03.09.2010

World's best look to Split

Just one week on from the conclusion of the 2010 Diamond League tour, the world’s top track and field athletes will return to centre stage this weekend at the IAAF Continental Cup in Split (CRO), where 27 Australians en route to next month’s Commonwealth Games will hone their preparations for New Delhi (IND).

A total of 29 Australian athletes will line up for team Asia-Pacific at the 2010 edition of the worldwide meet, all set to take on the might of Africa, the Americas and Europe over two days of hard-fought track and field action.

Headlining the action for Australia will be world champions Steve Hooker (pole vault) and Dani Samuels (discus throw), world indoor champion Fabrice Lapierre (long jump) and Olympic silver medallist Sally Pearson (100m hurdles), the high-flying foursome to lead a host of fellow Games nominees into battle on the world stage.

After a hectic European season that has seen Hooker line up in all seven pole vault competitions on the Diamond League calendar the world, Olympic, world indoor and Commonwealth Games title-holder will this weekend reprise his battle with arch nemesis and Diamond Race victor Renaud Lavillenie (FRA) in the biggest test the Aussie world-beater will face ahead of next month’s XIX Commonwealth Games.

Fellow world champion Dani Samuels will also feature in Split, the New South Wales-based discus specialist on track for a showdown with European champion and fellow young gun Sandra Perkovic (CRO). With two wins apiece this year the pair enters the meet on equal footing but with the Commonwealth Games fast approaching, Samuels will no doubt be looking to assert her dominance on the world stage. Also set to step out in Split is Cuba’s Yarelis Barrios, the Diamond Race winner adding to what will be an all-star cast in the shot put circle this weekend.

Lining up in what is set to be one of the most hotly-contested events of the meet is world indoor title-holder Fabrice Lapierre in the men’s long jump, where all four competing teams field a legitimate chance at the gold medal. On the runway Lapierre will face world leader Christian Reif (GER) for team Europe, world champion and Diamond Race winner Dwight Phillips (USA) for the Americas and world and Olympic silver medallist Godfrey Mokoena (RSA), who goes into battle for Africa.

On the track, in-form hurdles gun Sally Pearson will meet the top two placegetters from the European championships in Nevin Yanit (TUR) and Derval O’Rourke (IRL), as well as the gold and silver medallists from the 2010 world indoor championships in Lolo Jones (USA) and Perdita Felicien (CAN). Pearson, who rounded out an impressive Diamond League campaign by finishing second in Brussels (BEL) last weekend, is one of the form athletes of the Asia-Pacific team and will be one to watch on the start line in Split.

In other Australian action, in-form middle distance runner and 10,00m national record-holder Collis Birmingham lines up over 5000m, Beijing Olympics finalist Jarrod Bannister takes on the javelin throw and Australia’s men’s 4x400m relay team of Brendan Cole, Joel Milburn, Kevin Moore and Ben Offereins will take on three of the world’s top four one-lappers of the year in US duo Jeremy Wariner (44.13) and Greg Nixon (44.61) and Jamaica's Ricardo Chambers (44.54), who line up for the Americas.

Held every four years, the 2010 Continental Cup will provide an important competition opportunity for athletes heading to the XIX Commonwealth Games in New Delhi, India, now just one month away.

IAAF Continental Cup
Split (CRO)

Saturday, September 4:
100m (M): Aaron Rouge-Serret (22, Vic)
100m (W): Melissa Breen (19, ACT)
400m (M): Ben Offereins (24, WA)
400m (W): Jody Henry (25, WA)
1500m: Mitchell Kealey (26, Qld)
3000m: Kaila McKnight (24, Vic)
5000m: Collis Birmingham (25, Vic)
400m hurdles (M): Brendan Cole (29, ACT)
400m hurdles (W): Lauren Boden (22, ACT)
Pole vault: Alana Boyd (26, WA)
Long jump: Fabrice Lapierre (26, NSW)
Discus throw: Dani Samuels (22, NSW)
Shot put: Scott Martin (27, Vic)
Javelin throw: Kimberley Mickle (25, WA)

Sunday, September 5:
200m (M): Matt Davies (25, Qld)
200m (W): Jody Henry
800m: Ryan Gregson (20, NSW)
1500m: Kaila McKnight
3000m: Ben St Lawrence (28, NSW)
5000m: Eloise Wellings (27, NSW)
100m hurdles: Sally Pearson (23, Qld)
3000m steeplechase: Youcef Abdi (32, NSW)
Pole vault: Steve Hooker (28, WA)
Discus throw: Benn Harradine (27, Vic)
Hammer throw: Gabrielle Neighbour (26, Vic)
Javelin throw: Jarrod Bannister (25, Vic)
4x400m relay (M): Brendan Cole, Joel Milburn (24, NSW), Kevin Moore (19, NSW), Ben Offereins
4x400m relay (W): Lauren Boden, Amanda Crook (29, Vic), Jody Henry, Anneliese Rubie (18, NSW), Olivia Tauro (20, NSW)