Monte-Carlo
- Jamaican Veronica Campbell (far left) not only ended
Christine Arron’s (center) TDK Golden League Jackpot hopes
for the season, but also dethroned the French athlete from
the top of the Women’s 100m Event Ranking last week.
Campbell rose from 3rd place to first after winning in
Zürich last Friday in 10.85 (1392 points), while Arron
slipped to second with newly crowned World champion Lauryn
Williams (USA - right) also losing one place to go third.
Reigning
Olympic 100m champion Yuliya Nesterenko of Belarus
re-entered the Event Ranking in 11th place after running in
two meets in three days. Nesterenko finished 5th in Zürich
with 11.08 (1291 points), before placing 2nd in Sheffield
with 11.09 (1287 points), although the latter performance
was wind-aided (+2.4m/s).
In the
Women’s 200m Event Ranking, the story is quite the opposite.
Campbell, the reigning Olympic champion lost her leading
position to World champion Allyson Felix (USA). Felix
comfortably won in Sheffield in 22.54 (1325 points) and
swapped places with Campbell to take the Ranking lead.
Campbell’s compatriot, Aleen Bailey, re-entered the 200m
Event Ranking in 13th place after placing 7th in Sheffield
with 23.29 (1197 points).
There are two
other women who are Event Ranking leaders this week. In the
800m Cuban World champion Zulia Calatayud, and in the Triple
Jump Russia’s Tatyana Lebedeva, won at the TDK Golden League
in Zürich. In both cases they beat the athletes who they
also overtook in the Event Rankings.
Calatayud’s
1:59.16 (1338 points) run outpaced and then helped her to
replace Morocco’s Hasna Benhassi at the top of the 800m
Ranking, while Lebedeva’s fifth round jump of 14.94m (1370
points) sealed her win over World champion Trecia Smith of
Jamaica and also replaced her as the number one triple
jumper in the Event Ranking. The Russian’s victory also
allowed her to remain in the hunt for the one million
dollars TDK Golden League Jackpot.
In the men’s
sprints, double World champion Justin Gatlin has improved in
both of his events, closing the gap between himself and
World record holder Asafa Powell to only 2 points in the
100m Event Ranking after winning in Zürich with 10.14 (1344
points). Gatlin also moved up to 2nd in the 200m Event
Ranking replacing his compatriot Tyson Gay after winning in
Sheffield with 20.04 (1354 points).
20-year-old
Sanya Richards (USA) became the youngest woman ever to run
under 49 seconds when she won in Zürich last week defeating
World and Olympic champion Tonique Williams-Darling.
Richards finished with 48.92 (1409 points), and defeated the
Bahamian again in Sheffield with 49.77 (1349 points). As
such, Richards swapped places with former World champion Ana
Guevara of Mexico and moved into second place in the 400m
Event Ranking, behind Williams-Darling. In the Women’s
Overall Rankings however, Richards took a giant step from
15th to 7th, although she is still “only” the second
youngest athlete in the Top-10, behind Ehtiopia’s Tirunesh
Dibaba, who lies in second place.
Russia’s
Yuliya Nosova-Pechonkina also moved up dramatically in the
Women’s Overall Rankings, by 16 places to 23rd thanks to her
win in Zürich. Pechonkina ran 53.30 (1396 points) to
reconfirm her status as World champion, and move into 3rd
place in the women’s 400m Hurdles Event Ranking.
In the men’s
400m race, Britain’s Tim Benjamin followed his strong
showing at the World Championships in Helsinki, with two
solid performances in Zürich and Sheffield. The 23-year-old
finished only 7th at the Weltklasse, but his time of 45.45
(1242 points) was not at all lack luster and he just about
repeated that clocking in Sheffield, when he finished
runner-up to Michael Blackwood (JAM) in 45.49 (1270 points).
Consequently, Benjamin moved up two places to 7th in the
Event Ranking and may look forward to receiving an
invitation to the World Athletics Final in Monaco (9 – 10
September), for which the top 7 athletes of each event
automatically qualify.
Kenya’s
Benjamin Limo and Craig Mottram are also likely to travel to
the Mediterranean Principality in September, as they are
ranked 5th and 7th respectively this week in the men’s 5000
– 10,000m Event Ranking. Limo – the new World 5000m champion
– finished 4th in the 3000m in Zürich with 7:38.93 (1303
points), just behind Mottram’s 7:38.03 (1319 points). The
Australian then ran the 2 Miles in Sheffield, and won it in
8:11.27 (1352 points), which means that the only non-African
runner in the Top-20 of the Event Ranking moved up even
further.
Britain’s
Michael East provided the home crowd with a victory to
celebrate in Sheffield, won the Mile in 3:52.50 (1309
points) and moved up eleven places to 18th. Alan Webb of the
United States also improved on his Event Ranking position by
placing third in the 1500m in Zürich. Webb’s time of 3:33.40
(1327 points) moved him up two places to 8th.
In the men’s
field events, Victor Moya seems to be comfortable with
second place. In the World championships, the Cuban took the
silver medal, and more recently cleared 2.28m (1283 points)
in Zürich to finish second, and 2.30m (1178 points) at the
Eberstadt International to finish second again. But in the
Event Ranking Moya has not moved up to second yet. He stands
in 7th place this week.
Miguel Pate
of the United States missed his top form by about ten days.
The 26-year-old won in Sheffield with 8.45m (1350 points) to
defeat Dwight Phillips and move into 4th in the Event
Ranking, swapping places with World championship bronze
medallist Tommi Evila of Finland.
Pate’s
compatriot, Walter Davis is up to second in the Triple Jump
Event Ranking despite not winning in Sheffield. While the
World champion was forced into second position by a mere
four centimetres at the meeting itself, his 17.40m (1312
points) effort allowed him to replace Brazil’s Jadel
Gregorio in second in the Ranking. The winner of the meet –
Cuban Alexander Martínez – moved up six places to 13th after
his 17.44m (1337 points) last round effort.
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