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**Karl** · August 10, 2013, 07:45 AM

Athletics Weekly: Events prediction chart

http://www.athleticsweekly.com/news/...iction-charts/

**Karl** · August 10, 2013, 07:59 AM

World Championships allow track to move past ugly few months

World Championships allow track to move past ugly few months

Allyson Felix is aiming for a fourpeat in the 200, but can she outrun Jamaica's Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce?
Paul Gilham/Getty Images

The IAAF World Championships start Saturday in Moscow, in what could be a season highlight for a sport racked by drugs, injuries, withdrawals and even the horrific incidents involving Oscar Pistorius and the Boston Marathon. In perhaps the darkest year the sport has seen, here are a few storylines that are worth watching next week:

Will Bolt keep bolting?

Track's chief superstar is still the headline name at the World Championships. Bolt will try to repeat the 100- and 200-meter double he produced at the last two Olympics. Bolt's competitors have dropped like flies; injured flies or artificially bulked-up flies. His chief rival in the 100, U.S. sprinter Tyson Gay, failed a doping test, as did veteran Jamaican Asafa Powell, leaving U.S. sprinter Justin Gatlin, the 2004 Olympic champ who already served his four-year doping suspension through 2010, to challenge Bolt.

In 2011, Bolt false-started and was disqualified in his chase for another world title at 100 meters. Countryman Yohan Blake, who won the title and later took silver at the Olympics, is down with hamstring injury. It's as if anyone who could push Bolt has been pushed out of the way.

That will leave some room open for Gatlin's teammates Mike Rodgers, the national champ in 2009, and TCU's Charles Silmon, to race onto the podium. Simon ran an impressive 9.94 earlier this year at the Texas Relays. Jamaica's Nesta Carter ran a 9.87 in Madrid this year, just off the 9.85 Bolt ran in London during his return to the Olympic city.

Without Gay in the 200, which may well be Bolt's better race, fellow Jamaican Warren Weir is the closest thing Bolt has to a challenger. Weir ran 19.79 earlier this season; Bolt's season best is 19.73. Weir's turns are strong, as are Bolt's. The U.S. team will sport Isiah Young, an Olympic semifinalist, and world newcomer Curtis Mitchell. Young, a recent Ole Miss grad, didn't even run track until his senior year of high school.

Bolt is the sport's singular and defining star, but as meaningful competition either becomes hurt or tainted, one has to ask how much he can really uplift a reeling sport.

Will we see a Felix fourpeat?

It won't be easy. Allyson Felix finally won her Olympic final last year after three gold medals and a bronze in the 200 at the world championships. But the Southern Californian is only two-for-four in 200s this season and she placed second to Kimberlyn Dixon at the U.S. Championships in June. What's more, Felix must outrun Jamaica's Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce, who finished second to Felix at the 200 in London and has twice won the Olympic 100. Fraser-Pryce has talked openly about putting greater emphasis this year on the 200, including the turns, and she won the Jamaican Nationals in 22.13 seconds, the fastest time in the world this season, making Felix's task look very tough, indeed.

Who will conquer the multis?

The world's greatest female athlete may actually be the last female athlete standing. Six of the top eight heptathletes from the London Games will not be in Moscow. Olympic champ Jessica Ennis-Hill of Great Britain is out with an Achilles tendon injury, and world champ Tatyana Chernova of Russia is out with both chronic elbow problems and a strained knee ligament she suffered while sprinting at the Russian championships this year. Only Antoinette Nana Dijmou of France, sixth in London, and Kristina Savitskaya, eighth in London, are returnees from the Olympics.

This should open the door for Sharon Day, the oft-injured 28-year-old Californian who comes from a family of high jumpers. Poland's Karolina Tyminska, fourth at the 2011 worlds, and Germany's Julia Machtig are also contenders.

The decathlon at worlds could be a U.S. affair even though both Olympic champ Ashton Eaton and world champ Trey Hardee had sub-par showings at Nationals. Eaton managed just 8,291 points, about 750 off of his world record, but has the individual scores this year to put together a championship effort if he can get through ten events. Hardee only completed three of ten at nationals, but he has a bye onto the worlds team as an additional U.S. competitor because of his world title in Daegu, South Korea in 2011. He also took the crown in Berlin in 2009.

A pair of Germans, Pascal Behrenbruch (8,514) and Michael Schrader (8,427), have the world's best results in 2013, though both will have to top those marks if the Yanks are at their best. Cuba's Leonel Suarez, a fixture on international podiums, is entered in the event but hasn't attempted a decathlon this season.

Do we smell home cooking?

This is a big 12 months for Russian sport, with the Olympics headed to Sochi in February. Russians fared well at the last championships, winning 19 medals, including nine golds, second to the U.S. team on both counts. The London numbers -- eight golds, 17 medals -- were similar.

Yuliya Zaripova, the 2011 champion in the 3,000-meter steeplechase, in the host's best chance to be a repeat winner. The Olympic and world champion has outclassed the field for the past two years. Mariya Savinova is a bit of a wildcard in the women's 800. The Olympic champ has run only twice all season, taking home easy victories but leaving open the question of her fitness for Moscow. Dmitri Tarabin recorded the world's best javelin mark since 2011 at the Russian championships last month. Pole vault legend Yelena Isinbayeva is back after clearing 4.75 meters to win the Russian nationals.

Anna Chicerova, the gold medalist in 2011 and 2012, is the high jump favorite again; though Brigetta Barrett of the U.S. has the best jump in world (2.04 meters) this year. As always, look for any number of Russians to be strong in the race walks.

Can East African powerhouses go the distances?

An 800-meter race without Kenya's David Rudisha must be run with an asterisk. Rudisha suffered an injury to his right knee earlier this season, and despite six weeks of rehab in Germany, his coach, Colm O'Connell, insisted he stay home from Moscow. Ethiopia's Mohammed Amen is unbeaten in six races this year and the 19-year-old is emerging as a future Rudisha challenger.

Reigning world champ Asbel Kiprop of Kenya is unbeaten in international races at 1,500 this year, clocking 3:27.72 in Monaco, and should be the favorite in that race, even though his countryman Silas Kiplagat nipped him at the Kenyan trials.

Kenyans are masters of the steeplechase and Ezekiel Kemboi will have a shot at his sixth straight world medal. The two-time Olympic champ is also the two-time reigning world champ, after taking three straight world silver medals.
Kenya's Isiah Kiplangat might be the best candidate to challenge Britain's Mo Farah in the 5K, though Ethiopia's Dejen Gebremeskel and Imane Merga may be the strongest pair in the 10K.

Kenyans have won the men's marathon three times in a row and Ethiopians have only won it once -- in 2001 -- but Tsegay Kebede could end Ethiopia's slump. Kebede has won world and Olympic medals and is the London Marathon champ. His countryman Lelisa Desisa won the Dubai Marathon in January in 2:04:45, and he later won in Boston before tragedy struck there. The hotter the day, the better Desisa's chances.

For the women, Kenya's Janeth Jepkosgei is always a threat to win the 800, with one medal of each color from the last three world championships. Native Ethiopian Abeba Aregawi has been the world's best at 1,500 this season, though unfortunately for the Ethiopians, she now runs for Sweden, leaving that race wide open. Kenya's Faith Kipyegon and Hellen Obiri are in the mix with Ethiopia's Genzebe Dibaba, but two U.S. runners, 17-year-old Mary Cain and reigning surprise champ Jenny Simpson make this a very compelling distance race for the States.

Ethiopians Meseret Defar and Tirunesh Dibaba have been chasing each other for the better part of a decade and could do it again in both the 5,000 and 10,000 in Moscow.

Both the defending world and Olympic marathon champions have something to prove in Moscow. Kenya's Edna Kiplagat crossed the line first in Daegu but then stumbled into 20th place in London. Ethiopia's Tiki Gelana won gold in London, but then suffered a mishap on those same streets this year when she collided with a wheelchair racer during the London Marathon and ended in 16th place. Both ladies return to Moscow looking for another title.

Look for the Kenyan men to be stronger. Look for the Ethiopian women to be stronger

Read More: http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/mor...#ixzz2bZBl7Qyc

**Gamma** · August 10, 2013, 08:30 AM

thsse marathon commentators are so fu of shyte and biased!! Praise for the Italian almost trying to downplay the Kenyans effort

**Karl** · August 10, 2013, 08:40 AM

Jamaicans challenge their best-ever medal haul of 13

Champs under way - Jamaicans begin golden hunt in Russia

Published: Saturday | August 10, 2013

A look at the Luzhniki Stadium.-Ricardo Makyn/Staff Photographer

Rose Marie Whyte and Bolt

Rusheen McDonald

Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce

Stephanie McPherson

Oldest Jamaican medallist Merlene Ottey (37 years, 90 days) - (BRONZE 200m - 1997 Athens)

Warren Weir

Youngest Jamaican medallist Aleen Bailey (18 years 277 days) - BRONZE 4x10m relay (1999 Seville)

André Lowe, Senior Staff Reporter

MOSCOW, Russia:The last time a Jamaican team competed at Moscow's Luzhniki Stadium, they left with two medals from the 1980 Olympic Games.

Thirty-three years later, double world record holder and Olympic champion, Usain Bolt, will lead Jamaica's 44-member-strong team at the iconic Russian edifice as they launch their latest medal campaign in the Russian capital at the 14th staging of the IAAF World Championships.

The media rage around Jamaica's team here by members of the international press sometimes resembles an obituary, spelling doom and gloom for a team embroiled in the latest doping discussion and missing several of its biggest names with, Veronica Campbell-Brown, Asafa Powell, Sherone Simpson, and Yohan Blake all missing.

However, despite the less-than-positive outlook, Jamaica's transitioning team, which features 16 senior inter-national rookies, could spring a surprise or two and is well positioned to at least equal the medal count of nine from the last instalment of the World Championships, held two years ago in Daegu, South Korea.

Bolt and Olympic 100m champion Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce are expected to deliver multiple individual medals with the likes of Warren Weir and Nickel Ashmeade (200m), Nesta Carter (100m), with Hansle Parchment (110m hurdles) also tipped to chip in as well. Medals are also expected from all four relay teams, a scenario which, though optimistic, would see the Jamaicans challenge their best-ever World Championships medal tally of 13, which was achieved at the 2009 Berlin championships.

Jamaica has mined 89 medals since the first staging of the World Championships, 32 in the last three championships alone, and if the eagerness displayed in training and the confidence of the coaching staff are anything to go by, then that bounty will increase significantly by the time the curtains come down on Moscow 2013.

"We are ready and looking forward to the championships," declared head coach Michael Clarke.

Eight Jamaicans will be in action on today's opening day of competition, with long jumper Francine Simpson looking to become the first to book a spot in a final when she lines up in the qualifiers at 10:20 a.m. (Jamaica time).

Novelene Williams-Mills, Stephenie McPherson, and Patricia Hall will compete in the women's 400m heats, which start at 9:05 a.m., with all three expected to progress to the next round.

All eyes will, however, be on track and field's poster boy, Bolt, who has, of course, commanded the headlines here, declaring that he intends to challenge his own world records here.

He, along with Jamaica's other entrants in the men's 100m - Kemar Bailey-Cole, Nesta Carter, and Nickel Ashmeade - will be looking to excite in the heats, which start at 11:15 a.m.

Jamaicans have won the last two 100m finals at the IAAF World Championships, and despite the absence of defending champion Blake, Bolt and his compatriots should have their way in this event, which could act as the stimuli needed to send the Jamaicans' medal chase in the right direction.

Jamaican medal tallies
Helsinki 1983 - 1 (gold); 1 (silver); 1 (bronze) - 3 (medals)

Rome 1987 - 0 (gold); 1 silver; 3 bronze = 4 medals

Tokyo 1991 - 1 gold; 1 silver; 3 bronze = 5 medals

Stuttgart 1993 - 1 gold; 1 silver; 3 bronze = 5 medals

Gothenburg 1995 - 1 gold; 4 silver; 2 bronze = 7 medals

Athens 1997 - 0 gold; 4 silver; 3 bronze = 7 medals

Seville 1999 - 0 gold; 2 silver; 4 bronze = 6 medals

Edmonton 2001 - 1 gold; 3 silver; 2 bronze = 6 medals

Paris 2003 - 0 gold; 4 silver; 2 bronze = 6 medals

Helsinki 2005 - 1 gold; 5 silver; 2 bronze = 8 medals

Osaka 2007 - 1 gold; 6 silver; 3 bronze = 10 medals

Berlin 2009 - 7 gold; 4 silver; 2 bronze = 13 medals

Daegu 2011 - 4 gold; 4 silver; 1 bronze = 9 medals

http://jamaica-gleaner.com/gleaner/2...ead/lead1.html

**Karl** · August 10, 2013, 08:48 AM

Think at least one pic incorrectly labeled?
Stephanie McPherson or Kaliese Spencer? I think it is Kaliese?

**Karl** · August 10, 2013, 09:05 AM

World Championship Picks For Moscow 2013

WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP PICKS FOR MOSCOW 2013

It’s the eve of the 14 IAAF World Athletic Championships in Moscow. Jamaicans are a bit disappointed that some of their stars like Veronica Campbell Brown, Yohan Blake, Sherone Simpson and Asafa Powell will not be in action over the nine days of intense track and field activity but there are others who I believe will shine for this country.

Overall, I expect Jamaica to do well enough – perhaps three or four gold medals, a handful of silver medals and a bronze or two – a medal count that we should all be happy with.

Here are my picks for medals for Jamaica.
Men’s 100 metres
Usain Bolt – gold
Nesta Carter (silver or bronze)
I expect all four Jamaicans – Bolt, Carter, Kemar Bailey Cole and Nickel Ashmeade to be in the finals.

Women’s 100 metres
Shelly Ann Frazer-Pryce – gold.
Shelly will have her hands full against a quality field but I believe she will deliver gold in a new personal best of 10.67 seconds.

Men’s 200 metres
Usain Bolt – gold
Warren Weir silver (and new personal best somewhere between 19.68 and 19.59)
(Nickel Ashmeade could take the bronze here but Churandy Martina and LeMaitre could make it hard for him)

Women’s 200m
Shelly Ann Frazer Pryce – silver

Men’s 400m
Javere Bell and Javon Francis are Jamaica’s best medal hopefuls in this event but gold or silver are out of the question. Barring injury Kirani James and Lashawn Merritt will battle for those places. However, Tony McQuay from the USA is a good pick for bronze but I feel that if either Bell or Francis can make it to the finals and deliver a time of 44.70 or better, something I feel is possible, Jamaica could come away with a bronze medal here. It is unlikely but possible.

Women’s 400m
Novelene Williams Mills and Stephanie McPherson are Jamaica’s best bets in this event but the field is deep. Francena McCorory, Amantle Montsho, Antonina Krivoshapka, Ksenyia Ryzhova, Natasha Hastings and Christine Ohurougu all stand in the way of our Jamaican girls winning a medal but McPherson has shown steady progression this season and if she can stay well within herself during the early rounds and then let it all out in the finals but running smart and running to her strengths, I feel she could medal.

Williams Mills is a brave warrior and I wouldn’t rule her out but something tells me this field, even without Sanya Richards-Ross is just a little too deep for our brave but aging champion.

Women’s 800m
Natoya Goule is unbeaten so far this season. The NCAA Indoor and Outdoor Champion has made a name for herself this year but this is a big step forward. I think she can make the finals but there she will find the going a little too fast for her now. The experience however will serve her well for the future. Look for her to set new personal bests.

Men’s 110m hurdles
Hansle Parchment is the second fastest man in the world in the event this year and he is coming off an injury that will make him race rusty in Moscow. If he can get back to the form that saw him run 13.05 in June and be aggressive in the rounds to get back his race sharpness, he could very well get under 13 seconds which should see him win either gold or silver.

Women’s 100m hurdles
Sisters Shermaine and Danielle Williams represent Jamaica’s new wave of women sprint hurdlers taking over from the likes of 2009 World Champion Brigette Foster Hylton and bronze medallist Deloreen Ennis. Danielle, the younger of the two is Jamaica’s most likely contender for a medal this trip but with the likes of Briana Rollins (12.26) the fastest women in the world this year, Sally Pearson who is recovering well from injury, Dawn Harper, Queen Harrison and others, the going could be really rough for her. Look for her to do well however, perhaps a new personal best but no medals this trip.

Men’s 4x100m relay
Jamaica – gold

Women’s 4x100m
Jamaica – silver

Women’s 4x400m
Jamaica – bronze

Women’s 4oomh
Two-time Diamond League champion Kaliese Spencer has looked a shadow of herself this season while Ristanana Tracey is on the rise. If either of them can put together a run of 53.4 or faster then a medal could be theirs. Spencer who has run as fast as 52.7 doesn’t even look like coming close so our best bet for a medal is young Tracey but maybe it’s a little too early to expect this big a jump from the spirited youngster.

Men’s LJ
The best jump in the world this year is 8.46m. If Damar Forbes can get to the 8.35 (w) he used to win the NCAA Championships this year, he could factor among the medals. I think however, there are just too many people for him to beat to get into the top three.

Women’s triple jump
Kimberly Williams has been jumping well all year but she needs about 20 additional centimetres on her season best 14.38m to factor among the medals. Maybe in Beijing in 2015.

http://gleanerblogs.com/sports/?p=2062

**Karl** · August 10, 2013, 09:11 AM

Historian: My Moscow predictions

Karl, I don’t really enjoy guessing/predictions, but here goes:

Jamaica Total Medals: 8 (3 gold, 3 silver and 2 bronze). As you will see when August 10-18 rolls around, Moscow will be no Berlin or even Daegu!

GOLD MEDALS:
100-meter dash (men): Usain Bolt
200-meter dash (men): Usain Bolt
4x100m relay (men): Carter > Bailey-Cole > Ashmeade/Weir > Bolt

SILVER MEDALS:
100-meter dash (women): Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce
200-meter dash (women): Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce
4x100m relay (women): Brooks > McLaughlin > Stewart > Fraser-Pryce

BRONZE MEDALS:
400-meter race (women): Stephanie McPherson
4x400-m relay (women): Day > Whyte > Williams-Mills > McPherson

OVERVIEW - RELAYS:
4x100m relay (men): Gold > Jamaica; Silver > USA; Bronze > France
4x100m relay (women): Gold > USA; Silver > Jamaica; Bronze > Ukraine

4x400m relay (women): Gold > USA; Silver > Russia; Bronze > Jamaica
4x400m relay (men): Gold > USA; Silver > Bahamas; Bronze > Russia

http://www.reggaeboyzsc.com/forum1/s...755#post435755

**Twan** · August 10, 2013, 09:37 AM

Originally posted by Karl View Post

Think at least one pic incorrectly labeled?
Stephanie McPherson or Kaliese Spencer? I think it is Kaliese?

its correct

**Twan** · August 10, 2013, 09:42 AM

Originally posted by Karl View Post

Think at least one pic incorrectly labeled?
Stephanie McPherson or Kaliese Spencer? I think it is Kaliese?

its correct...it is Stephanie

**Karl** · August 10, 2013, 11:58 AM

OK!

First photo - Who is the unnamed lady?

**Stonigut** · August 10, 2013, 12:10 PM

Seven to win it all with this combination.

Took Athletics Weekly and altered a bit.

Jamaica must step up to win championship in areas of historic underachievement even though we have shown the capability in glimpses to do it. Bolt must be added to 4*400 men's to be able to achieve this mountaintop, cannot be conventional.
Safp must win one and two and women's 4*4 must finally step up, the talent is there to beat a somewhat depleted USA with mcp and other girls in excellent form it is time to step up and make a race of it.

Winning those takes us to seven gold and I changed some of the overly confident USA wins predicted by Athletics weekly. Outside chance of eight if Us messes up 4*1 women.

Final gold standing
Jam - 7
Rus - 6
Eth - 5
USA - 4

MEN

Event Gold Silver Bronze
100 Bolt (JAM) Gatlin (USA) Vicaut (FRA)

200 Bolt (JAM) Weir (JAM) Ashmeade (JAM)

400 James (GRN) Merritt (USA) McQuay (USA)

800 Aman (ETH) Symmonds (USA) Solomon (USA)

1500 Kiprop (KEN) Kiplagat (KEN) Souleiman (DJI)

5000 Farah (GBR) Soi (KEN) Alamirew (ETH)

10,000 Farah (GBR) Rupp (USA) Gebremeskel (ETH)

Marathon Kebede (ETH) Desisa (ETH) Some (KEN)

110H Merritt (USA) Oliver (USA) Richardson (USA)

400H Greene (GBR) Gordon (TRI) Tinsley (USA)

3000SC Kemboi (KEN) Kipruto (KEN) Mekhissi (FRA)

HJ Bondarenko (UKR) Essa Barshim (QAT) Kynard (USA)

PV Lavillenie (FRA) Holzdeppe (GER) Otto (GER)

LJ Menkov (RUS) Da Silva (BRA) Lapierre (AUS)

TJ. Tamgho (FRA) Taylor (USA). Pichardo (CUB)

SP Whiting (USA) Hoffa (USA) Armstrong (CAN)

DS Harting (GER) Malachowski (POL) Wierig (GER)

HT Pars (HUN) Kozmus (SLO) Murofushi (JPN)

JT Tarabin (RUS) Veseley (CZE) Pitkamaki (FIN)

20kW Wang (CHN) Chen (CHN) Arevalo (COL)

50kW Diniz (FRA) Li (CHN) Tallent (AUS)

Dec Eaton (USA) Schrader (GER) Krauchanka (BLR)

4×100 Jamaica (JAM) USA (USA) Great Britain & NI (GBR)

4×400 Jamaica (JAM) if Bolt selected USA (USA) Bahamas (BAH)

WOMEN

Event Gold Silver Bronze
100 Fraser-Pryce (JAM) Okagbare (NGR) Baptiste (TRI)

200 Fraser-Pryce (JAM) Felix (USA) Ahoure (CIV

400 Ohuruogu (GBR) Montsho (BOT) Krivoshapka (RUS)

800 Savinova (RUS) Niyonsaba (BDI) Martinez (USA)

1500 Aregawi (SWE) Simpson (USA) G Dibaba (ETH)

5000 T Dibaba (ETH) Defar (ETH) Ayana (ETH)

10,000 T Dibaba (ETH) Defar (ETH) Cherono (KEN)

Marathon Gelana (ETH) Kiplagat (KEN) Tadesse (ETH)

100H Pearson (AUS) Rollins (USA) Harrison (USA)

400H Hejnova (CZE) Shakes-Drayton (GBR) Moline (USA)

3000SC Chemos (KEN) Chepkurui (KEN) Sofia Assefa (ETH)

HJ Chicherova (RUS) Barrett (USA) Trost (ITA)

PV Silva (CUB) Suhr (USA) Isinbayeva (RUS)

LJ Okagbare (NGR) Reese (USA) De Loach Soukup (USA)

TJ Ibarguen (CUB) Saladuha (UKR) Koneva (RUS)

SP Adams (NZL) Gong (CHN) Kolodko (RUS)

DS Perkovic (CRO) Barrios (CUB) Sendriute (LTU)

HT Heidler (GER) Wlodarczyk (POL) Lysenko (RUS)

JT Abakumova (RUS) Obergfoll (GER) Stahl (GER)

20kW Lashmanova (RUS) Kaniskina (RUS) Liu (CHN)

Hep Theisen (CAN) Schippers (NED) Melnychenko (UKR)

4×100 USA (USA) Jamaica (JAM) Ukraine (UKR)

4×400 Jamaica (JAM) USA (USA) Russia (RUS)

**Twan** · August 10, 2013, 03:25 PM

Originally posted by Karl View Post

OK!

First photo - Who is the unnamed lady?

Ristanna Tracey- 400m hurdles

**Karl** · August 11, 2013, 03:55 PM

Thanks!

**Karl** · August 11, 2013, 03:59 PM

Yhu sure your Men 4x 100M & 4 x 400M...

...predictions should not have Jamaica switched? A slip of di fing-gahs?

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World Champs predictions put Jamaica 4th with four gold med

World Champs predictions put Jamaica 4th with four gold med

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