Doha set for Diamond League
Source: Agencies |
May 14, 2010, Friday
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Print Edition
Print Edition
JAMAICAN sprinter Asafa Powell will be the main attraction at the first meet of the newly created Diamond League, which opens today without many of the sport's biggest names.
The Doha meet is the first of 14 around the world in the Diamond League - which is the successor to the Golden League - but it will be missing 100-meter stars Usain Bolt and Tyson Gay. Also absent are the three athletes who shared the US$1 million Golden League jackpot last year - Russian pole vaulter Yelena Isinbayeva, American 400 runner Sanya Richards and Ethiopian long-distance runner Kenenisa Bekele.
Isinbayeva is taking a break from the sport this season after failing to win a medal at the world indoor championships while Richards and Bekele are out injured.
Powell, a former world-record holder in the 100, played down the absence of compatriot world and Olympic champion Bolt and American Gay but admitted it made victory in his season-opening race much more likely.
"It has got to be easier as you don't have those two guys to push you to that kind of a high level," Powell said. "This is my first 100 of the season and I really want to get it over with. I really want to get out and compete in this race."
The total prize money on offer in the Diamond League is US$6.3 million across 32 track-and-field disciplines. Top performers in each event at the end of the season will get US$40,000 as well as a diamond trophy valued at US$10,000. Even without a host of elite names, there will be plenty to watch today, with 19 world and Olympic champions competing.
American sprinter Allyson Felix, a three-time world champion in the 200, will run in the 400. Croatia's Blanka Vlasic will be looking to continue her dominance in the high jump as will world indoor and outdoor shot put champion Christian Cantwell.
The Doha meet is the first of 14 around the world in the Diamond League - which is the successor to the Golden League - but it will be missing 100-meter stars Usain Bolt and Tyson Gay. Also absent are the three athletes who shared the US$1 million Golden League jackpot last year - Russian pole vaulter Yelena Isinbayeva, American 400 runner Sanya Richards and Ethiopian long-distance runner Kenenisa Bekele.
Isinbayeva is taking a break from the sport this season after failing to win a medal at the world indoor championships while Richards and Bekele are out injured.
Powell, a former world-record holder in the 100, played down the absence of compatriot world and Olympic champion Bolt and American Gay but admitted it made victory in his season-opening race much more likely.
"It has got to be easier as you don't have those two guys to push you to that kind of a high level," Powell said. "This is my first 100 of the season and I really want to get it over with. I really want to get out and compete in this race."
The total prize money on offer in the Diamond League is US$6.3 million across 32 track-and-field disciplines. Top performers in each event at the end of the season will get US$40,000 as well as a diamond trophy valued at US$10,000. Even without a host of elite names, there will be plenty to watch today, with 19 world and Olympic champions competing.
American sprinter Allyson Felix, a three-time world champion in the 200, will run in the 400. Croatia's Blanka Vlasic will be looking to continue her dominance in the high jump as will world indoor and outdoor shot put champion Christian Cantwell.
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