Offereins to Compete in Stockholm
National 400m champion Ben Offereins will compete in his first European meet for the season in Stockholm this weekend.
Olympic silver medallist Sally Pearson will spearhead the green and gold charge in Round 11 of the IAAF Diamond League tour, the hurdles gun set to step out in Sweden alongside fellow Commonwealth Games nominees Collis Birmingham, WAIS athlete Ben Offereins, Jarrod Bannister and New Delhi hopeful Youcef Abdi on a big night for the Australians.
Offereins will line up over one hot lap as he continues a stellar year on the track that will culminate in his Commonwealth Games debut in the 400m and 4x400m relay events in New Delhi in October. It will be his first effort since winning a second national title last April in Perth.
Meanwhile in Lucerne, Switzerland WAIS athletes Alana Boyd, Liz Parnov and Amanda Bisk will make their 2010 European debuts. The pole vault trio have been based in Cologne, Germany to this point and will limber up for competition this weekend.
Pearson, who tomorrow night continues her return to the international track and field circuit following the back injury she sustained in the lead-up to last year’s IAAF world championships, will enter the Stockholm meet looking to build on her third place at the Monaco edition of the 14-meet series that showed her comeback was on track just a fortnight ago.
In Stockholm Pearson will meet world championships silver medallist Priscilla Lopes-Schliep (CAN), Berlin finalist Perdita Felicien (CAN) and Diamond Race leader Lolo Jones (USA) in what will be a tough test for the 23-year-old Queenslander against two of her likely Commonwealth Games challengers in the two Canadians.
Also hitting the track tomorrow night will be national 10,000m record-holder Collis Birmingham, who joins a quality line-up in the men’s 5000m. Seven world championships finalists over the 5000m distance, including Berlin bronze medallist James Kwalia C’Kurui (QAT), will take to the start line of the event as well as Diamond Race leader Imane Merga (ETH), in a 22-man field predictably dominated by 17 African entrants.
Joining Offereins in contesting one of several non-Diamond League events on the program, 2008 Olympic and 2009 world championships representative Youcef Abdi continues his hectic race schedule with a start in the 3000m steeplechase alongside world titles finalists Paul Kipsiele Koech (KEN), Mohamed Mustafa (SWE) and Tareq Mubarak Taher (BRN).
Flying the flag for Australia in the field, reigning national javelin title-holder Jarrod Bannister will take on some of the biggest names in the event worldwide when he steps out at Stockholm Olympic Stadium tomorrow night, including 2007 world champion Tero Pitkamaki (FIN) and reigning world title-holder and Diamond Race leader Andreas Thorkildsen (NOR).
Also in the field is Berlin silver medallist Guillermo Martinez (CUB) and world titles finalists Petr Frydrych (CZE), Ainars Kovals (LAT) and Teemu Wirkkala (FIN), setting up what should be a stellar showdown in Stockholm.
– Athletics Australia