Super Grand Prix - 2006 World Athletics Tour REVIEW

The most significant moments from this year’s IAAF Super Grand Prix meetings, which were staged as part of the 2006 IAAF World Athletics Tour, including a World 110m Hurdles record are recalled by Mel Watman of “Athletics International”.

12 May
Doha, Qatar

It may all prove to be academic **SEE NOTE but the first Super Grand Prix of the season delivered a sensational 100m performance by Olympic and World champion Justin Gatlin. Racing in perfect conditions, with an aiding wind of 1.7m/sec and a temperature of 28ºC, the American was at first credited with a World record breaking 9.76. However, officials misinterpreted the actual time (to a thousandth) of 9.766 and it took five days for the mark to be corrected to 9.77, matching Asafa Powell’s global standard. Just over an hour earlier Gatlin had run the quickest ever heat time of 9.86, easing up. Equally remarkable were the times of Olusofi Fasuba, whose previous non-altitude best was 10.11. The Nigerian, runner-up to Powell in the Commonwealth Games, was timed at 9.93 behind Gatlin in his heat while in the final he clipped 1/100th from Frank Frederick’s African record with 9.85. Fasuba would have many more races on the circuit but subsequently could run no faster than 10.09.

Best of the other events was the javelin where, in his first contest of the year, Andreas Thorkildsen exceeded 90m for the first time with a Norwegian record of 90.13m. A month short of his 40th birthday and entering his final season, Jan Zelezny threw 86.07m, his best for nearly two years.

**NOTE. Justin Gatlin (USA): on-going legal process regarding possible sanction for anti-doping violation.

3 July
Athens, Greece

Despite blustery conditions and a lack of atmosphere in the sparsely populated Olympic Stadium there was no shortage of sparkling performances, not least by three athletes who returned triumphantly to the scene of their Olympic gold medals in 2004. The enigmatic Yuriy Borzakovskiy, who achieved little else of note in 2006, hit top form in this 800m race – moving from ninth to first along the finishing straight and ending up in the fourth lane to snatch victory over a startled Wilfred Bungei in 1:43.42. Such was the standard that Russian compatriot Dmitriy Bogdanov could only finish eighth despite shattering his personal best with 1:44.33.

Super-consistent Virgilijus Alekna was another successful Olympic laureate with a discus throw of 69.36m, while Long Jump champion Tatyana Lebedeva produced the longest mark of the year (15.23m) in a marvellous Triple Jump contest. Some other Olympic winners fell short. Dwight Phillips had no answer to Irving Saladino’s wind-assisted first round Long Jump of 8.65m, local heroine Faní Halkiá – who missed the 2005 season through injury – had to settle for second place in the 400m Hurdles won by Lashinda Demus in the year’s fastest and personal best time of 53.02, and Osleidys Menéndez wound up third in the javelin, won by Christina Obergföll with the year’s longest distance of 66.91m.

Two other events yielded times which would survive as the world’s fastest in 2006. Saïf Saaeed Shaheen beat former Olympic and World champion Reuben Kosgei by nearly 80 metres in the steeplechase but was visibly disappointed by his time of 7:56.32 (he had hoped to break his World record of 7:53.63), whereas Wioletta Janowska, in only her second season as a specialist steeplechaser, was absolutely delighted with her Polish record of 9:17.15, making her the fourth fastest in the event’s short history.

11 July
Lausanne, Switzerland

After setting World age bests at 16 (13.94), 17 (13.32) and 18 (13.12), and equalling Colin Jackson’s World record of 12.91 when winning the Athens Olympic 110m Hurdles title aged 21, there was a certain inevitability that the golden boy of Chinese athletics, Liu Xiang, would become the first to break through the 12.90 barrier. That he did just three days after finishing only fourth in 13.19 at the Paris St-Denis Golden League meeting. In Lausanne he ran a flawless race and the photo-cell time displayed at the finish showed 12.90. That was exciting enough, but shortly afterwards the official photo-finish time was released as 12.88, the wind reading being a legal 1.1m/sec and the World record had been broken by the biggest margin since Renaldo Nehemiah’s 7/100ths leap to 12.93 back in 1981. Liu became the first Chinese man to become sole owner of a World record since Zhu Jianhua high jumped 2.37m, 2.38m and 2.39m in 1983/1984.

This was some race as the place times were unprecedented also. Dominique Arnold (32), with a previous best of 13.01, clocked 12.90 to break Roger Kingdom’s 1989 American (and former World) record and the next four athletes produced the quickest ever times for those positions: Terrence Trammell tied his personal best of 13.02, Dayron Robles lowered his own World age-19 best of 13.11 to 13.04, World junior champion Aries Merritt improved from 13.21 to 13.12 and Stanislav Olijar wound up sixth in 13.19. Jackson congratulated his successor, describing Liu’s time as “phenomenal”. He added: “It is one of those times that is out there now with the likes of Michael Johnson’s record [19.32 200m] and I don’t think you’ll see an improvement on Liu Xiang’s record for a hell of a long time.” Liu himself begs to differ. “I can run faster,” he insisted.

Speaking of Johnson’s 19.32, which had stood unapproached since the 1996 Olympics, there is now a chance that a new generation of sprinters can place it under serious threat. The Lausanne 200m made history in that for the first time four men ran inside 20 sec with the “X-Man”, Xavier Carter (20), whose previous best was 20.02, the winner out in lane eight in 19.63 – the second fastest ever mark. Tyson Gay (23), who led until the closing stages, improved from 19.93 to 19.70 (and would later reduce that to 19.68), Usain Bolt (19) just missed Don Quarrie’s altitude-aided 1971 Jamaican (and former World) record of 19.86 with 19.88 and Wallace Spearmon – destined to run 19.65 before the season was over – was fourth in 19.90.

This outstanding Athletissima meeting also threw up such delights as world-leading marks by Janeth Jepkosgei with a Kenyan 800m record of 1:56.66, Michelle Perry with 12.43 for 100m Hurdles and Yelena Isinbayeva with a vault of 4.90m before unsuccessfully attempting a World record 5.02m. Assuming his stated date of birth of 23.9.1989 is accurate, Ethiopia’s Abreham Feleke set an astonishing World youth record and age-16 3000m best of 7:32.37 behind Edwin Soi (7:31.84).

25 July
Stockholm, Sweden

They say diamonds are a girl’s best friend and three of the world’s foremost female athletes received one-carat sparklers worth around $10,000 apiece for setting stadium records at the 40th anniversary of the renowned DN Galan. Sherone Simpson matched her own 2006 World best of 22.00 in the 200m, Meseret Defar produced an Ethiopian 3000m record of 8:24.66, the world’s fastest for four years, and Kajsa Bergqvist high jumped 2.02m prior to thrilling her fans by attempting the World record height of 2.10m and going close on her final try.

However, the men proved even more costly for the meeting’s sponsors as Asafa Powell (9.86 100m), Jeremy Wariner (44.02 400m), Paul Kipsiele Koech (8:00.29 steeplechase) and Andreas Thorkildsen (89.78m javelin) all surpassed previous best performances in this venerable stadium. Runner-up in the javelin, Jan Zelezny (who turned 40 a month earlier) threw 85.08m for a World masters record. Kenenisa Bekele’s debut as a 1500m runner proved controversial. He won in 3:33.08 but risked disqualification when he appeared to prevent Adil Kaouch overtaking him in the closing stages by veering out into lane four. There was a surprise in the women’s Pole Vault when the seemingly invincible Yelena Isinbayeva was beaten on countback by Monika Pyrek at 4.62m as both failed 4.72m, while Christian Olsson picked up the first and only defeat of his comeback season when his 17.24m sufficed only for third in the Triple Jump behind Jadel Gregório (17.39m) and Walter Davis (17.32m).

28 July
London, United Kingdom

Asafa Powell returned to Britain following his startling 9.77 100m in Gateshead and maintained his sequence of fast times with 9.91 into an 0.6m/sec wind at Crystal Palace. The capacity crowd of 17,500 witnessed several other brilliant examples of sprinting. Michael Johnson’s UK all-comers 200m record of 19.85 fell to Tyson Gay (19.84) with Xavier Carter also inside 20 sec (19.98) and his 400m figures of 43.98 just barely survived when Jeremy Wariner eased up a little too much for a 43.99 clocking. On the women’s side Sherone Simpson – the world’s fastest at 100m this year with 10.82 – finished half a metre clear of Marion Jones in 11.00 against a 1.2m/sec wind and Sanya Richards took the 400m in 49.05, a world-leading time which bettered an all-comers record (49.33 by Tatána Kocembová) which had stood since 1983, two years before Richards was born.

Bernard Lagat mustered a 51.9 last lap in the 5000m to outkick Kenenisa Bekele in 12:59.22, while there was a personal best also in the women’s 3000m where Tirunesh Dibaba ran 8:29.55 with a 59.1 last lap. Swedes were responsible for much notable action in the jumps department. Stefan Holm high jumped 2.34m for what was at the time the best outdoor mark of the season, Christian Olsson triple jumped 17.42m and Kajsa Bergqvist again had the bar set at a World record 2.10m after clearing an outdoor World leading 2.05m. That broke the UK all-comers record of 2.03m which was first established, when it was a World record, in 1983 by Ulrike Meyfarth and Tamara Bykova. Another abortive World record attempt occurred in the women’s Pole Vault as Yelena Isinbayeva tried 5.02m after matching her year’s best of 4.91m.

20 August
Monaco

High point, literally, of the Herculis 2006 meeting, which made a welcome return to the circuit this year, came in the women’s Pole Vault. Monika Pyrek, the world’s number two after Yelena Isinbayeva, enjoyed first time clearances up to and including 4.61m and looked all set for victory over Fabiana Murer, who had equalled her South American record of 4.56m at the second attempt and then made 4.61m at the third. But, whereas the next bar setting of 4.66m proved too much for the Pole, the Brazilian revelation succeeded at her first attempt, her twelfth jump of the competition. She then went on to make three unsuccessful bids at 4.70m.

The men’s High Jump was notable too as Andrey Silnov, an unexpected winner of the European title, added another centimetre to his best with a World leading 2.37m clearance; that too came on his twelfth jump.

Track action included what had promised to be a super-fast 1500m. The 800m mark was reached in 1:49.63 and at 1200m in 2:48.31 the leader was Nicholas Kemboi, who had set a World youth best of 3:33.72 in Zürich two days earlier. African champion Alex Kipchirchir held a 20 metre lead at the bell and a sub-3:30 mark looked possible but his advantage was cut appreciably in the closing stages and he had to settle for a time of 3:32.08. Upset of the track events came in the women’s 400m Hurdles. Lashinda Demus, undefeated this year and World leader with 53.02, was heading for another win in fast time when she stuttered before the final barrier and finished third in a race won by Tiffany Ross-Williams in a career best of 53.79.

Mel Watman for the IAAF