Rich rewards attract strong line up for USA, Russia, Great
Britain match in Glasgow
Chris Turner for the IAAF
29 June 2001 – Glasgow - The Norwich Union Challenge, a three way
international match between the USA, Russia and hosts Britain which takes place this
Sunday 1st July in Glasgow’s Scotstoun stadium, is set to revive memories
of a golden era of athletics when international fixtures between national teams were the
life blood of the sport.
With the exception of the annual Swedish/Finnish match and European Cup competitions these matches have all but died out in recent years in favour of international invitational meets. The only other regular match on the calendar has been the annual series of clashes between USA and Britain and with the inclusion for the first time of a formidable side from Russia this Sunday’s meeting looks set to provide an exciting athletics spectacle.
The USA will field a strong team as they attempt to repeat their Challenge victories of the last two years and extend their 8-6 series lead. An unprecedented twelve new US champions will make the trip across the Atlantic and all seventeen events on the programme will feature at least one medallist from last weekend’s US National Championships in Eugene.
The Russians are also clearly taking the Challenge seriously having selected all their event winners from last weekend’s European Cup where their women cruised to a fifth successive Cup victory and their men finished third. This line up has been further embellished by the addition of two of their biggest stars - world indoor 800m champion Yuriy Borzakovskiy and world high jump champion Vyacheslav Voronin.
The British hosts have also pulled out all the stops and many of the absentee’s from last week’s European Cup Final, in which as holders of the men’s trophy they finished a disappointing fifth place, will be competing in Glasgow. Most notably four of Britain’s six medallists from Sydney will take part in what is the richest international match with a prize fund in excess of $250,000, including $7,000 to the winners in each event!
In the men’s sprints there is no Maurice Greene this year but Britain’s World bronze medallist Dwain Chambers and World junior champion Mark Lewis Francis will still have to contend with American Bernard Williams who ran 9.96 secs last week in Eugene.
Mark Richardson back from suspension runs the 400 metres and takes on the seemingly eternal American number one Antonio Pettigrew and Jerome Young the man who finished in third place behind Pettigrew at the US Championships.
Russia’s Yuriy Borzakovskiy who is still only 20 years old will be the undoubted star at 800 metres in Glasgow. While over the sprint hurdles Russia’s winner from the European Cup in Bremen last weekend Yevgeniy Pechonkin will face Britain’s reigning world champion Colin Jackson and USA’s 1996 Olympic champion and current world number one Allen Johnson.
The 400 metres hurdles will provide a stiff challenge for British number one Chris Rawlinson who was an Olympic semi finallist last year as he will take on Olympic champion Angelo Taylor.
Perhaps a closer battle will be fought in the men’s triple jump as Britain’s Olympic champion and world record holder Jonathan Edwards finds himself competing against Olympic bronze medallist Denis Kapustin of Russia and fellow Britain, Phillips Idowu, who was sixth in that final in Sydney.
The men’s high jump features Russia’s 1999 World champion Vyacheslav Voronin, America’s 1996 Olympic champion Charles Austin and new US champion Nathan Leeper.
Three time European champion Steve Backley returns from a slight groin injury to take on new US champion Breaux Greer in the men’s javelin. Greer set a marvellous new personal best at the US championships last week throwing a championship record of 85.23m.
Britain’s third and fourth placed athletes from the women’s 400 metres at the Sydney Olympics Katharine Merry and Donna Fraser both line up at their specialist distance. However, their fortunes have been diverse so far this year for while Fraser has been largely side lined by injury, Merry’s star has continued in the ascendant and after a spectacular run in the Athens Grand Prix, she is the current season’s world number one and favourite for gold in Edmonton.
In the women’s 1,500 metres Russia’s European Cup 5,000 metres victor Yelena Zadorozhnaya will race against compatriot Olga Yegorova who beat both her and Romania’s Gabriela Szabo to the World Indoor 3,000m title last March. Also in the race will be Britain’s World cross country champion Paula Radcliffe who was a victim of Zadorozhnaya’s fierce finishing assault at the European Cup last weekend.
America’s three time and reigning world 100m hurdles champion Gail Devers who also has two Olympic 100 metres titles to her name will tackle Russian duo Irina Korotya the European Cup winner and Svetlana Laukhova the current European number one. Also in the race will be Britain’s Olympic Heptathlon champion Denise Lewis who will also compete in the long jump.
