Sydney Track Classic Preview
WAIS athletes Ben Offereins and Alana Boyd will highlight Saturday night’s Sydney Track Classic when they come up against top quality American opponents.
Offereins – the reigning 400m sprint national champion – will go toe to toe with triple Olympic gold medallist Angelo Taylor in one of the highest calibre sprint fields ever assembled on Australian soil.
Taylor and Offereins will also be joined on the start line by dual Commonwealth Games medallist Sean Wroe and up and coming star Steven Solomon.
One of the stories of the Australian Athletics Tour, 17-year-old Solomon surprised everyone by winning the event in 46.12 at the IAAF Melbourne Track Classic and only last weekend recovered from the flu to convincingly win the under 20 national title at the Australian Junior Athletics Championships.
On the runway, Commonwealth Games gold medallist Alana Boyd will dual in the women’s pole vault with American Chelsea Johnson and fellow WAIS scholarship holder Amanda Bisk.
The 2009 Berlin world championships silver medallist, Johnson boasts a personal best of 4.73m, whilst Boyd cleared 4.60m two weeks ago to improve her career best for the second time in as many weeks and launch herself to second on the Australian All-Time list alongside former world record holder and WAIS athlete Emma George.
In other Sydney Track Classic action:
The penultimate round of a five-stop program that culminates with the Tour Final in Perth in two weeks, the Sydney Track Classic in recent years has been the home of great performances, with 17 athletes achieving the Commonwealth Games A-qualifying standard at the meet last year.
Similarly to the IAAF Melbourne Track Classic, the meet will be headlined by 800m world record holder David Rudisha (KEN), with the Australian all-comers record holder set to join Olympic 1500m gold medallist Asbel Kiprop and national champion Lachlan Renshaw on the start line for two hot laps.
Lowering the 800m world record twice last year to 1:41.01, 21-year-old Rudisha is the African champion. In 2011, he has his sights firmly set on the one thing currently missing from his outstanding international resume – a major championships gold medal.
Kiprop, who only on occasion takes to the two-lap race, at Round 1 of the Diamond League in Doha (QAT) last year only narrowly missed taking line honours from Rudisha in a sprint up the straight, whilst Renshaw will fly the Australian flag having only a fortnight ago clocked a mere 0.26 seconds outside the IAAF world championships qualifier to set his new career best mark of 1:45.66.
Meanwhile in the women’s sprints, Commonwealth 100m hurdles champion Sally Pearson will tackle the 100m, 200m and an International 4x100m Relay Challenge alongside Melissa Breen, Charlotte Van Veenendaal and Laura Whaler with the 44-second IAAF world championships qualifier in their sights.
The winner on every occasion she has taken to the track in 2011 and the current leader of the Australian Athletics Tour sprints/hurdles division (19 points), Pearson’s challenge in the short sprints comes from 2007 world championships gold medallist Mikele ‘Miki’ Barber (USA). Renowned for her pace out of the blocks, it is hoped that her presence could push Pearson to the 100m (11.14, w: +1.9) and 200m (22.23, w: +0.8) Australian records currently held by Melinda Gainsford-Taylor.
Flame athlete Lauren Boden is a likely challenger to Pearson in the sprints/hurdles title race and also one to watch in the women’s 400m hurdles. Fourth placed at the Commonwealth Games in October, Boden is edging towards the IAAF world championships qualifier of 55.40 with the mild and relatively still conditions forecast for Saturday night further sign of a possible great performance.
Centre stage on the in field will be local favourite Dani Samuels in the women’s discus throw.
The youngest world discus champion ever, Samuels achieved her career best performance of 65.84m at the Sydney Track Classic last year and, as current leader of the Australian Athletics Tour throws race (21 points), will be looking to break through the 62.00m IAAF world championships qualifier to secure solid bonus points heading into the Tour Final.
Looking to spoil Samuels’ party will be Becky Breisch (USA) as she begins her campaign for selection to her fourth U.S world championships team. The American discus champion, Breisch last July heaved 66.52m in California to record the fourth best throw of 2010.
world and world indoor championships bronze medallist Mitchell Watt will have top billing in the men’s long jump. Watt missed much of 2010 as a result of injury but his return to the sand pit in recent weeks has seen the Queenslander leap 8.13m (w: +0.1) and 7.98m (w: +1.2) for victory in Brisbane and Melbourne respectively.
A five-stop national tour, the 2011 Australian Athletics Tour boasts four divisions (sprints/hurdles, distance, throws, jumps) with male and female athletes in different events pitted against each other in the race for the largest prize purse in Australian athletics history.
The Sydney Track Classic is the fourth round, with domestic athletes on the hunt for not only a victory but bonus points to ensure their best possible ladder position before the Tour Final decider in Perth in two weeks.
– Athletics Australia