LAUSANNE, SWITZERLAND – Usain Bolt’s encore tour continues tomorrow night, this time at the Athletissima Super Grand Prix in Lausanne.
The triple Olympic champion from Jamaica will make his first 200m start since his startling 19.30 seconds world record in Beijing which jettisoned the 22-year-old to his second gold medal of the Games.
Nobody is expecting a further dropping of that record, but a more realistic goal is Xavier Carter’s 19.63 meet record from 2006. Carter’s run, propelling him to the No. 2 spot of all time, sparked life into the event after a lull of several years, raising the possibility for the first time that Michael Johnson’s then-world record of 19.32 could be challenged by the current generation of sprinters.
Bolt will again face many who finished in his wake in Beijing, including silver medallist Shawn Crawford of the U.S., Brian Dzingai of Zimbabwe, who finished fourth, and Churandy martina and Wallace Spearmon who were both disqualified in the Olympic final for minor lane violations.
In All, 19 Beijing gold medalists --including the relays-- will tow the line in Lausanne, the glamorous home to the International Olympic Committee.
- Powell tops 100m Field, Women’s 100m Podium Returns
Minus Bolt, the focus on the men’s 100 will fall on the man he succeeded as world record holder, Asafa Powell. The 26-year-old Jamaican arrives on the heels on an impressive 9.87 dash in the cold and rain of Gateshead, England. In all, the entire Beijing final, save Bolt, will reunite. On Friday night in Zurich, it was Beijing bronze medallist Walter Dix who finished second, and silver medallist Richard Thompson, third.
Jamaica swept the women’s 100m in Beijing, and the trio will be reunited here. Surprise gold medallist Shelly-Ann Fraser will go head-to-head with co-silver medallists Sherone Simpson and Kerron Stewart. Lauryn Williams and Torri Edwards, fourth and eighth in Beijing, carry American hopes.
Jamaica figures prominently in the 400m as well, led by Shericka Williams. The 22-year-old reeled in pre-race favorite Sanya Richards to take Olympic silver mid Beijing, clocking a career best 49.69. Williams was a distant fourth in Zurich on Friday, where she was upstaged by teammate Novlene Williams, who didn’t reach the Beijing final. Russians Yulia Gushchina, Anastasia Kapachinskaya and Tatyana Firova, fourth, fifth and sixth in Beijing, are also in the line-up.
The men’s 400 includes a pair of Beijing gold medalists, 400m ace LaShawn Merritt and 400m hurdles champion Angelo Taylor. Incidentally, the pair were roommates in Beijing. Merritt arrives after losing to Jeremy Wariner in Zurich, while Taylor’s momentum continued with his 400m hurdles win on Friday.
-Kenyan Gold Medallists Bungei, Lagat Return to Action
Perennial speedster Wilfred Bungei used his vast experience to take the 800m title in Beijing, first by surviving the brutal heats and semi-finals with aggressive front-running, and repeating that strategy in the final to capture his first major title. He led a Kenyan 1-3 finish, with world champion Alfred Kirwa Yego taking the bronze. Both top the fields here in Lausanne.
It will be Bungei’s first race since his Olympic triumph, while Yego arrives after a career best 3:33.69 from the Zurich 1500m. Olympic 1500m silver medallist Asbel Kiprop will also drop down in distance in a field that also includes Beijing finalist Nadjim Manseur of Algeria.
The men’s 1500 features Kenyan Haron Keitany who has made a splash in his first year on the international circuit. The winner at May’s African championships, the 24-year-old finished a strong runner-up in Oslo’s Dream Mile, took fourth at the Kenyan trials to barely miss a berth to the Olympics, and took a commanding victory in Zurich on Friday.
Olympic finalist Belal Mansoor Ali, third in Zurich, and Yusuf Saad Kamel, the 800m specialist who ran produced a 3:33.11 personal best in Zurich, are also in the race, as are 2008 speedsters Daniel Kipchirchir Komen and Shadrack Korir, both sub 3:32.00 this season.
World 800m champion Janeth Jepkosgei will receive a reprieve for an evening, not having to face her superstar compatriot Pamela Jelimo for the first time in awhile. She’ll take on Russian Svetlana Klyuka, fourth in Beijing, as well as three other Olympic finalists: Jamaican Kenia Sinclair, Ukraine’s Yuliya Krevsun, and Russian tatiana Andrianova. Jepkosgei won here in 2006, while Sinclair returns as defending champion.
In the 1500m, Nancy Jebet Lagat makes her first appearance over the distance since her upset victory in the Olympic Games. The 27-year-old was sluggish in Zurich on Friday, where she finished last in the 800m, leaving this a wide open affair. In another reunion of Olympic finalist, Briton Lisa Dobriskey (fourth in Beijing), reigining world champion Maryam Yusuf Jamal (fifth), American Shannon Rowbury (seventh), Russian Anna Alminova (11th) and Btissam Lakhouad (12th) are also on the slate.
- Robles v Oliver, Harper v Jones in the Hurdles
The closest race in Zurich was the men’s 110m hurdles, where Olympic champion Dayron Robles edged American David Oliver, the Beijing bronze medallist, by the narrowest of margins, 12.97 to 12.98. The pair return to action again, presumably more fresh than they were on Friday. Pole Artur Noga, fifth in Beijing and third in Zurich, and Americans Anwar Moore and Aries Merritt, are also in the field.
Olympic 100m hurdles champion Dawn Harper is looking to bounce back from an admitted sluggish outing in Zurich, where she finished a well-beaten fifth. Again the favorite is world leader Lolo Jones, who was a disappointing seventh in Beijing. 2004 Olympic champion Joanna Hayes is also in the field, along with Olympic bronze medallist Priscilla Lopes Schliep of Canada.
In Beijing, Melaine Walker was given the toughest act to follow. With the 400m hurdles final scheduled immediately after the men’s 200 final, even Superwoman would have fallen short. She certainly performed admirably, cruising to an Olympic record 52.64. The 25-year-old Jamaican will certainly be the woman to beat here. Tasha Danvers, the bronze medallist, and Anastasiya Rabchenyuk, fourth in the Games, will give chase.
- Beijing Winners Evora, Silnov, Maggi and Spotakova Star in the Infield
With Olympic champion Steven Hooker calling it a season, the men’s vault field will nonetheless have plenty of star power. Beijing silver and bronze medallsits, Evgeniy Lukyanenko of Russia and Ukraine’s Denys Yurchenko are in the field, along with Brad Walker who made an early departure from the Olympics after failing to advance from the obscenely long qualifying round. Walker, the reigning world champion, set the meet record here last year, clearing 5.91m.
Portugal’s Nelson Evora added Olympic gold to his 2007 world title 10 days ago, and leads the field in the triple jump. Bronze medallist Leevan Sands also returns to action.
Russians loom large in the high jump. Olympic champion Andrey Silnov leads the field which includes bronze medallist Yaroslav Rybakov, and Briton Germaine Mason, the Beijing silver medallist.
Mareen Higa Maggi of Brazil takes to the field for the first time as Olympic champion, and will face several women she beat in Beijing, most notably Tatyana Lebedeva, who came within a centimeter of the title with her final round leap of 7.03m. American Brittney Reese, fifth in Beijing, and Russian Oksana Udmurtova, seventh, are also in the line-up.
World and Olympic champion Barbora Spotakova leads the field in the javelin throw, where she’ll face surprise silver medallist Mariya Abakumova of Russia, and bronze medallist Christina Obergfoll. In the thrilling Beijing final, both Abakumova and Spotakova broke Obergfoll’s European record, first the Russian with a 70.78m throw in the fourth round, and then the Czech with her winning 71.42 in the final round.
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