Jeremy Wariner of the US takes the 400m Olympic gold (© Getty Images)
The European season debuts of Olympic 400m champion Jeremy Wariner and Jamaican Asafa Powell, a strong field in the men’s High Jump and intriguing distance battles are among the key attractions for Thursday’s Golden Spike IAAF Super Grand Prix in Ostrava, Czech Republic.
Wariner, who lost two early season races to training partner Darold Williamson, will make his first-ever European circuit start on Thursday and arrives in Ostrava as the World leader in his event after his 44.53 victory at the adidas Track Classic in Carson on May 22.
"I need to learn a lot," says Wariner
"Everything will be new for me," said Wariner, whose 44.00 performance in the Olympic final was the fastest in the world since World record holder Michael Johnson, who is Wariner's agent, last ran under 44 seconds in 2000.
"I need to go to European meetings and learn a lot of things." In Ostrava, Wariner has his sights set on the 44.70 meet record set by Alberto Juantorena in 1976, just before the Cuban captured the Olympic 400 and 800 metre titles.
Frenchman Leslie Djhone and Jamaican Davian Clarke will be looking to upstage the young American. 22-year-old Zimbabwean Talkmore Nyangani, who cracked 45 seconds this spring at altitude, will aim to make an impression in his first major international appearance.
Asafa Powell to confirm sprint leadership
Like Wariner, Powell too is the year’s fastest after a scorching 9.84 performance at the Jamaica International in Kinston in early May, the fastest short dash in the world since Tim Montgomery’s 9.78 World record in 2002.
Last year, Powell arrived in Athens' Olympic Stadium as a strong candidate for Olympic gold after a string of five consecutive wins, only to finish fifth in 9.94 in perhaps the finest-ever 100 metre race. In Kingston, the young Jamaican joined Donovan Bailey and Bruny Surin as the third-fastest sprinter ever, and said after his race that he was clearly in shape to challenge the World record.
Last Saturday, the 22-year-old Jamaican was out-leaned by Olympic champion Justin Gatlin at the Prefontaine Classic in Eugene, Oregon, where both were credited with wind-assisted 9.84 performances.
His most formidable opponent here will be American Bernard Williams, the Olympic silver medallist in the 200m, who will make his second outing of the year in the shorter dash. Three-quarters of the Nigerian 4x100m relay quartet that captured the bronze medal in Athens - Deji Aliu, Aaron Fasuba and Aaron Egbele - are also in the field, along with Jamaican Michael Frater.
Some minor aches will prevent Darren Campbell, a member of the British 4x100m relay Olympic gold medal winning squad, and the reigning World Championships bronze medallist in the event, from making the trip to Ostrava.
Exciting 5000m to highlight Ostrvaa long distance programme
Honouring Czech Olympic legend Emil Zatopek, the longest race on the Ostrava program is always among the meet's chief attractions. In the men's 5000m, not surprisingly, Kenyans figure prominently among them Abraham Chebii, the world's top 5000 runner in the first half of the 2003 season, who recently took runner-up honours to Kenenisa Bekele in the short course race at the IAAF World Cross Country Championships. Sammy Kipketer, the reigning Commonwealth champion is in the field as well along with Kenyan prodigy Moses Masai.
Masai, who celebrated his 19th birthday on 1 June, is the national junior record holder in the 10,000m (27:07.29). Bahraini Musir Salem Jawher, the former Kenyan Leonard Mucheru, who ran a personal best 13:00.40 at last year’s ISTAF Golden League meeting in Berlin.
The women's 5000m features the most compelling match-up on the women’s program, with Olympic silver medallist Isabella Ochichi of Kenya taking on Ethiopian Berhane Adere, the reigning World 10,000m champion.
Ochichi has had a strong post-Olympic campaign on the roads, on the track, and in mud. Third and fifth in the short and long course races respectively at the World Cross Country Championships, Ochichi set an African road record in the 10km in New Orleans, clocking 30:27 a week after her busy weekend in Saint-Galmier, and most recently, ran to a world-leading 14:50.96 win in Hengelo. In her lone outdoor appearance this season, Adere finished a close second in the 3000m in Doha, clocking 8:39.87.
Kenyan legend Tegla Loroupe, is in the field as well, and is always a threat. Pace makers have been assigned to assist with a world leading performance.
Olympic champions Kosgei and Kemboi to battle it out at 3000m Steeplechase
Another strong field has been assembled in the men's steeplechase, pitting the most recent Olympic champions: Sydney winner Reuben Kosgei and reigning champion Ezekiel Kemboi.
Kemboi won last weekend's Kenyan Armed Forces Championships in the event while Kosgei, signaling a comeback from an injury that sidelined him all last year, was the easy winner in the Milan Grand Prix II event on 1 June.
Another pair of Kenyans, meet record holder Wilson Boit Kipketer (8:06.14, 2002) and Richard Matelong (8:05.96) will toe the line as well, along with European co-record holder Boubdallah "Bob" Tahri of France.
Jamaican Maurice Wignall, fourth in Athens last summer leads the field in the sprint hurdles. Brazilian Mateus Inocencio, another Olympic finalist, should be in contention as well. In the women’s race, Brigitte Foster of Jamaica will face-off against U.S. indoor champion Danielle Carruthers.
Olympic bronze medallist Naman Keita of France heads a formidable field in the men’s full-lap hurdles. The South African duo of Llewellyn Herbert and Ockert Cilliers, Czech Jiøí Mužík, and Jamaican Kemel Thompson round out the field.
Sprinters chase 100m meet record
In the women's 100m, a pair of young sprint stars have their sights set on one of the oldest meet records, Jarmila Kratochvilova's 11.16 from 1982.
Ivet Lalova of Bulgaria and Jamaican Sherone Simpson, respectively fourth and sixth in last year's Olympic final, are the key entrants. Lalova opened her season with a wind-aided 11.04 win at last month’s European Clubs Cup Championships while Simpson clocked a near-personal best 11.03 to win the Jamaica International.
In the middle distance events, the men’s 800m features a pair of recent winners including Russian Dmitriy Bogdanov, the European indoor champion and Brazilian Fabiano Pecanha, the winner in Belem’s Grand Prix with a personal best 1:45.40. Kenyan unknown Gilbert Kipchoge, who will race for the first time outside of Kenya, recently notched a 1:45.9 victory at high altitude, and could be a threat as well.
The women’s 1000m should feature a tussle between Jamaican Michelle Ballentine, Cuban Zulia Calatayud, Elena Iagar of Romania, and Kenyan Caroline Chepkwony.
Zelezny, Sebrle and Baba home crowd favourites
Javelin legend Jan Zelezny, a three-time Olympic champion and World record holder, will certainly be the biggest crowd favourite of the evening. But the man to beat will be reigning World champion and Olympic bronze medallist Sergey Makarov. The Russian has already reached 86.43m this season with his victory in Dessau 12 days ago, the third-farthest throw in the world this season.
The highlight of the field events should be the men’s High Jump, which features the finest collection of talent assembled outdoors thus far this year. Olympic Bronze medallist Jaroslav Baba, who lives and trains in the eastern Czech city, will face Russian Yaroslav Rybakov and reigning World champion Jacques Freitag of South Africa.
Baba reached 2.37m (7-9 1/4) indoors this year, while Rybakov and Freitag have each topped 2.38m (7-9 3/4) in 2005, Rybakov indoors, and Freitag, currently the world leader, outdoors. US Olympic Trials champion Jamie Nieto, who finished fourth in Athens last summer and the winner last week in Milan, and Jamaican Germaine Mason, the World indoor bronze medallist last year, are in the line-up as well.
The men's Shot Put field includes Olympic gold and bronze medallists Yuriy Bilonog and Joachim Olsen, reigning US indoor champion Reese Hoffa, and 2003 World indoor champion Manuel Martinez.
Another crowd-pleaser will be the appearance by Olympic decathlon gold medallist Roman Sebrle. The winner at last month’s Gotzis 10-eventer, Sebrle will compete in a triathlon competition that will include the 110m Hurdles, Long Jump and Shot Put.
The women’s field program features a showcase of homegrown talent. Czech national record holder Pavla Hamackova (4.60 in 2004) and Canadian Dana Ellis Buller, who raised her own national record to 4.50m this season, top the field in the Pole Vault, while Triple Jump pioneer Sarka Kasparkova, the Czech record holder, tops her event.
Her 15.20m leap from 1997 still positions the 34-year-old as the sixth farthest jumper in history. Vera Pospisilova-Cechlova, fourth in last year’s Olympic Games, will have her hands full in the discus where she’ll face co-world leader Natalya Sadova of Russia (66.29 from Dessau) and Romanian Nicoleta Grasu, the winner last weekend in Torino.
Rain showers are in forecast for early in the day, with the skies clearing later for an unseasonably cool evening.
Bob Ramsak for the IAAF
