Wallace Spearmon 'turns it on' as he catches the field and clocks 19.90 for 200m - USATF nationals (© Getty Images)
Two young US sprint stars Wallace Spearmon and Xavier Carter and Mozambique's middle distance legend Maria Mutola are the headliners of the 20th anniversary edition of the Spitzenleichtathletik EAA meeting in Luzern, today.
Opening their European campaigns
Wallace Spearmon, 21, World 200m silver medallist, comes to Europe for his first European outing of the season after his impressive show at the US Championships in Indianapolis where he ran 19.90, the joint fastest time in the world with Jamaica’s Asafa Powell. It was the second fastest time in his career after his 19.89 last year in London which remained the fastest time of 2005. This winter Spearmon set the world’s all-time best over the rarely contested 300 metres indoor distance with 31.88.
Spearmon will race the 200m, and the in-form Christian Malcolm from Britain, winner at last week’s European Cup in Malaga with the fastest time in Europe this season of 20.29, and 2006 US Championships third placer Rodney Martin (PB 20.14) are the major threats for Spearmon in the half-lap event.
NCAA star Xavier Carter, 20, takes on his first European race since becoming a professional. At the NCAA Championships in Sacramento he won the 100m (10.09) and 400m (44.53) and both 4x100m and 4x400m relays, to be mentioned in the same breath as the legendary Jesse Owens, the only other man to win four titles at the college champs. The ‘X-Man’, as he is nicknamed, who comes from Florida and played as a wide receiver in American Football, also holds a 200 metres PB of 20.02 but in Luzern will race over 100m.
Mutola looks for sub-4 1500m
An established star of athletics competing in Luzern is Maria Mutola who will be running the 1500 metres. The “Maputo express”, Olympic 800m champion in Sydney and multiple World 800m champion (seven indoor titles and three outdoor gold medals) and the sole winner of the Million Dollar Golden League Jackpot (2003), will line up for the second time this summer after collecting her 14th 800m (1:58.86) win in the Prefontaine Classic, Eugene, USA on 28 May.
This winter Mutola returned to her best form winning her seventh World Indoor 800m title in Moscow, and just a few days after a long journey to Australia she finished third at the Commonwealth Games in Melbourne in her season’s best of 1:58.77. Mutola holds a 1500 metres PB of 4:01:50 she set during her 2002 win at the Rome Golden Gala.
Mutola, who is aiming at a sub-4 minutes race, will face strong opposition from Australia’s Sarah Jamieson, who has dipped twice under the 4:04 barrier so far this season (1st, 1500m Osaka, 6 May - 4:03.51) and (4th, 1500m Eugene, 28 May 4:03:13). Jamieson, silver medallist at the Commonwealth Games, won in Luzern in 2004 with the meeting record of 4:04.82. The British middle-distance revelation of the season Rebecca “Becky” Lyne, who ran an outstanding 800m PB of 1:58.20 in Gateshead, is searching for a fast 1500 metres.
New country, back from injury
Seven men who have broken the 17 metres barrier in the men’s Triple Jump, will provide very tough opposition to Swiss Alexander Martinez. The line-up includes double World silver medallist Yoandri Betanzos from Cuba (SB 17.63), and Britain’s Nathan Douglas (17.42 this year in Geneve in mid-June) and reigning Commonwealth champion Phillips Idowu, and USA’s Kenta Bell. The Cuban-born Martinez who lives in Zürich with his Swiss wife, has become a Swiss citizen in 2006. In Luzern, Martinez will be competing in the Triple Jump for the first time this summer after some injury problems. Martinez holds a PB of 17.51 set in 2005.
Of the other expected highlights…
The women’s Pole Vault will feature the World Junior record holder Silke Spiegelburg from Germany (4.48m), who will be challenged by this year’s Commonwealth champion Kym Howe from Australia (PB 4.62).
2001 World 100m champion Zhanna Block from Ukraine, will return to the track where she set the meeting record of 10.91 in 2002, while the new USA 200m champion Rachelle Boone Smith will be running her first European race after her 22.31 at those championships in Indianapolis.
Other US stars making the trip to Switzerland following the US Championships are 100 metres hurdler Damu Cherry, runner-up in Indianapolis after 12.58 in the semi-finals, and Jenny Adams, who ran a seasonal best of 12.68. A quality line-up is also expected in the women’s 400m Hurdles with US Championships third placer Shauna Smith, fourth placer Tiffany Ross Williams and NCAA champion Markita James.
Robby Hughes, fourth placer in Indianapolis and a 13.26 performer this year, starts as the favourite in the men’s 110m Hurdles.
Jamaica’s Commonwealth Games bronze medallist Kemel Thompson will take on Olympic and world finalist Bayano Kamani from Panama.
US High Jumper Amy Acuff, fourth at the Olympic Games in Athens and a 2.01 specialist, leads the high jump line-up.
Diego Sampaolo for the IAAF
