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Jones leads standings
going into Grand Prix Final
Four years after her previous triumph, Marion Jones will attempt to win
her
second IAAF Overall Grand Prix women’s title Saturday in Paris.
Jones, who owns a five-point lead going into the 2002 Grand Prix Final
at
Paris’ Stade Charlety, leads the women’s overall Grand Prix
standings with
92 points, with fellow American Gail Devers in second place with 87 points.
Jones could finish second in the 100 meters Saturday and still win the
overall women’s Grand Prix and the $100,000 check that goes with
it. Jones
will face 2001 World Outdoor 100m champion Zhanna Pintusevich-Block of
the
Ukraine in Paris after recently defeating her in London (10.97 seconds
to
11.11), and in Brussels (10.88 to 10.90).
Jones is accustomed to success at the Grand Prix Final. At the 1998 event,
Jones won two events (100m & long jump), something no other man or
woman has
ever done. Ireland’s Sonia O’Sullivan came the closest to
matching Jones’
feat in 1993 with a first in the 3,000 meters and second in the mile.
In the women’s 100m hurdles, three-time world champion Gail Devers
will look
to avenge a loss to Jamaican Bridgette Foster in London last month. In
addition to posting the fastest time in the world this year of 12.40
seconds, Devers owns seven of the top nine fastest times in the world
this
season.
Morocco’s Hicham El Guerrouj and the Dominican Republic’s
Felix Sanchez
share the lead in the men’s overall Grand Prix race with 92 points.
Tim
Montgomery is the top American in sixth place with 74 points.
For more information on the 2002 IAAF Grand Prix Final, visit www.iaaf.org.
Keflezighi, Browne Headline USA Men's 5K Championship
A top American men's field including U.S. Olympian Meb Keflezighi and
1998
U.S. 5,000-meter champion Dan Browne is expected Sunday at the USA Men’s
5K
Championship. The Championship is held in conjunction with the CVS/pharmacy
Downtown 5K in Providence, Rhode Island.
Keflezighi, 27, from San Diego, has been on a tear this year. Thus far
in
2002, the Team USA California athlete has won four national titles (12K
cross country, 15K roads, 10,000m track and 7 mile roads) and in May at
Stanford, the UCLA graduate ran 27:20.15, the #2 all-time U.S. 10,000m
performance behind his own U.S. record. His 5000m personal record is
13:11.77.
Browne of Portland, Ore., and Kyle Baker of Mason, Mich., are also running
well,
as evidenced by their exciting duel at the USA 20K Championships at New
Haven
on Labor Day where Browne edged Baker 59:21 to 59:22. Boulder, Colo.
resident
Clint Wells, who finished 6th (13:36.22) at the USA 5000m Championships
in
June, also should be a top contender.
The USA Men’s 5K Championship is part of the USA Running Circuit
(USARC), a
USA Track & Field road series. Important USARC points are at stake
Sunday
for the top 10 U.S. finishers. The 2002 USARC, the eighth edition for
the
men and seventh for the women, offers more than $340,000 in championship
prize money plus a $25,000 grand prix purse.
For more information on the 2002 USA Men’s 5K Championships, including
the
results on Sunday, visit www.usatf.org.
Golden League will be six meets beginning in 2003
The International Association of Athletics Federations announced Friday
that
its annual IAAF Golden League would be cut from seven to six meets beginning
in 2003 through 2005.
Berlin, Brussels, Oslo, Paris, Rome and Zurich will again host Golden
League
meetings with Monaco dropping out because it is scheduled to host next
year's World Athletics Final.
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