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News21 Jun 2001


Fastest time this year for Greene qualifier

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James Dunaway for the IAAF
21 June 2001 - Eugene, Oregon - Maurice Greene ran 9.90, the fastest time in the world this year to lead the qualifiers in the men’s 100 metres at the USATF championships. But he won’t run any more races here. Greene is withdrawing from the meet after following to the letter the U.S. Federation’s rules which require him to compete in the championships in order to be able to exercise the   “wild-card” exemptions he earned by winning the 100 and 200 metres in the 1999 World Championships in Sevilla.

So now, having earned his place on the American team for Edmonton, he will spend the rest of the week sitting in the stands and watching the meet, and, of course, training. “I said I was going to run fast,” he said. “I hope the fans enjoyed it.”

Four finals were decided today. The women’s discus was won by Seilala Sua with a throw of 63.35 metres, edging out Suzy Powell’s 63.29. Kris Kuehl took third with a final-round throw of 62.67. There was little or no wind to help them; so all three are potential Edmonton finalists.

The women’s long jump was dominated by three young athletes. 22-year-old Jenny Adams won with a wind-aided 6.71, and 25-year-old Grace Upshaw was second with a wind-legal 6.62. Third was 21-year-old Brionna Glenn with 6.49, but it took a pretty amazing countback to beat veteran Shana Williams, who also jumped 6.49. Each had a second-best jump of 6.48, and a third-best of 6.41. Glenn’s fourth jump was 6.38 to 6.31 for Williams.

The men’s 10,000 went strictly to form. Abdi Abdiraman romped home in 28:23.82, followed by last year’s winner, Mebrahtom Keflezighi (28:39.64) and 1999 champion Alan Culpepper (28:49.03). After the race Abdiraman said, “We’re trying to take American distance running to the next level. We all want to finish in the top 10 at the World Championships.”

Tom Pappas led the first day of the decathlon with a strong 4,472, sparked by a 2.19m high jump. But Pappas, fifth at Sydney last year, told officials he would probably not compete in the pole vault and javelin on Friday. he has not practiced either event since undergoing shoulder surgery shortly after the Olympics.

There were no surprises in the qualifying heats. The best performances were Calvin Harrison’s easy-looking 44.97 in the men’s 400, and sub-50-second first-round 400-metre hurdles marks by heat winners James Carter (49.65), Eric Thomas (49.73) and Joey Woody (49.73)..

In the men’s 1500, both Bryan Berryhill and Alan Webb, the co-favorites, won their heats. Berryhill led all the way to win his heat in 3:40.47 (the fastest time); but Webb had to drop back to get out of a box with 250m to go and then cover last 200m in 25.5 to win his heat in a slow 3:45.77.

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