Fabiana Murer of Brazil celebrates her victory in the women's Pole Vault in Doha (© Getty Images)
Two of the world’s most talkedabout field event athletes will ply their trades when reigning World indoor champions Christian Cantwell and Fabiana Murer contest the men’s Shot Put and women’s Pole Vault, respectively, at the 104th Millrose Games.
The event, set for 28 January at New York's Madison Square Garden, kicks off the 2011 IAAF Indoor Permit Meeting series.
Murer vs. Suhr in the Pole Vault
One of the break-out international track and field stars of 2010, Brazilian icon Murer out-dueled world record holder Yelena Isinbayeva to win the 2010 World Indoor Championships gold medal in Doha, Qatar. Outdoors, the South American record holder posted the second-highest vault of the year, 4.85m. Coming off such a spectacular year and making her Millrose debut, Murer in 2011 will grace the cover of the event program for the 104th Millrose Games.
The woman who topped the 2010 performance charts, 2008 Olympic and World indoor silver medallist Jenn Suhr, returns to Millrose searching for her second victory at the Garden. The American record holder indoors and outdoors, Suhr was the 2009 Millrose champion and led the world in 2010 with her winning height of 4.89m at the USA Outdoor Track & Field Championships in Des Moines, Iowa.
2004 Olympian Jillian Schwartz, now competing for Israel, as well as Americans Melinda Owen and Becky Holliday, will complete the Millrose field.
Past, present and future in men’s Shot Put
Cantwell, the three-time defending World indoor champion and 2009 World Outdoor gold medallist in the Shot Put, enjoyed an utterly dominant year in 2010, in which he won the inaugural Samsung Diamond League Trophy in his event and threw farther than 70 feet (21.34m) in 20 different meets.
As is customary at Millrose, Cantwell will face the very best the U.S. and the world has to offer in a field of four men. Two-time Olympic silver medallist and 2005 World outdoor Champion Adam Nelson, the owner of no fewer than seven Olympic, World Indoor and/or World outdoor medals, is joined by 2007 World outdoor and 2006 World indoor champion Reese Hoffa, as well as recently graduated six-time NCAA champion Ryan Whiting of Arizona State. With his third straight NCAA Indoor victory in 2010, Whiting became the first man in 35 years to win three consecutive NCAA indoor titles in the event and signaled that he is a future force. Whiting also is a two-time NCAA outdoor champion in the Shot Put and the 2010 Discus champ.
The Millrose Games will be televised live from 8-10 p.m. Eastern Time on ESPN2.
Organisers for the IAAF
