31.07.2009

Hooker, McLellan headline Aussie action in Stockholm

Twelve Australians will tonight line up in the last Super Grand Prix of the season and the final stop ahead of the 12th IAAF world championships in Berlin next month.

In action at Stockholm Olympic Stadium will be John Steffensen (400m), Sean Wroe (400m), Joel Milburn (400m), Jeff Riseley (1000m), Youcef Abdi (3000m steeplechase), Paul Burgess (pole vault), Steve Hooker (pole vault), Tamsyn Lewis (400m), Kaila McKnight (1500m) and Sally McLellan (100m hurdles).

In the already-completed men’s shot put Scott Martin and Justin Anlezark placed ninth and tenth respectively, Martin with a best effort of 19.32m and Anlezark with 18.86m, the event taken out by reigning Olympic champion Tomasz Majewski (POL) with a best mark of 21.95m.

Headlining the Aussie action in the field tonight will be Steve Hooker and Paul Burgess in the men’s pole vault, Hooker out to even the score with Sweden’s Alhaji Jeng, who won the event on a count-back at this meet four years ago, the last time the event was contested at DN Galan.

On the track John Steffensen, Sean Wroe and Joel Milburn will contest the 400m, the Aussie trio set to take on US guns Kerron Clement, Bershawn Jackson and Jeremy Wariner ahead of their entries in the 400m and 4x400m relay in Berlin next month. 

Also stepping out on the track will be Jeff Riseley (1000m) and Youcef Abdi (3000m steeplechase), Riseley entering the event on the back of a huge few weeks that have seen the Victorian young gun clock new personal best times over 800m (1:45.48), the mile (3:51.25) and 1500m (3:32.93).

He will be joined in the event by reigning world champion Bernard Lagat (USA), who lines up for his final pre-Berlin test and one that will likely decide if he defends both his 1500m and 5000m titles in 2009. The field also includes Berlin-bound Canadian Nate Brannen.

Flying the flag for Australia in the women’s draw will be Tamsyn Lewis in the 400m, the reigning national champion to meet Beijing Olympic finalists Shericka Williams (JAM), Yulia Gushchina (RUS) and Rosemarie Whyte (JAM) in the one-lap event.

Following her silver medal in the 1500m at the World University Games in Belgrade, Serbia, earlier this month, Kaila McKnight will line up in Stockholm alongside a field that includes new sub-four minute runner Christin Wurth-Thomas (USA), US champion Shannon Rowbury and Olympic silver medallist Iryna Lishchynska (UKR).

But the headline event of the night is set to be the women’s 100m hurdles, with seven of the world’s top 10 athletes set to compete.

Fresh from setting a new national record (12.50) in Monaco this week, McLellan arrives in the Swedish capital in blistering form.

She will be joined in the start blocks by fellow Olympic medallist Priscilla Lopes-Schliep (CAN), who placed second to McLellan in Monaco and will no doubt be looking for a confidence-boosting win in Stockholm ahead of next month’s world championships.

Also in the field are Perdita Felicien (CAN), Lolo Jones (USA) and Brigitte Foster-Hylton (JAM), setting up one of the best quality fields assembled at the Stockholm meet.

In other highlights:

Gay vs Powell in sizzling 100m
Asafa Powell really enjoys competition in Stockholm, and he’ll be looking for his fourth consecutive victory. Usain Bolt’s only ever defeat in the 100m was afflicted by Powell in Stockholm one year ago when he dipped to beat his compatriot by a more 0.01 seconds. This time double world champion Tyson Gay is the man to beat. The world leader hasn’t lost a 100m or 200m since the Olympics last year and impressed deeply with his 9.75w in Eugene and 9.77 in Rome in spite of nagging groin pains. Eleven sprinters who have run below 10 seconds are included on the start lists, including Berlin-bound Churandy Martina of the Dutch Antilles and American Darvis Patton, who were the two fastest in Tuesday’s Herculis Super Grand Prix in Monaco.

Felix, Ferguson and Stewart in the 200m
Reigning world champion Allyson Felix faces world leader Debbie Ferguson and the Golden League jackpot contender Kerron Stewart in the 200m. The latter, the Olympic bronze medallist over the half lap, has successfully concentrated on the 100m this year and didn’t take part in the Jamaican trials in the 200m, tonight the only opportunity to see her clash with two of the brightest medal hopes for Berlin.

Borzakovskiy-Kaki rematch in the 800m
Yuriy Borzakovskiy will have a quick occasion to avenge Tuesday’s loss to world leader Abubaker Kaki in the 800m. Monaco’s Stade Louis II was actually the first stadium to witness a duel over two laps between the two prominent 800m runners. The first battle was going to be at the Bislett Games, but at that time the world junior record holder fell to the ground with a major hamstring cramp. Last year in Stockholm Kaki had the better of ‘Borza’ setting a new stadium record in the 1000m, giving the young Sudanese his first diamond.

Crème de la crème in the men’s high jump and women’s long jump
The bonus of a one-carat diamond for whoever breaks a stadium record at the 1912 Olympic Arena is a tradition that predates next year’s Diamond League. It will however be a tough task for the high jumpers, even though that competition offers the six best contenders of this year. There are still many in the audience who cherish the warm memory of Patrik Sjöberg’s 2.42 world record jump from 22 years ago. There are nevertheless several jumpers who will have a crack at the season’s world best of 2.35m. Ivan Ukhov and Yaroslav Rybakov cleared precisely that height at last week’s Russian Championships, and American Andra Manson did it back in April. They are opposed by Jesse Williams who has jumped at the least 2.30m nine times this year. All nine competitors have season’s bests of no less than 2.31m.

The women’s long jump is also of an extremely high level with five of 2009’s six best in place in Stockholm. World leader Brittney Reese of the USA, still the only one to have managed seven metres this season, is challenged by reigning world champion Tatyana Lebedeva and her compatriots Yelena Sokolova (who won the Russian national title) and Olga Kucherenko, who has jumped 6.80m or better in eight competitions this year. They’ll be tangling with American Funmi Jimoh, who has improved to 6.96m, the European Indoor Champion Ksenija Balta and newly crowned European Junior Champion Darya Klishina.

Women’s 5000m
The women's 5000m will be led by Ethiopian Sentayehu Ejigu, who will contest the event at the world championships while Americans will be keenly eying national steeplechase record holder Jenny Barringer, who earlier this season also joined the sub-four club after her 3:59.90 run at the Prefontaine Classic in Eugene.

Dayron Robles on the up
Improved form is an understatement for Dayron Robles’ hurdling in Monaco. He battled the only considerable headwind of the tepid Monegasque summer evening, winning in 13.06. DN Galan may be the sight of this year’s first sub-13-second race after the Cuban last year grabbed a diamond clocking 12.91.

With the IAAF