5 March 2009
Melbourne, Australia
Racing in the city where he won the 2006 Commonwealth Games title, Asafa Powell contested his first 100m of 2009 at the Melbourne Track Classic but, facing cold weather and a headwind, he was unable to break 10 seconds, clocking 10.23. Australia’s Steve Hooker stole the show, taking the men’s Pole Vault at the beginning of a year in which the Olympic champion would become World champion as well.
Hooker cleared 5.80m to secure his eighth consecutive win dating back to the Beijing Olympics seven months earlier. He bowed out attempting 6.00m. “I was hoping I’d jump six metres in front of my family and supporters,” Hooker said. In the women’s Discus Throw, young Australian Dani Samuels (62.69m) defeated the US Olympic champion, Stefanie Brown Trafton.
17/18 April
Dakar, Senegal
The main programme of the Meeting Grand Prix IAAF de Dakar was preceded the day before by the Shot Put events on scenic Gorée Island. Christian Cantwell, of the United States, and Germany’s Denise Hinrichs secured victories with 21.53m and 19.19m respectively. For Cantwell the season would lead to the gold medal at the World Championships in Berlin.
The next day, home athlete Kaba Ndiss Badji stole the limelight with a wind-assisted men’s Long Jump victory (8.29m) before a partisan crowd that jam packed the Iba Mar Diop Stadium. On the track, World Indoor 1500m champion Deresse Mekonnen, of Ethiopia, provided the highlight, battling the wind to take victory in the 3000m with an early season World leading time of 7:44.68.
8 May
Doha, Qatar
Blanka Vlasic returned to top form at the Qatar Super Grand Prix after her failure to win a medal at the 2009 European Indoor Championships. Vlasic, from Croatia, who would retain her outdoor World title in Berlin three months later, cleared 2.05m. On the track, a frontrunning 1:43.09 800m victory by Abubaker Kaki caught the eye as Kenya’s Asbel Kiprop chased the Sudanese home in 1:43.17.
In a series of quick middle distance races, three more Kenyans – Augustine Choge, Eliud Kipchoge and Ezekiel Kemboi – took respective victories in the 1500m (3:30.88), 3000m (7:28.37) and 3000m Steeplechase (7:58.85). Other high-class wins were recorded by Jamaica’s Kerron Stewart in the 100m (10.93), Reese Hoffa, in the Shot Put (21.64m) and Priscilla Lopes-Schliep, of Canada, in the 100m Hurdles (12.52).
9 May
Osaka, Japan
Three 2007 World champions - Jeremy Wariner, Kerron Clement and Donald Thomas - returned to the scene of their gold medal performances to win at the 2009 Osaka Grand Prix. Wariner was a convincing winner of the men’s 400m (44.69), his fellow American, Clement, took the men’s 400m Hurdles (48.60) and Thomas, from the Bahamas, won the men’s High Jump (2.28).
From a home perspective, the Japanese national team of Saori Kitakaze, Chisato Fukushima, Mayumi Watanabe and Momoko Takahashi won the women’s 4x100m in a national record 43.58. In the men’s Pole Vault, Daichi Sawano cleared 5.45 and 5.60 at his first attempt to win on countback from Derek Miles, of the United States, and Naoki Tsuakahara dominated the men’s 100m in a personal best 10.13.
24 May
Belem, Brazil
The 25th Brazilian GP, the Grande Premio Brasil Caixa de Atletismo, will be remembered as one of the best as 35,832 spectators flocked to the Estadio Mangueirao. High among the achievements was Daniel Bailey’s 100m victory in 9.99, a World leading mark and Antigua and Barbuda national record. Bailey was the 67th man under 10 seconds legally but the first on South American soil.
Laverne Jones-Ferrette set US Virgin Islands records at 100m (11.18) and 200m (22.49). Brittney Reese, a 2009 World champion in waiting, won the women’s Long Jump with the third longest US mark (7.06m) behind Jackie Joyner-Kersee’s 7.49m and Marion Jones’ 7.31m. Other World leads were set by Jamaica’s Isa Phillips in the 400m Hurdles (48.36) and by Olympic champion Nelson Evora in the Triple Jump (17.66m).
30 May
New York City, United States
World champion Tyson Gay ran the third fastest 200m in history with a 19.58 (+1.3m/s) season’s debut at the Reebok Grand Prix in the Icahn Stadium. Only Usain Bolt (19.30) and Michael Johnson (19.32) had run faster. At the corresponding meeting in 2008 Bolt had run away from Gay in the 100m to record a World record 9.72.
Gay led a string of wins for home athletes, including Allyson Felix lowering her World leading women’s 400m time to 50.50, Carmelita Jeter taking a wind-assisted women’s 100m (10.85), LaShawn Merritt winning the 400m (44.75), and Jenn Stuczynski dominating the women's Pole Vault (4.81m). In other highlights, Kenya’s Linet Masai toppled World record holder Tirunesh Dibaba, from Ethiopia, in the 5000m (14:35.39 to 14:40.93).
1 June
Hengelo, Netherlands
In a men’s 5000m which produced the four fastest runs of the season, Ethiopia’s Ali Abdosh took the honours in 12:59.56 at the 27th Fanny Blankers-Koen Games. Kenya’s Augustine Choge (13:00:79) and Eliud Kipchoge (13:00:91) settled for the minor places. Sudan’s Abubaker Kaki won the 800m in 1:43.10 and Panama’s Irving Saladino (8.56m) narrowly defeated America’s Dwight Phillips (8.54m) in the Long Jump.
The focal point for the sell-out 18,000 crowd was Haile Gebrselassie’s attack on his World one-hour record but winds and rain spoiled the attempt. One record, though, did fall - Churandy Martina, of the Dutch Antilles, clocked the fastest 100m seen in The Netherlands (9.97). American Reese Hoffa’s 21.59m in the men’s Shot Put broke the 21m barrier for the first time in the stadium.
7 June
Eugene, United States
After contemplating retirement following a succession of injuries, Dwight Phillips roared back with a career best Long Jump of 8.74m, and World’s farthest leap since 1991, in the 35th Prefontaine Classic at Hayward Field. Phillips defeated World and Olympic champion Irving Saladino, from Panama, who finished runner-up (8.63). Laying ahead for Phillips in Berlin would be a third World title to add to his 2003 and 2005 triumphs and his 2004 Olympic gold medal.
LaShawn Merritt clocked 31.30 in the 300m to lower his all-time sea level and United States soil mark of 31.31 run at Hayward Field in 2006. Kenya’s Vivian Cheruyiot beat Maryam Jamal, of Bahrain, to win the women’s 2000m, 5:31.52 to 5:31.88. Both eclipsed the previous best time of 5:32.7 run in the US, set by Mary Decker at Hayward Field in 1984.
16/17 June
Ostrava, Czech Republic
Krisztian Pars, of Hungary, and Poland's Anita Wlodarczyk set Golden Spike meeting records in the Hammer Throw, held the day before the main programme. Pars went beyond 80m three times, topped by his final round 80.71m. His third round 80.68, and 80.31m in the fourth, exceeded the previous meeting mark of 80.27m, set by Primoz Kozmus last year. Wlodarczyk’s 76.59m landed her into No.9 position all-time.
During the main programme, Usain Bolt won the 100m in 9.77w, clear of runner-up Craig Pickering, from Great Britain (10.08). Arguably the strongest performance before the capacity 20,000 crowd in the Mestsky stadium came from Meselech Melkamu. Three days after becoming the second fastest woman in history over 10,000m (29:53.80) in Utrecht, the Ethiopian ran a World-leading 14:34.17 for 5000m.
David Powell for the IAAF
Specific websites:
- 2009 World Athletics Final
- 2009 ÅF Golden League
- 2009 World Athletics Tour
The 2009 World Athletics Tour which took us through 21 countries and five continents was highlighted by two World records set by Yelena Isinbayeva in Zurich and a Kenyan men's quartet in the 4x1500m Relay in Brussels.
In the first of a two-part review, David Powell reminds us of some of the highlights of the the Super Grand Prix and Grand Prix meetings which took place September 2008 to June 2009...
20 September 2008
Shanghai, China
Back in China within a month of the end of the 2008 Beijing Olympics, the Shanghai Golden Grand Prix marked the start of the 2009 IAAF World Athletics Tour. And Olympic champions Veronica Campbell-Brown, Angelo Taylor, Wilfred Bungei, Dawn Harper and Yelena Isinbayeva were victorious again.
Athletes competing here were able to get a jump start on qualifying for the 2009 VTB Bank World Athletics Final, in Thessaloniki, Greece, 51 weeks later. Campbell-Brown, from Jamaica, the Olympic 200m champion, took the 100m in 11.01; Taylor, from the United States, the Olympic 400m Hurdles champion, won the 400m in 44.94; Kenya’s Bungei won the 800m in 1:44.63; Harper, from the US, clocked, 12.56 for the 100m Hurdles; and Isinbayeva, from Russia, cleared 4.60m to clinch the Pole Vault.
5 March 2009
Melbourne, Australia
Racing in the city where he won the 2006 Commonwealth Games title, Asafa Powell contested his first 100m of 2009 at the Melbourne Track Classic but, facing cold weather and a headwind, he was unable to break 10 seconds, clocking 10.23. Australia’s Steve Hooker stole the show, taking the men’s Pole Vault at the beginning of a year in which the Olympic champion would become World champion as well.
Hooker cleared 5.80m to secure his eighth consecutive win dating back to the Beijing Olympics seven months earlier. He bowed out attempting 6.00m. “I was hoping I’d jump six metres in front of my family and supporters,” Hooker said. In the women’s Discus Throw, young Australian Dani Samuels (62.69m) defeated the US Olympic champion, Stefanie Brown Trafton.
17/18 April
Dakar, Senegal
The main programme of the Meeting Grand Prix IAAF de Dakar was preceded the day before by the Shot Put events on scenic Gorée Island. Christian Cantwell, of the United States, and Germany’s Denise Hinrichs secured victories with 21.53m and 19.19m respectively. For Cantwell the season would lead to the gold medal at the World Championships in Berlin.
The next day, home athlete Kaba Ndiss Badji stole the limelight with a wind-assisted men’s Long Jump victory (8.29m) before a partisan crowd that jam packed the Iba Mar Diop Stadium. On the track, World Indoor 1500m champion Deresse Mekonnen, of Ethiopia, provided the highlight, battling the wind to take victory in the 3000m with an early season World leading time of 7:44.68.
8 May
Doha, Qatar
Blanka Vlasic returned to top form at the Qatar Super Grand Prix after her failure to win a medal at the 2009 European Indoor Championships. Vlasic, from Croatia, who would retain her outdoor World title in Berlin three months later, cleared 2.05m. On the track, a frontrunning 1:43.09 800m victory by Abubaker Kaki caught the eye as Kenya’s Asbel Kiprop chased the Sudanese home in 1:43.17.
In a series of quick middle distance races, three more Kenyans – Augustine Choge, Eliud Kipchoge and Ezekiel Kemboi – took respective victories in the 1500m (3:30.88), 3000m (7:28.37) and 3000m Steeplechase (7:58.85). Other high-class wins were recorded by Jamaica’s Kerron Stewart in the 100m (10.93), Reese Hoffa, in the Shot Put (21.64m) and Priscilla Lopes-Schliep, of Canada, in the 100m Hurdles (12.52).
9 May
Osaka, Japan
Three 2007 World champions - Jeremy Wariner, Kerron Clement and Donald Thomas - returned to the scene of their gold medal performances to win at the 2009 Osaka Grand Prix. Wariner was a convincing winner of the men’s 400m (44.69), his fellow American, Clement, took the men’s 400m Hurdles (48.60) and Thomas, from the Bahamas, won the men’s High Jump (2.28).
From a home perspective, the Japanese national team of Saori Kitakaze, Chisato Fukushima, Mayumi Watanabe and Momoko Takahashi won the women’s 4x100m in a national record 43.58. In the men’s Pole Vault, Daichi Sawano cleared 5.45 and 5.60 at his first attempt to win on countback from Derek Miles, of the United States, and Naoki Tsuakahara dominated the men’s 100m in a personal best 10.13.
24 May
Belem, Brazil
The 25th Brazilian GP, the Grande Premio Brasil Caixa de Atletismo, will be remembered as one of the best as 35,832 spectators flocked to the Estadio Mangueirao. High among the achievements was Daniel Bailey’s 100m victory in 9.99, a World leading mark and Antigua and Barbuda national record. Bailey was the 67th man under 10 seconds legally but the first on South American soil.
Laverne Jones-Ferrette set US Virgin Islands records at 100m (11.18) and 200m (22.49). Brittney Reese, a 2009 World champion in waiting, won the women’s Long Jump with the third longest US mark (7.06m) behind Jackie Joyner-Kersee’s 7.49m and Marion Jones’ 7.31m. Other World leads were set by Jamaica’s Isa Phillips in the 400m Hurdles (48.36) and by Olympic champion Nelson Evora in the Triple Jump (17.66m).
30 May
New York City, United States
World champion Tyson Gay ran the third fastest 200m in history with a 19.58 (+1.3m/s) season’s debut at the Reebok Grand Prix in the Icahn Stadium. Only Usain Bolt (19.30) and Michael Johnson (19.32) had run faster. At the corresponding meeting in 2008 Bolt had run away from Gay in the 100m to record a World record 9.72.
Gay led a string of wins for home athletes, including Allyson Felix lowering her World leading women’s 400m time to 50.50, Carmelita Jeter taking a wind-assisted women’s 100m (10.85), LaShawn Merritt winning the 400m (44.75), and Jenn Stuczynski dominating the women's Pole Vault (4.81m). In other highlights, Kenya’s Linet Masai toppled World record holder Tirunesh Dibaba, from Ethiopia, in the 5000m (14:35.39 to 14:40.93).
1 June
Hengelo, Netherlands
In a men’s 5000m which produced the four fastest runs of the season, Ethiopia’s Ali Abdosh took the honours in 12:59.56 at the 27th Fanny Blankers-Koen Games. Kenya’s Augustine Choge (13:00:79) and Eliud Kipchoge (13:00:91) settled for the minor places. Sudan’s Abubaker Kaki won the 800m in 1:43.10 and Panama’s Irving Saladino (8.56m) narrowly defeated America’s Dwight Phillips (8.54m) in the Long Jump.
The focal point for the sell-out 18,000 crowd was Haile Gebrselassie’s attack on his World one-hour record but winds and rain spoiled the attempt. One record, though, did fall - Churandy Martina, of the Dutch Antilles, clocked the fastest 100m seen in The Netherlands (9.97). American Reese Hoffa’s 21.59m in the men’s Shot Put broke the 21m barrier for the first time in the stadium.
7 June
Eugene, United States
After contemplating retirement following a succession of injuries, Dwight Phillips roared back with a career best Long Jump of 8.74m, and World’s farthest leap since 1991, in the 35th Prefontaine Classic at Hayward Field. Phillips defeated World and Olympic champion Irving Saladino, from Panama, who finished runner-up (8.63). Laying ahead for Phillips in Berlin would be a third World title to add to his 2003 and 2005 triumphs and his 2004 Olympic gold medal.
LaShawn Merritt clocked 31.30 in the 300m to lower his all-time sea level and United States soil mark of 31.31 run at Hayward Field in 2006. Kenya’s Vivian Cheruyiot beat Maryam Jamal, of Bahrain, to win the women’s 2000m, 5:31.52 to 5:31.88. Both eclipsed the previous best time of 5:32.7 run in the US, set by Mary Decker at Hayward Field in 1984.
16/17 June
Ostrava, Czech Republic
Krisztian Pars, of Hungary, and Poland's Anita Wlodarczyk set Golden Spike meeting records in the Hammer Throw, held the day before the main programme. Pars went beyond 80m three times, topped by his final round 80.71m. His third round 80.68, and 80.31m in the fourth, exceeded the previous meeting mark of 80.27m, set by Primoz Kozmus last year. Wlodarczyk’s 76.59m landed her into No.9 position all-time.
During the main programme, Usain Bolt won the 100m in 9.77w, clear of runner-up Craig Pickering, from Great Britain (10.08). Arguably the strongest performance before the capacity 20,000 crowd in the Mestsky stadium came from Meselech Melkamu. Three days after becoming the second fastest woman in history over 10,000m (29:53.80) in Utrecht, the Ethiopian ran a World-leading 14:34.17 for 5000m.
David Powell for the IAAF
