Brown and Burns centre of the picture, moments after their sub-10 race (© Dexter Philip - Trinidad Express)
Thessaloniki, GreeceThe cream of the sprinting talent which was on show at last weekend’s CAC Championships in the Bahamas will take part in the ‘Thessaloniki 2005’ – IAAF Grand Prix II – meeting this Sunday 17 July.
Central Americans at the dash
Many of the headline sprinters from the recent Central American Championships (CAC) in the Bahamas are scheduled to race.
Trinidad’s Darrel Brown and Marc Burns, who both ran in the 4x100m final of the last summer’s Olympics with the national relay team (7th), and who went 'one – two' in the Bahamas, have entered in the men’s 100m. They will face Jamaica’s Pat Jarrett, who has a personal best of 10.15 this year.
The 200m race features Christopher Williams, fourth in Athens with the 4x100 Jamaican team, but also the bronze medallist with 4x400 team in Sydney’s Olympics and Edmonton’s World Championships. Brazil’s Sanderlei Parrela and a second Jamaican, Omar Brown are also included in 200m, while both South African participants from 'Vardinoyiannia 2005', Morne Nagel and Julius Leigh, move from Rethymno to Thessaloniki to compete as well.
Cayman Island’s Cydonie Mothersill, who won the CAC women’s 200m in brilliant style and is the 7th faster 200m runner this year, is the most prominent entry in the women’s sprints. Nigerians Mercy Nku and Endurance Oyokolo join her in the 100m, Jamaica’s Peta-Gaye Dowdie in both races, and American LaShauntea Moore in just the 200m.
Greece’s Maria Karastamati, after making the World Championships standard for 100m in the national champs held in June, plans to test her own form in the 200m, targeting a possible double participation in Helsinki.
Ionela Tirlea-Manolache in the 400m Hurdles
Americans provide the top entrants for the men’s 110m Hurdles. Joel Brown, who set a personal best in Cuxhaven with 13.27 and Aries Merritt have the best season’s performances among all entrants, although Brazilian Marcio Simio de Souza is expected to be a strong rival for them.
Ionela Tirlea-Manolache, the silver medallist in Athens Olympics, but also with a brilliant catalogue of achievements at the World and European Championships is among the big stars of the meeting.
Although without many races this season, Tirlea, who is currently the IAAF World Ranked fourth best 400m hurdler, has the chance for a good test-out before Helsinki, competing with the African 2004 champion, Surita Febbraio, but also Germany’s Anja Neupert and Spain’s Cora Olivero.
Freitag vs Topic again
The winner of this year’s Rethymno meeting in the men’s High Jump, Serbia and Montenegro’s Dragutin Topic, again meets with World champion Jacques Freitag of South Africa, who holds the best mark in the world for this outdoor season. Russia’s Vyacheslav Voronin, who dominated the event in the Lausanne Super Grand Prix last week beating Olympic champion Stefan Holm, is also in the field, while the winner of the Mediterranean Games, Cypriot Ioannis Konstantinou and Italy’s Andrea Bettinelli are also noteworthy participants.
Johnson leaps into favourite spot again
An American star, Brian Johnson, dominated the Long Jump with 8.32m in Rethymno and goes to Thessaloniki, where an exciting competition is also xpected. Volodymir Zushkov will also be there, while the entry list this time includes one more athlete who has jumped over 8 metres this year, Russia’s Vladimir Malyavin. Ukraine’s Roman Shchurenko and Russia’s Yevgeniy Tretyak and the Greeks Dimitrios Filindras and Konstantinos Vassiliadis will attempt to improve their season’s performances.
Greece’s Styliani Pilatou, second in the European Indoor Championships this year, is the best entrant in the women’s Long Jump. She has a 6.72m this season and is looking to improve prior to the World Championships next month.
Russia’s Tatyana Polnova, the IAAF World Ranked fifth best women’s pole vaulter, has the best season’s mark of the line-up, but has to contend with America’s Kelli Suttle, silver medallist from the 2001 World Indoor Championships. Hungary’s Krisztina Molnar and Fanni Juhasz, as well as Mary Sauer and Lindsay Taylor, also from USA, set up an interesting entry list.
Yelena Oleynikova, bronze medallist in the indoor and outdoor European Championships in 2002, is going to experience a hard competition in the Triple Jump, mainly from Uzbekistan’s Anastasiya Juravleva, who has jumped 14.55 this season. The 24-year-old Greek entrant, Irene Dimitraki, has shown a considerable stability in jumps over 14 metres this year but is slightly off the World Championships ‘A’ standard (14.30m), which is her main objective for this year. Two more Russia’s girls, Yelena Ivanova and Nadezhda Bazhenova, have the potential for a competition well above 14 metres.
Yatchenko in the Discus Throw
The reigning World champion of the women’s Discus Throw, Irina Yatchenko of the Belarus, meets with Romania’s Nikoleta Grasu, currently in fourth position in the IAAF World Ranking, who has thrown 64.89m this year. New Zealand’s Beatrice Faumuina, the 1997 World Champion, whose 65.09m throw in February is the best season’s performance among the entrants, is also present in Thessaloniki meeting. The additional participation of two Polish throwers, Marzena Wysocka and Joanna Wisniewska make the result of this event very open.
The men’s Javelin Throw is the other throwing event of the meeting, and is marked by the participation of three Germans Christian Nicolay, Stefan Wenk, with a season’s best over 83m, and Manuel Nau. Latvia’s Ainars Kovals and Vadims Vasilevskis, the Olympic bronze medallist, are the main rivals for Germany’s trio, while both Greek participants Eleftherios Karasmanakis and Georgios Iltsios have approached the 80m line this year and have an opportunity to reach the World Championships qualification standard.
Middle distances and steeplechase
Kenya’s Michael Too has a season’s mark of 3:36.97, the best among the participants of the 1500m. Robert Rono with 3:38.02 and two more Kenyans, Enoch Koech and Benson Esho, both with 3:40.11, seem to guarantee Kenyan dominance in this event. The 20-year-old Tanzanian, Samuel Mwera, holder of the 800m national record, is one more entrant.
The women’s 1500m bronze medallist from the 2001 World Championships, Russia’s Natalya Gorelova enters in the 800m, along with her compatriot Anastasiya Fesenko, while Jamaica’s Aneita Denton (2:01.66) has the best personal mark in this season among all participants.
In the women’s 3000m Steeplechase, American’s Lisa Galaviz, Ann Gaffigan and Carrie Messner, finalists of the US championships, are facing with Russia’s Yelena Sidorchenkova and Lyubov Ivanova.
Michalis Nikitaridis for the IAAF
