15.05.2009

Lapierre leads weekend action

Athletics action continues to heat up this weekend as the countdown to the European summer season steps up a gear.

Australia will be well represented in meets across the country and around the world as athletes fine-tune their preparations for the world championships in August and look ahead to a huge few months on the athletics calendar.

Berlin-bound long jump star Fabrice Lapierre will tomorrow line up in his pet event at the Ponce Grand Prix in Puerto Rico, kicking off a big weekend of track and field activity.

Lapierre, who last year contested his first Olympic Games and in March took out the national title with a last-ditch leap of 8.29m, is on track for his debut world championships appearance and will no doubt be keen to make an early impact on the international scene in the lead-up to August.

Having opted out of the world championships, distance stalwart Lee Troop takes his 2009 campaign to Manchester, England, this weekend to join thousands of hopefuls in the Great Manchester Run.

Troop, who withdrew his nomination for selection to the world championships to focus on marathon events in Chicago and/or London later this year, heads to Manchester from his new training base in Boulder, Colorado, where he is working under the guidance of new coach Stephen Jones.

Also at the event will be Jamaican sensation Usain Bolt, who headlines a 150m road sprint in the northern English city.

Stateside, the college circuit continues to unfold with a number of Australian athletes, including reigning Zatopek champion David McNeill, in action.

But the headline act of the US athletics scene this weekend is the adidas Track Classic in Carson, California.

Stars of US track and field including 2004 Olympic Games gold medalist Jeremy Wariner (400m), Xavier Carter (200m) and two-time Olympic medalist Bernard Lagat (1500m) will do battle at the annual event as America – and the world – continues the countdown to Berlin.

Closer to home, world championships representative and winner of last year's Canberra Marathon Mark Tucker, named last week in Australia’s team to contest the World Marathon Cup in Berlin, will line up in the Sydney Half Marathon alongside thousands of local hopefuls.

And in Victoria hundreds will line up for a full weekend of running events at the Great Ocean Road Marathon.
Stay tuned to athletics.com.au right across the weekend for all the latest news and events on the track and in the field.