Sprint fest at stadium - Plethora of stars to blaze track at Jamaica International Invitational »

Sprint fest at stadium - Plethora of stars to blaze track at Jamaica International Invitational

Elton Tucker, Assistant Editor - Sport

Williams-Mills, Bolt, Rock and McFarlane

It is being billed as the 'Prelude to Beijing' and today's fifth staging of the Jamaica International Invitational meet at the National Stadium will showcase a galaxy of track and field stars who are expected to be among the outstanding performers at the August 8-24 Olympic Games in China.

The action starts at 7:00 p.m, with the women's long jump and the 4x100m for high-school girls.

Sizzling action will come on the track as star-studded fields have been assembled in several events. The athletes include many who won gold medals at last year's World Cham-pionships in Osaka, Japan.

Biggest clash

The men's double-sprint champion, American Tyson Gay, is down for the 200 metres. Jamaica's 100m gold medallist Veronica Campbell-Brown is also listed for the women's 200m.

The world 400m hurdles champion, Kerron Clement, opens his season in Jamaica and will hit the track at 7:30 p.m. against Jamaica's 2004 Olympic silver medallist Danny McFarlane.

Jamaican-born American Sanya Richards is determined to put a disappointing 2007 well behind and mine gold in Beijing. She will compete against Jamaica's national champion Novlene Williams-Mills in the 400m.

The biggest clash of all could come in the men's 100m where long-time 200m rivals, Jamaica's Usain Bolt and American Wallace Spearmon, will attempt to lower their personal records over the distance.

Both are attempting to not only increase their speeds, but to get on the sprint relay teams of their respective countries for the Olympics. Spearmon has a personal time of 9.96 for the distance while Bolt's best is 10.03.

Athletes' liaison Donald Quarrie has predicted that the standard of the performances today will surpass previous meets.

"I expect to see outstanding performances. I think the athletes who are here are going to make their country's Olympic teams and I think we will see a lot of medallists. In some of the events we will see very close, competitive running but most of all, I think it is going to put Jamaica at another level, as the standard will be much higher than before in terms of performances," Quarrie said.

He added: "We have a lot of outstanding athletes in the 100m for men and women. The 200m is just as loaded, also the 400m. In the 400m hurdles, we have the world cham-pion, Kerron Clement."

Richards, who visited her old school, Vaz Preparatory, yesterday afternoon, is one of the darlings of the Jamaican crowd. She said at a press briefing on the eve of the meet that she is focused on being the "best 400m runner in the world in August."

The American, who has the world-leading time of 50.47 seconds, could run a fast time today as she said her training was going well this year after a 2007 where she could not train for five months due to illness.

"This year, with consistent training and better speed, I am really hoping to run sub-49 seconds multiple times this season, but if not, and I get the gold medal, it will be just as good," Richards said.

Grand performance

Jamaica's Campbell-Brown is also looking to give a grand performance in the women's 200m.

"My training has been going great so far. I realise that since I ran 22.05 (at the Olympics), my 200m has not been at its best. My curve is always good, so I am working on the finish," Campbell, who has the world's third-fastest time for 2008, 22.66, said.

Fast times are also expected in the men's 400m where American Andrew Rock will clash with Jamaica's national champion Sanjay Ayre and Michael Blackwood, and the women's 400m hurdles which has attracted American Lashinda Demus, who won a silver medal in the event at the Helsinki World Championships in 2005. Her personal best is 53.02.

Last year, Gay blew away the field in the 200m, clocking 19.97. It set him up perfectly for the sprint double in Osaka. Today's race is his first over the distance this season and Gay said he is again looking to run the 'perfect' race as he gets ready for the American trials.

Even at less than full throttle, he should still get well under 20 seconds for the distance.

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