Top European stars line up at Qatar Super Grand Prix – European Athletics (EAA) – NEWS

A battery of top European athletes will battle it out with the best in the world when they kick-start their outdoor season at the Qatar Super Grand Prix – IAAF World Athletics Tour meeting in Doha on Friday evening.

Reigning High Jump world champion and two-time Doha defending champion Blanka Vlasic of Croatia will be looking to get over her disappointment at the European Athletics Indoor Championships in Torino, where she failed to make it to the final.

A huge fan base will be cheering on the High Jump queen as she bids to reclaim the "Athlete of the Meet" title she won two years back.

Olympic Shot Put champion Tomasz Majewski, meanwhile, will come face-to-face with American Christian Cantwell, who has produced the year's outdoor best so far of 21.53m.

European Indoor Shot Put champion Majewski has had a far from enviable head-to-head against Olympic silver medallist Cantwell and will be looking to turn the tables in Qatar.

The men's Javelin throw will offer up another keen contest, with two-time reigning Olympic champion Andreas Thorkildsen of Norway set to slug it out with Olympic silver medallist Ainars Kovals of Latvia.

In the women's Long Jump, Nadia Gomez of Portugal, the world leader in 2008, will pose the biggest challenge to Olympic champion Higa Maggi of Brazil.

Ukrainian Natalya Lishinskaya had to settle for 1500m silver in Beijing and has her first opportunity to put the record straight against her victor Nancy Langat in Doha. Kenyan Langat defied all pre-race predictions to beat Lishinskaya to take the Olympic gold in China.

European Athletics (EAA) – NEWS