Bolt celebrates the 100m World record in New York (© Victah Sailer)
Once more the sprint races will be the main attraction of “Tsiklitiria 2008” to be held in the Olympic Stadium of the Greek capital on Sunday 13 July.
“Tsiklitiria 2008” is a Grand Prix status meeting within the IAAF World Athletics Tour 2008.
Having witnessed two World records in the men’s 100m race in the last decade - Maurice Greene in 1999 and Asafa Powell in 2005 - the fast track of the Olympic Stadium is always a magnet for the best sprinters of the world.
This year, two shining stars of the track will compete, the new World record holders for the 100m dash and 110m Hurdles, respectively Jamaica’s Usain Bolt and Cuba’s Dayron Robles.
Bolt is going to compete in the 200m race, the distance at which he took silver at last year’s World championships in Osaka.
“I’m here to investigate what I could do in a 200m race,” he stated just after his arrival to Athens on Thursday. Yesterday, during a press conference Bolt revealed that he also wants to test himself over the 400m in the near future. He has a 45.28 sec PB from May last year.
His 200m personal best which is also the national record is 19.75sec was set at the national championships in June 2007 and Bolt aims at least to break it in Athens. He has already run 19.83 in another IAAF World Athletics Tour meeting in Ostrava last month, currently the best world performance for this season.
In Sunday’s contest Bolt will be joined among others by Zimbabwe’s Brian Dzingai, winner in Thessaloniki meeting on Wednesday, Antigua’s Christian Brendan and Jamaica’s Marwin Anderson. All of them have run the distance in times better than 20.20 this year.
Without Bolt, the 100m race seems to be between the Bahamas’ Derrick Atkins, the World Championship silver medallist, Francis Obikwelu of Portugal, the Olympic silver medallist and European champion, African champion and record holder Olusoj Fasuba, and the American Darvis Patton who has already qualified for the Olympics thanks to his third place in the trials is the fastest entrant (9.89).
USA’s Mark Jelks has like Patton has also run under 10 seconds this season (9.99sec Trials quarter finals). Another of the Americans on show is Michael Rodgers who was seventh in their Trials final.
Campbell-Brown in the 100m; Richards in the 400m
After her impressing performance in Thessaloniki, where she clocked a wind assisted 10.85 the World 100m and Olympic 200m champion Veronica Campbell-Brown of Jamaica runs the dash again.
This time her main rivals will be Americans Carmelita Jeter (10.97), Angela Williams (11.02) and MeLisa Barber (11.07), but also Belgium’s European champion Kim Gevaert (11.05).
One of last year’s two Golden League Jackpot winners Sanya Richards participates in the 400m. Richards set the third best performance of the season winning the Trials with 49.89 in Eugene.
Jamaican trials second placer, Novlene Williams (49.53 PB – 2006), compatriot Shereefa Lloyd who was first in Thessaloniki and has a PB of 50.62 (4th JAM champs), and American Monique Henderson (49.96 PB – 2005) are the other significant entrants.
Robles and many of the best from the US
As well as the World record holder, Dayron Robles of Cuba, the entry list for the men’s 110m Hurdles race has attracted a host of top Americans.
Olympics qualifier David Payne, third in the USA Trials and his compatriot Aries Merritt (4th in the trials) will try to upset the Cuban, along with them five more Americans have entered the race: Eric Michum (13.35 this season), Ryan Wilson (13.28), Joel Brown (13.33), Aubrey Herring (13.30), Ty Akins (13.25) and Arend Watkins.
Four Europeans are also included in this impressing entry list. Czech’s Petr Svoboda, the winner in Thessaloniki, Ukraine’s Serhiy Demydyuk, Spain’s Jackson Quiñónez and the rising star of the Greek scene, Konstantinos Douvalidis.
Shaheen and Jepkorir in the Steeplechase races
The entry list of the 3000m Steeplechase includes the World record holder of the event Qatar’s Saif Saaeed Shaheen, the double World champion of 2003 and 2005. The 25-year-old will be running his first Steeplechase since winning the World Cup in Athens on 17 September 2006, since which he has been sidelined by injury.
Morocco’s Abdelkader Hachlaf (8:15.58) and Brahim Taleb (8:15.67) have the best season’s performance among all entrants, while Reuben Kosgei (8:16.36) the Sydney Olympic champion is the fastest of the numerous Kenyans in the race.
2007 World Championships silver medallist Eunice Jepkorir of Kenya participates in the women’s Steeplechase race. Jepkoriri improved the African record to 9:11.18 last month - the current world season lead - and in Athens she’ll be challenged mainly by the Ethiopians including the new national record holder Mekdes Bekele (9:20.23), who set that time finishing second behind Jepkorir’s Area record on 3 June in Huelva, Spain, Zemzem Ahmed who beat Bekele to the African title in May and who held the previous Ethiopian best of 9:25.80, Oslo 6 June), and Sofia Asefa (9:33.65).
Poland’s Wiola Frankiewicz, Jamaica’s Korine Hinds, Belgium’s Veerle Dajaeghere and Romania’s Christina Casandra are also in the running.
Spotakova vs Menendez vs Obergföll vs Nerius
In the women’s Javelin Throw the entry list includes the world leaders of the event. Czech World champion Barbora Spotakova currently on the top spot of the list with a 69.15m national record competes with the European Record holder Germany’s Christina Obergföll, but also the World record holder Cuba’s Osleidys Menendez.
Obergfoll has the second best performance of the year with 67.72m and Menendez the fourth, 64.02m. Germany’s European champion, Steffi Nerius, third in the season’s list with 65.71m, will also be on the field of the Olympic Stadium.
In the men’s competition Latvia’s Vadims Vasilevskis and Eriks Rags top the entry.
Holm in the High Jump, Tsatoumas in the Long Jump
After his win in “Thessaloniki 2008”, Olympic High Jump champion Stefan Holm participates in Athens, where he will meet again with Cyprus’ Kyriakos Ioannou and Czech’s Tomas Janku and Svatoslav Ton. But in this competition among other great names Holm also has to face world season leader, American Dusty Jonas (2.36m).
In the Long Jump, European season leader Luis Tsatoumas (8.32m) will compete with Cuba’s Ibrahim Camejo, second on the world list this year with 8.46m and his compatriot Wilfredo Martinez (8.31m this year).
Cuba’s David Giralt (17.50m), the World Indoor silver medallist and Grenada’s Randy Lewis (17.49m) top the Triple Jump start list.
Walker in the Pole Vault
American Brad Walker (6.04m) tops the Pole Vault line-up. The World champion came third in the US Trials and so goes to Beijing and is currently the best vaulter this season. Derek Miles (5.80) who won the national title also jumps as does Australia’s Steve Hooker (6.00 this year), Ukraine’s Denys Yurchenko (5.83m) and Maksym Mazuryk (5.82), and the Germans Tim Lobinger and Bjorn Otto.
Jamal tops out middle distance event line-ups
Jamaica’s Kenia Sinclair, silver medallist of the World Indoor Championships in 2006, is the fastest entrant in the women’s 800m where she has to face with Cuba’s 2005 World champion Zulia Calatayud.
Bahrain’s Youssef Saad Kamel and Kenya’s Boaz Lalang are the best entrants in the men’s 800m race.
Finally, in women’s 1500m Bahrain’s World champion Maryam Jamal competes with the Russians Daniela Yordanova and former World 5000m title winner Olga Yegorova, as well as the Ukraine’s World championship bronze medallist Iryna Lishchynska.
Michalis Nikitaridis for the IAAF
