04.09.2009

Aussie five to feature in Brussels

Sean Wroe and 1500m men Collis Birmingham, Nick Bromley, Mitchell Kealey and Ryan Gregson will fly the flag for Australia in tonight’s ultimate round of the Golden League series in Brussels, Belgium, where $1m will be up for grabs.

Wroe, who placed 13th in the 400m in Berlin and teamed up with Ben Offereins, John Steffensen and Tristan Thomas to clinch bronze in the 4x400m relay, will face a hot field in Brussels, where six of the eight world championships finalists will take to the start line.

In the mix is Berlin silver medallist Jeremy Wariner (USA), who arrives in the Belgian capital intent on victory.

Wariner, the 2004 Olympic champion and two-time world title-holder (2005, 2007), said he was out to break mentor Michael Johnson’s 1998 Koning Boudewijn Stadium record of 44.06 when the action gets under way.

"I would like to break the stadium record," Wariner said this week.

This year the US star resumed training under Clyde Hart, the man who coached Johnson throughout his phenomenal career.

"Last year I tried another coach," said Wariner, winner of the event in Brussels in 2006 in 44.29 and 2008 in 44.44.

"It was a mistake. I'm glad I can work under Clyde again."

In Berlin last month Wariner clocked a season’s best 44.60 to take home the silver medal but will need to lower that mark again if he's to break Johnson's hold on the stadium record.

Rounding out tonight's eight-man field are world championships bronze medallist Renny Quow (TRI) and fellow finalists Chris Brown (BAH), David Gillick (IRL), Michael Bingham (GBR) and Leslie Djhone (FRA), plus Gary Kikaya (COD).

Another record under threat at the meet is in the rarely contested men’s 4x1500m relay, where four of Kenya’s top middle distance athletes will hit the track with just one goal in mind: to smash the world mark.

The oldest athletics record in the book was set on August 17, 1977 in Cologne (GER), where a West German team led by Thomas Wessinghage ran home in 14:38.80.

Thirty-two years later the Kenyans are delegating the very best of their runners to the event in an attempt to create history at Koning Boudewijn Stadium.

The Australian quartet set to take on the event features Collis Birmingham, Nick Bromely, Ryan Gregson and Mitchell Kealey, who arrive in Brussels following hit-outs at Zagreb and Gateshead earlier this week.

After a huge world championships campaign that saw him place 16th over 5000m and withdraw from the 10,000m with just five laps remaining, Birmingham placed fifth over 1500m in Zagreb on Monday night, stopping the clock at 3:39.10. Bromley crossed the line in 3:42.69 to place 12th.

At the British Grand Prix in Gateshead on the same night, Kealey finished eighth over the distance in 3:43.14, one place ahead of world championships representative Gregson in 3:43.31.

Joining Kenya and the Aussies on the start line will be teams from the United States, Great Britain, Ireland, Algeria, Belgium and Spain.

On what is set to be a huge night at the Brussels track three athletes remain in the race for a share of $1m, the winning contenders to be decided at tonight's meet.

In line for a share of the prize purse are 5000m runner Kenenisa Bekele (ETH), one-lapper Sanya Richards (USA) and pole vault star Yelena Isinbayeva (RUS).

With wins across all five rounds of the Golden League series – in Berlin, Oslo, Rome, Paris and Zurich – already on the board, the trio need only to win their respective events at the final meet of the season tonight to share in the cash jackpot.

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