Hicham El Guerrouj running in Oslo (© Getty Images)
Turin, ItalyThe ninth edition of the Turin meeting (Friday 6 June) - 4th Memorial Primo Nebiolo - the second Italian leg of the 2003 IAAF Grand Prix II circuit, will be honoured by the presence of Morocco’s World 1500m champion and record holder, Hicham El Guerrouj who will be making his the seasonal debut on the European circuit.
The king of middle distance running, three times World outdoor 1500m champion and one of just four athletes to share last year’s IAAF Golden League Jackpot, has opted for the 3000 metres in a high-quality race which also features the Kenyan Charles Kamathi, the World 10,000m champion.
It will a tough test for El Guerrouj in the build-up to his much-awaited 5000 metres debut at the IAAF Super Grand Prix in Ostrava on 12 June, and his attempt at a 1500 and 5000 metres double at the World Championships in Paris. He last ran the 3000 metres outdoors at the IAAF Golden League in Brussels in 1999, where he clocked the second fastest time in history with 7:23.09, finishing just 2.42 seconds off Daniel Komen’s World record set in Rieti in 1996.
It will be the second time that the Moroccan star has competed in the Primo Nebiolo stadium, named after the late IAAF President who died of heart attack in November 1999. El Guerrouj set the Turin meeting record with 3:33.51 in September 1996, just one week after putting an end to the domination of Algeria's Noureddine Morceli in the 1500 metres at the Grand Prix Final in Milan. This was the beginning of his long supremacy which saw the Moroccan win 73 of his 76 races over the 1500 metres and the mile from 1996 to 2002.
The Turin meeting has always had a special reputation for revealing the potential of many rising stars. Marion Jones made her first race on the European circuit in Turin in June 1997 with a victory in 11.08.
“We have assembled the best starting lists in the history of our meeting. It will be a memorable athletics night which has attracted many youngsters who will compete in the pre-event programme during the afternoon, and then sit in the stands to get inspiration from the stars of the meeting”, said Riccardo D’Elicio, the Turin meeting organizer.
The Memorial Nebiolo is well known for its high-quality jump competitions in honour of the memory of Dr. Primo Nebiolo, who competed in the Long Jump before taking up his career as sports leader of the Italian Federation Fidal and then for the IAAF. This year the official programme features the Long and the Triple Jumps for both men and women.
Quadruple outdoor World Long Jump champion Ivan Pedroso of Cuba will make his comeback on the Turin runway, where he jumped 8.39m in 2000. Turin's athletics fans who attended the meeting in 1999 will always remember the fabulous clash between the Jamaican James Beckford and the Spaniard Yago Lamela, which ended with the victory of the latter with 8.56 (which is still the meeting record). This year Pedroso will battle against the US Savanteè Stringfellow who has leapt 8.46 so far in 2003, and has a PB of 8.52 set at the 2002 US Championships in Palo Alto.
In the women's event, World champion Fiona May, winner in Turin four times - 1996, 1997,1998 and 2000 - will test her condition against the Spaniard Concepcion Montaner, silver medallist at the 2001 European Under-23 Championships, and the Brazilian Maurren Maggi, who was the IAAF Grand Prix Final winner in 2002. The Brazilian who leapt to a world season best of 7.06 in Milan on Tuesday, has Italian ancestry, as her great-grandfather emigrated from the Italian region of Calabria.
In the women’s Triple Jump, Magdelin Martinez and the surprising 2003 World Indoor bronze medallist Kene Ndoye from Senegal, who competes for the Italian Club Sai Fondiaria Atletica Roma, will provide an interesting battle. Martinez leapt to an excellent 14.61 in Kalamata (Greece) last Saturday, only twelve centimetres off her Italian outdoor record set in Rieti last September. The Cuban born athlete who is married to the Italian Beppe Picotti, also holds the national indoor record with 14.61 set in Karlsruhe in February 2003.
Cuba’s triple jumper Yoelbi Quesada, the 1997 World champion in Athens 1997, and more recently the bronze medallist at the Birmingham World Indoors last March, will jump on the same runway where he set the meeting record of 17.18 back in 1998. His opponents will include his countryman Yoandri Betanzos, the Italian record holder Fabrizio Donato (17.60 Milan 2000), the 1999 World champion Charles Friedek of Germany, and the Brazilian Jadel Gregorio (PB 17.35 indoor).
Many Cuban stars will make their debut on the European circuit in Turin, where they will spend one month to prepare for the outdoor season. Among them is the 110m Hurdles Olympic champion Anier Garcia, who set the meeting record of 13.25 in 2000. Garcia is a very good friend of the Turin organizers after winning here three times in 1998, 2000 and 2002. Garcia will face the opposition of his compatriots Yoel Hernandez (fourth at Edmonton 2001) and Yuniel Hernandez, the South African Shaun Bownes, who is the 2002 Commonwealth champion, the Italian record holder Andrea Giaconi, who was third at the 2002 European Cup in Annecy with the national best of 13.35, and his compatriot Denis Favaro, who was a surprising sixth placer at the Europeans in Munich.
Another Cuban star Daimi Pernia, 1999 World 400m Hurdles champion in Seville 1999, is among the favourites in her discipline. Also, in this race is twice European champion Ionela Tirlea from Romania, and Sandra Glover from the USA (PB 53.33).
Tirlea is also planning to race a second time in Turin. The Romanian will run in the 200 metres against the European 100 metres record holder, Christine Arron of France.
Reigning Olympic 400m hurdles champion Angelo Taylor, and the South African Lewellin Herbert, who was third in Sydney, lead the line-up in the men’s 400m Hurdles.
The 400 metres runner Lorraine Fenton Graham of Jamaica, was the only woman who threatened the dominance of Mexican Ana Guevara in the 2002. In Turin the Jamaican World and Olympic silver medallist will battle for victory against the reigning World champion Ami Mbacke Thiam of Senegal, and the 2003 World Indoor champion Natalya Nazarova of Russia.
Leonard Byrd from the USA (PB 44.45 set in 2002 and 44.83 set this year) is the favourite in the men’s 400 metres, which will also feature Erik Milazar of Mauritius, fifth in Edmonton 2001, and American Derrick Brew (44.83).
Wilfried Bungei, World silver medallist in Edmonton and a 1:42.34 performer, clocked an impressive 1:43.05 in the 800 metres in Hengelo last Sunday. The Turin meeting will see the Kenyan battle against the Olympic bronze medallist Djabir Said-Guerni of Algeria and Kenyan Nicholas Wachira (PB 1:44.44 set on the Turin track in 2002).
Namibian Frank Fredericks who bounced back from injury last year to take the Commonwealth 200m title, is the star of the men’s 100 metres dash. USA’s Coby Miller (PB 9.98) and the new Canadian find Nicholas Macrozonaris, will give the 36 year-old Fredericks some tight competition.
