Previews14 Feb 2009


Strong fields on tap as Karlsruhe celebrates 25th edition - Karlsruhe preview

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David Payne in the 2008 Olympic semi-finals. He went on to take the silver. (© Getty Images)

This year’s Karlsruhe BWBank-Meeting reaches a milestone on Sunday (15) afternoon with its 25th edition in the Europahalle on the south side of Germany’s “Fächerstadt”.  Longtime meeting director Siegfried König has decided to step down this year and is handing the full assignment to Alain Blondel, who has already been managing the athlete arrangements for most of the last decade. 

The BW-Bank-Meeting is an IAAF Indoor Permit meeting.

Karlsruhe’s Europahalle has given athletics fans many memorable moments during the past quarter century.  One of the earliest in this writer’s recollection was Heike Henkel’s women’s High Jump World record of 2.07 in 1992, a mark which stood for fourteen years until broken by Sweden’s Kajsa Bergqvist.

Just last year, the fast sprint apron allowed another ageing record to fall, as Sweden’s Susanna Kallur erased the 18-year-old standard in the women’s 60m Hurdles with a brilliant 7.68 clocking. 

Jones and Payne lead hurdles fields

On Sunday, the women’s hurdle race again looms as one of the top attractions of the day, as World indoor champion (and current world leader) Lolo Jones of the US - who was second to Kallur in her record race last year - will go against Beijing bronze medallist Priscilla Lopes-Schliep of Canada and World indoor runner-up Candice Davis of the US.  Also in the field will be the World champion whom Jones dethroned, Ireland’s Derval O’Rourke, plus Athens silver medallist Olena Krasovska of Ukraine. Two-time Olympian Anay Tejeda of Cuba and Athens finalist Angela Whyte of Canada add further depth to this event.

Earlier in the week, the men’s hurdle event lost Olympic champion Dayron Robles who attempted to start his season in Liévin on Tuesday evening.  The Cuban had problems at the second hurdle, and a medical examination later revealed an injury which forced him to cancel his remaining indoor plans. 

Olympic silver and world bronze medallist David Payne of the US will tangle with fast-rising Shamar Sands of Bahamas, who has had a good week with wins of 7.49 and 7.50, as well as European indoor finalist Maksim Lynsha of Belarus.  Payne’s countryman, Dexter Faulk, is also part of the hurdle field, as is European indoor finalist Maksim Lynsha of Belarus and former European championships runner-up Falk Balzer of Germany.     

A non-standard event will pique the fans’ attention on Sunday when some world-class 400 specialists take aim on the meeting record in the men’s 300m, currently held by Brazil’s Robson da Silva at 32.19 from a performance twenty seasons ago. The lap-and-a-half event seems to be a common curiosity this past week with the Liévin and Paris meetings also staging the discipline.

World indoor 400m champion Tyler Christopher of Canada had a 32.53 clocking last year in Winnipeg but has had only one circular race thus far in the season. Others include former World indoor bronze medallist Paul McKee of Ireland and Jamal Torrance of the US.  German 400 year leader Simon Kirch heads up the host country’s entries, which also include Ruwen Faller and 400 hurdler Thomas Goller.

Baala and Mekonnen square off in the 1500m

The men’s 1500m will be an interesting rematch between current European champion Mehdi Baala of France and world indoor champion Deresse Mekonnen of Ethiopia.  The two met over the mile distance last Tuesday night in Liévin, with Baala coming away with a superb French record of 3:52.51 (12th performer of all time) ahead of Mekonnen’s 3:54.11, also a national record. Baala had earlier signaled his superior condition by just missing his own national 1000m record last weekend.  

Olympic finalist Christian Obrist of Italy and last year’s Kenyan champion, Gideon Gathimba, will be in action in the 1500, as will 18-year-old Osman Yahya of Sudan, who set a national record last Saturday in Stuttgart. 

Bungei-Ismail rematch in the 800m

Olympic champion Wilfred Bungei will again go to the line in the men’s 800m against the Beijing silver medallist, Ismail Ahmad Ismail of Sudan.  World-leader Ismail scored a powerful win over Bungei (and also Yuriy Borzakovskiy) last weekend in Stuttgart, so this event also carries a “rematch” cachet.  Among others in the contest are current European junior champion Robin Schembera of Germany, German indoor junior record holder Sebastian Keiner, plus Kenya’s Richard Kiplagat.

First Vlasic-Friedrich head-to-head of the season

High jumper Blanka Vlasic will make Karlsruhe her next stop after 40 consecutive competitions at 2.00 or higher. She should get a stiff challenge from Germany’s Ariane Friedrich, for whom the two-metre range is also becoming de rigueur.  French jumper Melanie Skotnik, who barely missed a new national record in Banská Bystrica on Wednesday, will return to her native Germany for another go at a PB.  Joining the action will also be Yekaterina Yevseyeva of Kazakhstan and Czech jumper Iva Straková.  

The men’s Triple Jump shows excellent depth with former World indoor and outdoor champion Walter Davis of the US going up against Osaka silver winner Jadel Gregório of Brazil, Beijing bronze medallist Leevan Sands of Bahamas, and Valencia runner-up David Giralt of Cuba.  Another World indoor and outdoor titlist, Germany’s Charles Friedek, is on the start list, as are Bejing finalist Momchil Karailiev of Bulgaria and three-time Olympian Fabrizio Donato of Italy. 

Following tradition, solid men's Pole Vault line-up

No indoor meeting in Germany can properly be without a men’s Pole Vault, given the deep talent pool that country offers in the event.  After his eye-catching PB 5.76 win in Stuttgart a week ago (and also his 5.70 win on Friday primarily against German rivals), Tobias Scherbarth suddenly has become a contender for one of Germany’s spots at the upcoming European Indoor Championships. 

Also coming to the Europahalle with a freshly-produced 5.76 PB is American Jeremy Scott, at 2.06m perhaps the tallest exponent of the event.  He and Russian Pavel Gerasimov, the new Russian indoor champion at 5.75, are the only non-Germans on the competition list, which also includes Osaka bronze winner and Beijing finalist Danny Ecker, Beijing finalist Raphael Holzdeppe, Osaka finalist Björn Otto, former world indoor champion Tim Lobinger, Moscow indoor fourth-placer Fabian Schulze, and Alexander Straub—all of whom have posted career bests of 5.80 or higher. 

The BK-Bank-Meeting was originally to have featured a marquee women’s Mile event, but when Gelete Burka failed to win approval from the Ethiopian federation for indoor competition this winter, the event was canceled. That left the Karlsruhe management with a surfeit of female middle-distance runners, the solution to which was to stage two sections of an 800m race. 

Current European indoor silver medallist Tetyana Petlyuk of Ukraine - last year’s BW-Bank runner-up and the winner of the Düsseldorf 600 Friday - will tangle with her compatriot Zoya Hladun-Nesterenko, Olympian Elisa Cusma of Italy, Sydney Games fourth-placer Brigita Langerholc of Slovenia, and Poland’s Sylwia Ejdys (who won the 1500 Friday in Düsseldorf).

Local eyes focused firmly on Blum in 60m

Young German sprint standout Christian Blum, a spectacular 6.56 winner in last weekend’s Men’s 60m in Stuttgart, will be back in action on Sunday against the man he barely defeated, American Kendall Stevens, who clocked 6.57. Also keeping the sprint apron hot will be other Americans Marcus Brunson (who ran 6.46 here two years ago), Mark Jelks and DaBryan Blanton.  European record holder Ronald Pognon of France, Osaka finalist Matic Osovnikar of Slovenia, and Athens 200 finalist Tobias Unger of Germany will also be on the start list. 

The women’s 400m features an international field of lesser-known talent, including current World indoor relay bronze medallist Miriam Barnes of the US, Olympic relay silver medallist Elodie Ouédraogo of Belgium, German relay Olympian Jonna Tilgner, and reigning World youth 400 champion Yuliya Baraley of Ukraine. 

A men’s 3000m competition is on the schedule.  Billed as a “newcomers’ race”, the event will include, among others, World indoor finalist Arne Gabius of Germany, Switzerland’s Philipp Bandi, Hungarian steepler Albert Minczer, current African junior 1500 champion Cornelius Ndiwa of Kenya and his compatriot, Edwin Kipkorir.

Ed Gordon for the IAAF

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