Christian Cantwell blasts out shot to 21.68 - New York (© Victah Sailer)
Prague, Czech RepublicThe 13th Josef Odlozil Memorial, EAA Permit meeting, takes place on Monday (5) in the Juliska Stadium.
As usual men’s Hammer Throw should be one of the highlights, and this year will be held in the main stadium, with Olympic champion Koji Murofushi from Japan the main attraction. The 31-year-old who has had major injury problems in the last year won in Ostrava (30 May) with 79.82 in the last round. He remembers the Czech capitol very well, as back in 2003 he achieved his Asian record of 84.86 there, but at on that occasion the competition was held at the nearby warm-up field.
The Japanese’s main opponents should be World championships silver medallist Vadim Deviatovskiy from Belarus, and Finland’s 2004 World Athletics Final winner Olli-Pekka Karjalainen.
Another highlight should be the Shot Put competition with world leader Christian Cantwell, who is so far outdoors unbeaten. His 22.17m from Eugene (28 May) tops the lists and last night he confirmed his shape in New York win with a 21.68m put. Also in Prague should be Dan Taylor who improved massively on Saturday at Icahn Stadium with 21.59m.
The women’s High Jump is topped by the presence of Russia´s Olympic champion and World Indoor gold medallist Yelena Slesarenko, who recently won in Eugene and was third in Oslo in the IAAF Golden League opener on Friday (2 June). In 2004, Slesarenko set meet record of 2.01m in Prague.
Ukrainian jumpers Vita Styopina and Irina Mikhalchenko together with best local jumper Barbora Lalakova will offer stiff competition.
On the track the most awaited race will be the Josef Odlozil Memorial 1500m. Kenyans Benjamin Kipkuruim Mike Too, Elkana Angwenyi and Robert Rono should be the favourites.
Olympic bronze medallist Paul Kipsiele Koech should be on for a good time at his specialist 3000m Steeplechase having confirmed his shape in Ostrava after great splits 2:45 and 5:32, though with the lap counter chaos he ultimately finished too early.
2003 World 100m Hurdles champion Perdita Felicien from Canada is the star of the women’s sprint hurdles, while in the 400m Hurdles Sandra Glover, the Helsinki bronze medallist will compete.
The men’s Pole Vault has a deep start list…Tim Lobinger (GER), Daichi Sawano (JPN), Michael Stolle (GER) and Okkert Brits (RSA) among others.
In total 16 events will offer good competition, and the weather forecast is better than last week.
by an IAAF correspondent
