Bislett set to live up to exceptional distance running and throwing traditions – PREVIEW – ÅF Golden League

Oslo, Norway – The forecast for Friday night’s (3) ExxonMobil Bislett Games in Oslo, the second leg of the six meeting ÅF Golden League 2009, is for fine weather – 30C – and sporting competition of a temperature to match a perfect Nordic summer evening of warmth and sunshine.

This being the capital of the world’s most successful winter sports nation, it perhaps should come as no surprise that despite the oppressive heat in which Oslo has been sweltering all week that the second event on tomorrow’s pre-international programme is the annual Snow Ball throwing champs for boys and girls!

It poses the question in a highly technically regulated sport such as athletics whether there is an official maximum temperature allowable for this event before it is retitled a water fight??!!

TRADITION

The strength of the ExxonMobil Bislett Games lies in its traditions which attract its annual audience of enthusiastic spectators. World class middle and long distance running has over the decades provided Oslo with one of its two central pillars of entertainment success, the other being javelin throwing…more of that later.

Distance races of the highest stature

This year’s edition will be no exception as the Dream Mile and two 5000m races of the highest calibre are the pinnacles of Bislett’s show.

Each of these three events have already been extensively previewed in the last week – see previous stories in ‘Related Content’ under the photo to the right of this text – but suffice it to say that in the likes of Ethiopia’s Olympic 5000m and 10,000m double champion Kenenisa Bekele and illustrious compatriots such as Sileshi Sihine, Meseret Defar, Meselech Melkamu to name but a few, both 5000s have a line-up which ticks all the boxes in terms of Bislett’s proud distance running tradition.

Dibaba out

Unfortunately, the meeting in the last 24hrs has been robbed of its marquee attraction which would have seen World 5000m champion Defar who set a World record at that distance here in 2007 take on current Olympic champion Tirunesh Dibaba who last year smashed that record also on Bislett’s oval. Dibaba sadly has had to withdraw due to a slight injury in training.

Mark Wetmore her manager commented: "Tirunesh is not 100% ready to race Meseret… she has been suffering from shin splints."

Yet this should still be an epic race as a huge challenge to Defar will be offered by Kenyan Vivian Cheruiyot, the World silver medallist and the third fastest 5000m runner in history behind these two Ethiopians. Incidentally her national record of 14:22.51 was set when she finished second behind Defar in Oslo in 2007.

And there is also in-form Meselech Melkamu of Ethiopia, who set the African record over 10,000m on 14 June this year in Utrecht, who will offer the highest calibre of opposition. Melkamu’s time of 29:53.80 now makes her the second quickest over 10,000m in history, and on this form her 5000m PB of 14:33.83 (2007) is certainly set for revision in Bislett.

Recalling past glories

A trip down memory lane will be taken in the U23 men’s 1500m race in which the name of Matti Viren, son of Lasse, Finland’s four-time Olympic 5000 and 10,000m champion of the 1970s, appears on the starting list.

A similar blast from the past occured in the Dream Mile last year, with winner Andy Baddeley reminding us all of the years of British hegemony over this imperial classic during which three World records were set in Oslo.

Baddeley is not on the final start list, and it seems that the mantle of Mile racing tradition will most likely be taken up by Kenyan Augustine Choge who has been in magnificent form this season with fast victories over 1500m in Doha (3:30.20) and at Berlin’s ÅF Golden League (3:29.47), the latter a personal best for the distance.

Ethiopia’s World Indoor champion Deresse Mekonnen who was third last year in Oslo in a national record of 3:49.72 is another top candidate for honours.

As per tradition, there's that word again, the Dream Mile ends the night's programme (19:50GMT / 21:50 local time).

Gregson and Kaki – Great talents

And looking to the future in the senior men’s 1500m we will catch a glimpse of a possible prospect for running fame and glory, as Australian junior Ryan Gregson, who is barely 19-year-old (DOB 26 April 1990) is a starter.

Gregson, who was fifth in the 2008 World Junior championships 1500m in Bydgoszcz, Poland, tore up the tracks during the Australian season early this year. Most notably on 28 February in Sydney he ran the 1500m in 3:37.24, an Area Junior record and a senior World championship B-qualifying time for Berlin. The time is equivalent of a Mile in 3:54.5, equal to the fastest time ever run by Australia's Herb Elliott, still rated by many as history's greatest miler.

Now in Europe for the northern summer season, Gregson ran a PB of 3:59.67 for the Mile in Ostrava on 17 June. In Oslo he faces a tough 1500m field of great experience which includes a slew of talented Africans and Ireland’s Alister Cragg, the 2005 European Indoor champion at 3000m (1500m PB of 3:36.18).

If Gregson is a promising young talent then in the 800m Sudan’s Abubaker Kaki is a proven one, even if his Beijing Olympic ambitions did go off course. Kaki, the 2008 World Indoor and World Junior champion, also raced in Oslo last year and provided one of the standout performances with his World Junior record of 1:42.69. That time ended the year as the world’s fastest of 2008, and makes Kaki the 13th quickest two lap runner of all-time. His current age – 20 years and 11 days. Remarkable!

This year Kaki has a season’s best of 1:43.09 (8 May, Doha) and is undefeated after four international circuit victories. He faces 2004 Olympic champion Yuriy Borzakovskiy of Russia and Saudi World championship finalist  Mohammed Al-Salhi who sped to a national record of 1:43.66 behind Kaki in Doha.

The distance schedule also features a quality women’s 3000m Steeplechase with Ruth Bisibori, 21, Kenya's World Junior record holder and a World and Olympic top-8 finalist in the last two years, the leading name.

ÅF Golden League Jackpot – nine out of ten to start

There are ten ÅF Golden League $1 Million Jackpot events in 2009, and nine of the ten winners from Berlin on 14 June, the first of the six meeting series, continue their campaigns with the task to win all 6 competitions and so secure at least a share of athletics biggest annual prize. The aforementioned Kenenisa Bekele in the men’s 5000m is one of these nine.

Click here for a full list of Jackpot contenders and the structure of the Jackpot

Berlin on her mind

The missing contender is Germany’s Ariane Friedrich who stole the show in front of the 63,000 crowd in Berlin with her 2.06m national High Jump record and her near miss at the World record. However, with the greater goal this season of becoming World champion on home soil in the same Berlin stadium in August on Friedrich’s mind, she has decided to skip Oslo in favour of the national championships in Ulm this weekend.

Friedrich’s absence leaves her defeated rival of the 14 June, reigning World champion Blanka Vlasic to head up the High Jump cast. The Croatian who has been flying high too with a season best of 2.05m will meet among others US champion Chaunte Howard, the 2005 World Champs silver medallist, and Spain’s Ruth Beitia, a World and Olympic top-8 finalist.

Isinbayeva another foot on an almost certain path to fortune

The first Jackpot event of the evening to get underway will be the women’s Pole Vault with Yelena Isinbayeva of Russia, the 2008 World Athlete of the Year, seemingly certain to remain peerless, and safe on the road to at least a share of the $1 Million. Her season’s best is the 4.83 with which she won in Berlin on 14 June and her chief rivals will be compatriot and former World record holder Svetlana Feofanova, Brazil’s Fabiana Murer who successfully passed a 4.82m summit on 7 June for a new Area record, and other major championship medallists past and present including Yulia Golubchikova (RUS), Tatiana Polnova (RUS), Anna Rogowska (POL) and Monica Pyrek (POL).

There is one other jump on the programme, a Long Jump, a field of which is entirely filled by athletes from the Baltic area and is headed by super Swede Carolina Klüft, who whilst a 2008 Olympic finalist remains better known as the reigning World Heptathlon champion.

Bailey vs Powell and Ndure; Stewart looks a more comfortable Jackpot bet

The men’s 100m finds Jackpot contender Daniel Bailey of Antigua up against Jamaica’s former World record holder Asafa Powell and resurgent local hero Jaysuma Saidy Ndure – see previous stories in ‘Related Content’ under the photo to the right of this text.

The women’s dash pits double Olympic medallist Kerron Stewart of Jamaica, 10.92 sec this season and also a contender for the $1 Million, against fellow countrywomen Aleen Bailey and Sheri Ann Brooks, and Trinidad’s Kelly Ann Baptiste to name but a few. Stewart won in Berlin in 11.00 and comes fresh from her second place in last weekend’s national championships where she ran 10.93 behind Olympic champion Shelly Ann Fraser’s 10.88.

Cherry has her hands full; easier ride for Faulk?

USA’s Dexter Faulk has had his chances of continuing in the Jackpot hunt raised by the relatively light field in the men’s 110m Hurdles which is missing its main global protagonists Dayron Robles, David Payne and David Oliver, the medallists from Beijing. Faulk was 8th at the recent US nationals in Eugene, having run 13.18 to win in Berlin and improved his PB to 13.13 a few days afterwards in Ostrava.

The women’s 100m Hurdles looks to be a closer call with Jackpot pursuer Damu Cherry of the USA, third place in the US Champs with a windy 12.44 in the semis, against the Canadian duo of Olympic bronze medallist Priscilla Lopes-Schliep (12.52 PB this year) and Perdita Felicien the 2003 World champion and 2009 national champion (ahead of Lopes-Schliep), and Jamaica's World Championship winning medallists Delloreen Ennis London and Brigitte Foster-Hylton, who were 5th and 6th in Beijing. Norway counts on the talent of Christina Vukicevic who set a 12.74 national record when winning in Hengelo on 1 June.

Richards and Brown – tough head to head battles for each

Back to the flat and the two Jackpot applicable 400m races offer particularly intriguing head-to-head battles.

The highly anticipated match-up between Britain’s World and Olympic champion Christine Ohuruogu and her fellow Beijing medallists Shericka Williams (JAM) and Sanya Richards (USA) has already been deeply previewed. 

Richards is the world season leader (49.57 in Berlin), a former Jackpot winner, and is a contender for this year’s prize too.

Chris Brown of the Bahamas is Richard’s Jackpot counterpart in the men’s one lap which will see Congolese Gary Kikaya aiming at a three in a row defeat of France’s Olympic fifth placer Leslie Djhone after successes over him in Nancy and Lille. Solid Swedish bet Johan Wissman, also an Olympic finalist (8th) will also be in the mix in this tightly matched field.

Thorkildsen vs Pitkämäki – Back to Oslo’s traditions

The remaining ÅF Golden League Jackpot event is the men’s Javelin Throw which brings us back to where this preview began and the importance of tradition as a core ingredient in the continued success of the ExxonMobil Bislett Games.

Javelin Throwing is as much Bislett as is distance running. To hear the roar of the stadium’s faithful as the spear of Norway’s double Olympic champion Andreas Thorkildsen flies ever closer to the 90m sector is a sporting moment to savour.

Arch rival and Jackpot contender Tero Pitkämäki, the World champion from neighbouring Finland, heads a comprehensive cohort of the world’s best throwers who hope to up stage Bislett’s home boy – see previous stories in ‘Related Content’ under the photo to the right of this text.

Bislett, from this evening’s Strawberry Party – the official annual meeting opening held at Oslo’s City Hall where local VIPs meet the top athletes, and media – to the action in the stadium on the following night, is all about TRADITION.

Chris Turner