Eight Daegu champions to help celebrate ISTAF’s 90th Birthday – PREVIEW – IAAF World Challenge

Berlin, Germany – Berlin’s ISTAF Meeting will celebrate its 90th birthday on Sunday with its 70th edition, and 29 medal winners from the World Championships, along with a boisterous crowd of some 53,000, will be joining the festivities at Berlin’s historic Olympic Stadium.

At last count, winners of 33* medals from the World Championships – 11 gold, 11 silver and 11 bronze – will be competing at the 1936 Olympic Stadium in the penultimate 2011 IAAF World Challenge Meeting, hoping to add their mark on the rich legacy of Germany’s largest annual athletics event and one of the oldest track & field meet in the world.

Red-hot Blake leads 100m field

While some athletes may still be adjusting to the seven time zone travel westward from Daegu, Yohan Blake clearly isn’t one of them. The 21-year-old Jamaican followed up his World 100m triumph and 4x100m Relay World record-setting escapades in Korea with a blazing 9.82 performance in Zurich on Thursday night, a personal best which elevated him several notches to No. 7 all-time.

As in Zurich, his compatriot Michael Frater, another member of the record-setting 4x100m team, and Daegu bronze medallist Kim Collins of St Kitts and Nevis will be trying to stop him. Or at least keep up.

The women's 100m will have a strong Caribbean flair as well, led by Daegu bronze medallist Kelly-Ann Baptiste of Trinidad, and Jamaicans Kerron Stewart and Sherone Simpson.

Can James’s hot momentum continue?

In Daegu Kirani James became the youngest 400m World champion and is now off to prove that his triumph there wasn’t a one-hit wonder. He’s off to a good start. The 19-year-old had no peer in the Zurich homestretch where he prevailed in 44.36, a national record for Grenada. He looked strong in the Zurich homestretch, too, suggesting the teenager still has a bit in the tank left in the late season.  His chief competitor is his compatriot Rondell Bartholomew, who was sixth in Daegu.

The women’s 400m features Americans Sanya Richards-Ross and Francena McCorory and Anastasiya Kapachinskaya of Russia, who raced to her second consecutive World bronze in the event in Daegu. Along with Kapachinkaya (49.35) and Richards-Ross (49.66) who took the 2009 World title on this track, Jamaican Rosemarie Whyte (49.84) and Antonina Krivoshapka (49.92) have also dipped under 50 seconds this year.

In the women’s 800m Caster Semenya returns to the setting of her 2009 World triumph. The South African took world silver in Daegu and will again face Kenyan Janeth Jepkosgei, the woman she succeeded as World champion, who took bronze in Daegu. Both finished well of the pace in Zurich, Jepkosgei fourth and Semenya fifth, and will be eager to rebound in Berlin.

Homecoming for Deagu throws heroes

Nearly across the board, Germany’s strong throwing Corps returned from Daegu wearing medals, giving them a strong presence on centre stage on Sunday.

David Storl, the surprise winner, will face World leader Dylan Armstong of Canada and reigning Olympic champion Tomasz Majewski of Poland. Armstrong got the better of both in Zurich’s main train station on Wednesday, with the Pole back in fourth and Storl in fifth.

In the Discus Throw, ISTAF poster boy Robert Harting, who successfully defended his World title in Daegu, will be the man to beat in his specialty. Despite an ongoing knee problem, the 26-year-old took home the victory in Zurich on Thursday night and will be difficult to topple on home turf. He’ll take on Estonia’s Gerd Kanter, the Daegu silver medallist, and arch-rival Piotr Malachowski of Poland.