Maurice Greene defeats Tim Montgomery at the Mt SAC Relays (© Getty Images)
Sydney Olympic medallists Maurice Greene and Melissa Morrison will continue their comeback from injury-riddled 2003 seasons in the Payton Jordan U.S. Open at Stanford University’s Cobb Track & Angell Field on Monday 31 May.
Greene, the 2000 Olympic 100m champion, equalled the fastest time in the world under any conditions to win the Home Depot Invitational with a wind-aided 9.86 seconds on 22 May. Greene, 30, has also run 10.02 and 10.04 for the top legal marks in 2004 after being slowed by knee tendonitis over the last two years.
Greene will face a formidable field in the men’s 100m with 2003 World 200m champion John Capel, 2003 World indoor 60m champion Justin Gatlin and J.J. Johnson, winner of the 200m in the Banamex Grand Prix on 22 May.
Morrison, the 2000 Olympic bronze medallist in the 100m Hurdles, was slowed over the last two seasons with a torn right hamstring in her trail leg suffered in 2001.
Morrison, 32, has proved her fitness in 2004, speeding to a wind-aided victory in 12.44 for the top time regardless of conditions in the Home Depot Invitational to defeat Gail Devers and 2003 World champion Perdita Felicien of Canada.
Morrison, who ran 12.63 in April for her fastest time since 2000, will meet 2001 World Champion Anjanette Kirkland, 2003 bronze medallist Miesha McKelvy in a 100m Hurdles field that also includes Joanna Hayes, the fourth-place finisher in the 2004 World indoor 60m Hurdles, and Jenny Adams.
U.S. Open Renamed in Honour of Payton
Olympic champion Stacy Dragila and Budapest World Indoor Championship finalist and medallists Torri Edwards, Allen Johnson and Christian Cantwell will also compete in the IAAF Grand Prix II meet.
The U.S. Open is the third stop on the five-event USA Track & Field Golden Spike Tour that leads up to the U.S. Olympic Trials in Sacramento on 9-18 July.
The meet, now in its fourth year, has been named in honour of Payton Jordan, 87,who coached at Stanford from 1957-79. Jordan coached seven Olympians, six World record holders and six national champions during his tenure.
Jordan helped bring the 1960 U.S. Olympic Trials to Stanford and was coach of the 1968 U.S. Olympic team.
Dragila and Stevenson Back in Familiar Territory
Dragila is well acquainted with the Pole Vault facility at Stanford, twice setting a World record in the same competition in 2002. Dragila, in her first full season training under coach Greg Hull in Phoenix, Ariz., scaled a world yearly leading 4.70m in El Paso, Texas on 1 May.
Dragila will head a field that includes four vaulters, who have jumped 4.57m or higher with Mary Sauer, Kellie Suttle and Jillian Schwartz.
In the men’s Pole Vault, Toby Stevenson returns to his home track at Stanford where he competed as a collegian with his trademark roller-blade helmet and won the 1998 NCAA title. Stevenson has the top two vaults in the world this season at 6.00m in the Modesto Relays on 8 May and 5.94m in April.
It will be Stevenson’s first competition at Stanford since last year when he finished fourth in the USATF national championships and missed a World Championships berth by one place.
Stevenson was victorious at the Home Depot meet but cleared only 5.60m hampered by strong winds. Stevenson will face American record holder Jeff Hartwig and compatriots Derek Miles, Tim Mack, Lawrence Johnson and 2001 World Champion Dmitri Markov of Australia.
Cantwell Heads Men’s Shot Put
It will be difficult for Cantwell to top his performance in the Home Depot Invitational where the 23-year-old had six throws over 21.45m, including a 2004 World leading 22.35m to move into 10th on the all-time performer list.
Cantwell, the 2004 World Indoor champion, will attempt to repeat his Home Depot victory over three-time World champion John Godina and 2000 Olympic silver medallist Adam Nelson.
Johnson Continues Momentum from Indoor Season
Johnson has translated his indoor success where he captured his third 60m Hurdles World title in March outdoors. Johnson, the 1996 Olympic gold medallist and four-time World champion, moved into No. 2 on the global yearly list with his 13.08 win in the Banamex Grand Prix.
Johnson will be challenged by 2000 Olympic silver medallist Terrence Trammell and Dominique Arnold, a 2000 Olympic Trials finalist and Penn State assistant coach.
Present and Future of U.S. Sprints in Women’s 200m
The women’s 200m will feature an intriguing mix with Edwards, Inger Miller and Allyson Felix.
Edwards, 27, was the only athlete, male or female, to win three medals in the 2003 World Championships in Paris. Miller, 32, is attempting to return the form of 1999 when she won the world 200m title after reoccurring hamstring injuries.
Felix, 18, has been called the future of U.S. women’s sprints after running 22.11 in the altitude of Mexico City last May and earning a berth on the U.S. team for the 2003 World Championships.
Kirby Lee for the IAAF
