Wariner Dominates as Powell keeps winning...

Asafa Powell took the 100m and Wariner was top at 400m in the 5th Pedro’s Cup meeting held in Warsaw on Wednesday (19) in cool conditions,



...Wariner dominates 400m

Jeremy Wariner began the competition with a ride, along with Powell and Marek Plawgo, in a horse-driven-cab. On the field none of his rivals were even close. The American started with a fast pace and didn’t slow down until the final metres to clock 44.43. Second was Darold Williamson, Wariner’s training partner, in 46.05, who in the beginning of his career beat Wariner 14 times.

The fastest of six Poles was Plawgo, the Osaka 400m Hurdles bronze medallist, who because of the cold ran in his tracksuit and clocked 46.63. Plawgo complained about the high number of competitions after the World Championships, but hoped to run under 49 seconds at the IAAF World Athletics Final.

Powell continues his dominance as well

The men’s 100m race with World record holder Asafa Powell. The Jamaican won easily in 10.12, from Slovenia’s Osaka finalist Matic Osovnikar (10.37), Mike Rodgers and 2003 World Champion Kim Collins (SKN), with both running 10.38.

Running in heavy rain last year, Powell clocked 10.02 this time it was the cold that slowed him. After the race Powell confirmed his busy late season schedule.

After this weekend’s World Athletics Final in Stuttgart, where he’ll contest the 100m, he’ll wrap up his season with 200m races in Shanghai and Yokohama.

VTB Bank - $3 million final !

VTB - $3 million on the table
The 2007 IAAF / VTB Bank World Athletics Final, Stuttgart, Germany which will be celebrated on the weekend of the 22-23 September 2007 look set to weigh-in with an awesome array of medallists from the recent 11th IAAF World Championships in Athletics, Osaka, Japan.

MEN

(15 gold, 14 silver, 14 bronze = 43 medals)

Osaka medallists currently qualified as @ midday 11 Sep:

100m – Derrick Atkins (s), Asafa Powell (b)
200m – Usain Bolt (s), Wallace Spearmon (b)
400m – Jeremy Wariner (g), LaShawn Merritt (s), Angelo Taylor (b)
800m – Yuriy Borzakovskiy (b)
1500m – Bernard Lagat (g), Shadrack Korir (b)
5000m – Bernard Lagat (g) - qualified for 1500m -, Eliud Kipchoge (s), Moses Kipsiro (b) - qualified for 3000m
10,000m (Not contested at WAF) – Kenenisa Bekele (g) - qualified for the 3000m -, Sileshi Sihine (s) - qualified for 5000m
3000m Steeplechase – Brimin Kipruto (g), Ezekiel Kemboi (s)
110m Hurdles – Liu Xiang (g), Terrence Trammell (s), David Payne (b)
400m Hurdles – Kerron Clement (g), Felix Sanchez (s)
HJ – Donald Thomas (g), Kyriakos Ioannou (b)
PV – Brad Walker (g), Danny Ecker (b)
LJ – Irving Saladino (g), Andrew Howe (s)
TJ – Nelson Evora (g), Jadel Gregorio (s), Walter Davis (b)
SP – Reese Hoffa (g), Adam Nelson (s), Andrey Mikhnevich (b)
DT – Gerd Kanter (g), Robert Harting (s), Rutger Smith (b) - qualified for SP
HT – Ivan Tikhon (g), Primoz Kozmus (s), Libor Charfreitag (b)
JT – Tero Pitkämäki (g), Andreas Thorkildsen (s), Breaux Greer (b)


Women

(16 gold, 10 silver, 11 bronze = 37 medals)

Osaka medallists currently qualified as @ midday 11 Sep:

100m – Veronica Campbell (g) - qualified for the 200m -, Lauryn Williams (s), Carmelita Jeter (b)
200m – Allyson Felix (g) - qualified for the 100m -, Veronica Campbell (s),
400m – Novlene Williams (b)
800m – Janeth Jepkosgei (g), Mayte Martinez (b)
1500m – Maryam Yusuf Jamal (g), Yelena Soboleva (s), Iryna Lishchynska (b)
5000m – Meseret Defar (g), Vivian Cheruiyot (s) - qualified for the 3000m -, Prisca Jepleting (b)
10,000m (Not contested at WAF) - Tirunesh Dibaba (g) - qualified for 5000m
3000m Steeplechase – Eunice Jepkorir (b)
110m Hurdles – Michelle Perry (g), Perdita Felicien (s), Delloreen Ennis-London (b)
400m Hurdles – Jana Rawlinson (g), Anna Jesien (b)
HJ – Blank Vlasic (g), Antonietta Di Martino (=s)
PV – Yelena Isinbayeva (g), Katerina Badurova (s), Svetlana Feofanova (b)
LJ – Tatyana Lededeva (g)
TJ – Yargelis Savigne (g), Tatyana Lededeva (s)
SP – Nadine Kleinert (b)
DT – Franka Dietzsch (g)
HT – Betty Heidler (g), Yipsi Moreno (s)
JT – Barbora Spotakova (g), Christina Obergföll (s), Steffi Nerius (b)
Hep (Not contested at WAF) – Carolina Klüft (g) - qualified for LJ

Sanya Richards still in the running for million dollar prize after powerful 400m

With some athletes claiming tiredness and ducking races in Europe Sanya Richards is doing what she does best and showing no such fear of competition, recording great times and hitting the track.

Her determination is being rewarded as she is still in the hunt for the big money share after a very solid 400m win at the 31st Memorial Van Damme - IAAF Golden League in Brussels, Belgium on Friday September 14th, 2007 .

Sanya Richards sees her Golden money hopes very much alive by recording a world-leading 49.29 win in the women’s 400m.

US$ 1 million for 400m

The Van Damme meeting in Brussels, Belgium on Friday (14 Sep) and then the DKB-ISTAF Berlin meeting in Berlin, Germany on Sunday (16 Sep) will see the conclusion of the 2007 Golden League series.

Following the fourth meeting of the summer which took place in Zürich, last Friday the running for the jackpot is narrow. Partly as stars like Tyson Gay have claimed to be tired despite being able to run well in Osaka a few weeks earlier; Powell has come back up and is clearly on top of the world with his blistering 100. run that you can see at www.100m.com.

That leave Sanya Richards (USA) in the women’s 400m and Yelena Isinbayeva (RUS) in the women’s Pole Vault left standing for a chance of the US$ One Million IAAF Golden League Jackpot.

They are the only athletes to have taken victories at all four meetings of 2007 - Oslo, Norway (15 Jun), Paris, France (6 Jul), Rome, Italy (13 Jul), Zürich, Switzerland (7 Sep).

Wariner now Confirmed for Shanghai

The website of Shanghai Golden Grand Prix shows that newly crowned 400m World Champion and World Record Holder in waiting Jeremey Wariner as firm for the event ... with three powerful hurdlers also confirmed including Liu Xiang, Dayron Robles and Allen Johnson to run in what will be the banner event for the Chinese city the pace is sure to pick up quickly.

Osaka will have prepared the runners well for what may be a warm Friday September 28th evening at the Shanghai University Town Stadium where the Jos Hermens directed event is sure to be a sell out.

Shanghai for Worlds Best 400m runner

Liu, China's Olympic and world 110 metres hurdles champion, has decided not to journey to Europe for any post-worlds competitions however he is expected to race in an up-coming big money meet in Shanghai.

"I don't want to go because it is so tiring," Liu, who will run in Shanghai, said at a news conference.

Deon Minor, who along with Michael Johnson manages the 400 metres standout Wariner said that he will compete in Shanghai, China.

The Shanghai meeting is now scheduled for Sept 28 with a Yokohama competition on Sept 30. A Daegu meeting follows on Oct 3 as these Asian events and more importantly the money on offer is proving attractive and will very clearly lure big names back after the three major European meets in September.

"Most of the winners from Osaka will be in Shanghai, some in Yokohama and some in Daegu," said agent Jos Hermens, who is organising the Shanghai meeting and its very clear that this is an integral part of the warm-up for the Beijing Olympics.

Predicted medal haul for Team USA as Wariner wins

No one could come close to Wariner not even LaSawn Merrit who said he was in it to win it and is a man with a mission.

Wariner moved confidently and relaxed always building his lead and the 43.18 world record of his mentor Michael Johnson may well fall when there is some big money on the table in the next few weeks in Europe.

"All the goals I have for myself, I want to break the world record. I want to be the first to go sub-43," Wariner said.

American Wariner had Michael Johnson's world mark of 43.18 seconds was there in his grasp but narrowly he missed it with a 43.45, his fastest ever formally recorded time.

LaShawn Merritt impressed with silver in 43.96 and a personal best also, followed by American Angelo Taylor to place three United States athletes on the 400m world podium. Exactly as predicetd by www.400m.com.

"My coach told me to execute in the best possible way and I did it," said Wariner.


"The world record, it will come when it should come."

We say it should be soon; very soon.

2007 world Championships 400m mens final

Wariner leads US to 4x400 metres relay gold

Jeremy Wariner anchored the United States to victory in the 4x400 metres relay in the third fastest time in history for his second gold of the world championships on Sunday.

LaShawn Merritt, Angelo Taylor and Darold Williamson had all but won the race when Wariner, the individual 400m champion, took the baton for the final leg.

Wariner did not disappoint and stormed around the track to cross the line in two minutes 55.56 seconds, the U.S. winning the event for the eighth time in 11 world championships.

"The coaches set it up perfectly," Wariner told reporters after coming closer to the world mark of 2:54.20 than any other team since it was set by his compatriots in 1998.

"We were going for the record but the main goal was the gold. We can do the world record another time."

more...

Wariner and gang promise showtime in relay

Olympic and world champion Jeremy Wariner promises it will be showtime in the quarter-mile relay on Sunday after leading an American medal sweep in the 400 metres.

"I was happy with the way we fought, with the way we ran. And with the sweep as we did in 04 (the 2004 Olympics), it's going be a lot of fun in the 4x400," the 23-year-old Texan said after defending his 400m title on Friday.

"With the way all of us ran, whoever will be put on the relay, we're going to end up winning that. We're just looking to go out there and have fun, really."

He improved his personal record to 43.45 seconds, making him lone number-three on the world all-time list and moving him a closer to the world record of 43.18 set by Michael Johnson, now his agent, in 1999.

more...

Wariner's speedy run gets Johnson's stamp of approval

Even Michael Johnson thought Jeremy Wariner was impressive in his stirring 400 meters victory at the world championships on Friday.

"That's how you run,"Johnson told Wariner. "You pulled away from them doing the home stretch and stayed relaxed. That's exactly what you needed to do."

Johnson also told Wariner he had proved a point and made a statement for the rest of the season.

Wariner's 43.45 seconds was a personal best and the fifth fastest of all time. Only Johnson and former record holder Butch Reynolds have run faster.

"My goals are to beat the world record and be the first to run sub 43," the 23-year-old Wariner said.

"Michael said my last 100 meters could be a little faster," Wariner said. "My first 60 meters could be a little quicker than it was ... Every part of my race there could be a little 10th taken off."

The difference was Wariner's last 100 meters.

"Off the turn we were even," the 21-year-old Merritt said. "But that's where the race started."

All that hard training in the Texas heat made Wariner the stronger runner.

"LaShawn has always been there at the 300," Wariner said. "But I am able to stay relaxed in my last 100. That's one thing he's still trying to work on.

"I know if I run like I have been, I am not going to be beaten."

"I've got a long career ahead of me," he said. "Every race I run at, I'm going for the world record. It does not matter where I am at, that's my goal, to break it."