Veronica Campbell of Jamaica takes gold in the 200m (© Getty Images)
Turin is set to celebrate its annual IAAF Grand Prix meeting tomorrow - sixth Memorial Primo Nebiolo - with an array of young stars like Jamaican sprint queen Veronica Campbell in the 200 metres, twin sisters Susanna and Jenny Kallur in the 100 metres Hurdles, a very interesting 400 metres Hurdles battle between Ionela Tirlea and Sandra Glover and the much awaited debut of Italian triple jump star Magdelin Martinez who will face world season leader Trecia Smith of Jamaica and young Italian hope Simona La Mantia.
These are just some of the highlights of the Turin meeting which also features High Jump World champion Jacques Freitag.
Veronica Campbell, a former 100 and 200 metres World junior champion in Santiago de Chile 2000, dominated the 200 metres Olympic final in 22.05 becoming the first Jamaican female sprinter to win an Olympic individual title, a record which even eluded the legendary Merlene Ottey.
Campbell also won the 100 metres Olympic bronze medal in Athens and scored a sensational 100-200 metres double in the World Athletics Final in Monaco capped by a personal best of 10.91 over the shorter distance.
This year Campbell (first in the 200 metres IAAF World Rankings) ran 10.96 in Carson, a World season best in the 100 metres, and 22.53 in Kingston.
Also in the line-up are the Olympic 400 metres Hurdles silver medallist Ionela Tirlea, who also competes in her favourite discipline in the same evening, and an other Jamaican Peta Gaye Dowdie (PB 22.51).
Great line-ups in women’s hurdles races
The hurdles races promise a fantastic night of entertainment in the Nebiolo Day in the Stadium named after the late IAAF President. The European Indoor Championships in Madrid 2005 revealed the two young sisters Susanna and Jenny Kallur who won respectively gold and silver. Susanna, a former World junior champion in Santiago de Chile 2000, clocked a lifetime best of 7.80 in Madrid beating Jenny who also lowered her PB to 7.92 in the heats before clinching the silver medal with 7.99.
The daughters of the former ice hockey star Anders Kallur are set to continue their season on a high note in Turin. Susanna won the Hengelo Grand Prix in her first competition of the year with 12.65 beating Jenny, third with 12.99.
Ionela Tirlea and Sandra Glover, two of the five best athletes in the IAAF World Rankings in the women 400 metres Hurdles, will provide a high-profile duel in Turin. Ionela Tirlea, Olympic silver medallist with 53.38 and third in the IAAF Rankings returns to the Turin track where she won in 2003 and 2004. Sandra Glover, silver medallist at the World Championships in Paris behind Jana Pittman and currently second in the IAAF Rankings, will try to improve her season best of 54.01 set in Atlanta in May, which is also the second fastest time of the year in the world.
South Africa's Surita Febbraio is also in good form after running 54.60 this year during the domestic season and will compete in Turin. In such high quality race Italians Benedetta Ceccarelli (PB 55.14 set in the 2004 Golden League meeting in Rome) and Monika Niederstätter (national record holder with 55.10 at the World Championships in Seville 1999) will battle for a berth in the Italian team for the European Cup in Florence.
Martinez opens season
Magdelin Martinez, World bronze medallist in Paris 2003, has always been inspired by the fast Turin runway and will kick off her season in the Memorial Primo Nebiolo after clinching the European indoor silver medal in Madrid with 14.54. The Cuban-born athlete will face World season leader Trecia Smith (14.91 in Fortaleza, Brazil), who also won two IAAF Grand Prix meetings in Rio de Janeiro (14.62) and Belem (14.81).
Smith, fourth last year at the Olympic Games with 15.02, leapt to a lifetime best of 15.16 in the IAAF Grand Prix meeting in Linz (Austria) in 2004. Martinez, winner in Turin in 2003 and 2004, will try to approach the 15 metres barrier which she broke last year for the first time in her career with 15.03.
The women's Triple Jump is one of the most prolific disciplines of Italian athletics and the Turin fans will have plenty to cheer about on Friday night after the recent progress of the young hope Simona La Mantia who has recently climbed to second in the Italian all-time lists behind Martinez with 14.69, a new under-23 national record. She also took the first Grand Prix win in her career in Hengelo on Sunday with 14.31. Another tough contender is Baya Rahouli from Algeria, Olympic sixth placer in Athens with 14.89 (a national record).
The men's Triple Jump will be an exciting re-match between two Athens Olympic medallists Marian Oprea of Romania, silver with 17.55 and Danila Burkenya, bronze in the Greek capital with 17.48. Italian hopes are carried by the 2001 World Indoor champion Paolo Camossi, who has recently leapt to 16.63 after two difficult seasons plagued by injuries.
Freitag and Mori back from injuries
South Africa’s Jacques Freitag, World champion in Paris, has recently returned from his recurrent injury problems clearing a new African High Jump record of 2.38 during the domestic season. Andrey Sokolowski of the Ukraine, fifth in the Athens Olympic Games, and the 2003 European under-23 champion Walerianczyk (PB 2.36) will pose a serious challenge for the Italian high jumpers Alessandro Talotti and Nicola Ciotti who are grabbing the headlines thanks to their excellent results over 2.30 in the recent years.
Talotti, an Olympic finalist in Athens, set the Italian indoor record this winter with 2.32 during the indoor five nation match in Glasgow in January.
The Italian fans will pay a special tribute for the 400 Hurdles Italian hero Fabrizio Mori, World champion in Seville 1999, who will compete for the second time after two years out of contention because of serious injury problems.
For the athlete from Livorno the Turin race will be a very tough test against the French sensation Naman Keita (third in the IAAF Ranking in his event), who won an amazing Olympic bronze medal in Athens. 2000 World junior champion Louis Van Zyl from South Africa, who is currently third in the world season list, Llewellyn Herbert, also from South Africa, and Jamaicans Jan Weakley (seasonal best 48.58) and Dean Griffiths (PB 48.91) complete the line-up.
Two Olympic finalists will highlight the men's 110m Hurdles: Jamaica's Maurice Wignall, World indoor bronze medallist in Budapest and fourth at the Athens Olympic Games and Brazil's Matheus Inocencio (PB 13.33), seventh in Athens.
The 2001 World bronze medallist Dudley Dorival of Haiti, Robbie Hughes of the USA and Italian record holder Andrea Giaconi, who won last week's European Club Championships in Lagos with a wind-assisted 13.48, will also provide a good race.
Mulaudzi Vs Mutua in men's 800m
The 800m may feature a possible attack to the World season best currently held by Mbulaeni Mulaudzi of South Africa with 1:44.65. Mulaudzi, Olympic silver medallist in Athens and World indoor champion in Budapest and Joseph Mutua, fourth in the 2004 world list, will pursue a fast time in Turin against Majed Saeed Sultan (World junior champion in Grosseto 2004) and Daham Basher (1500m 3:31.04PB), both from Qatar.
Europe will be represented by France’s Florent Lacasse (personal best 1:44.48 set in Rome 2004 and seasonal best of 1:46.21 set in Doha), who won in Turin in 2003 and 2004.
Tariku Bekele, younger brother of the illustrious Ethiopian legend Kenenisa, will attack his 3000 metres PB of 7:45.23, which he set in Turin last year, in a battle against the five-time European cross country champion Sergyi Lebid (UKR) and Nicholas Kemboi, a former Kenyan and now citizen of Qatar, who recorded a sensational 26:30.03 in the 10,000 metres in the 2003 Brussels Godden League meeting where he finished runner-up behind the "Emperor" Haile Gebrselassie.
Bekele comes to Turin after his good second place in the 5000 metres in Hengelo where he ran in 13:14.15.
World Youth champion takes on older competitors
Turin has always had a special reputation in revealing new athletes. This year it is no exception. Many young athletes who won World junior and youth medals in the last two years will garner experience in the Turin Grand Prix. Ali Nagmeldin Abubakr of Sudan, World youth champion in Sherbrooke 2003 and World junior silver in Grosseto 2004 behind the US sensation LaShawn Merritt, revealed his potential running the one-lap event in 44.93 at La Mecca during the Islamic Solidarity Games and will take on Talkmore Nyongani of Zimbabwe, who ran in 44.98 this year.
Abubakr and Nyongani, who come from the IAAF High Performance training Centre in Dakar, will be challenged by the 2004 Olympic finalist and World indoor silver medallist Davian Clarke of Jamaica and the 2005 European indoor champion David Gillick from Ireland.
200 metres Olympic finalist Stephan Buckland of Mauritius starts as the favourite in the 200 metres against the 2003 World Championships finalist Joshua Johnson, and the 2005 European indoor silver medallist Chris Lambert of Great Britain.
A good women’s Discus Throw is also in the Turin timetable with Olena Antonova of Bulgaria (seasonal best 64.50) and Nicoleta Grasu of Romania (PB 68.80).
The women's Javelin Throw will assemble Germany’s Christina Obergföll, who has recently produced a lifetime best of 64.59, Olympic finalist Tetyana Lyakhovich from the Ukraine (PB 63.07), Finland’s Taina Kolkkala (PB 64.06) and Italian record holder Claudia Coslovich (PB 65.30 set in 2000).
Diego Sampaolo for the IAAF
