THIS STORY APPEARED FIRST ON THE IAAF WEBSITE www.iaaf.org
Saturday 28 May 2005
Monterrey, Mexico - The appearance of USA’s Olympic 100m champion Justin Gatlin returning from a recent injury scare is set to be one of the highlights the 2005 Banamex Galatlética Monterrey, to be held at the Estadio Tecnológico in this northern Mexican city on 11 June.
The 23-year old sprinter started his season at the end of April during the Penn Relays in Philadelphia, where he anchored in the US Red Team to win 4x100m Relay with the second fastest time this year (38.58).
Justin Gatlin (USA) wins in Osaka in 10.15 seconds
(Getty Images)
A week later, he won his first individual race at the IAAF Grand Prix in Osaka, with 10.15, followed by a third-place finish in Super Grand Prix in Doha (10.14), behind Nigerian-born Portuguese Francis Obikwelu (10.05), the 2004 Athens runner-up, and USA’s Shawn Crawford (10.14).
A muscle pain forced him to drop out of the Adidas Track Classic in Carson (22 May), where his country’s top sprinters competed. Monterrey could see his return to the winning path towards the World Championships this summer in Helsinki.
In the Greek capital last summer, he posted a personal best of 9.85 in one of the finest Olympic 100m races ever, in which six men ran 10.00 seconds or faster.
He completed his Olympic campaign with a bronze medal at the 200m and he also ran the second leg on the silver medal quartet in the 4x100m relay.
“Honestly, after the Olympics, I was very content with what I had done. I had accomplished my life dream since I was eight years old. But I didn’t want to be Olympic champion in 2004 and that was it. When track season started this year, I became hungry again. I can’t think about the Olympics anymore, I have to think about the World Championships this year.” said Gatlin in a recent interview with the IAAF website.
Gatlin said that while he’ll race more in the short dash, he’s currently putting more emphasis on the 200 in training. “I’ve been known to be a natural 200 metre runner, and my top-end speed comes the longer the race goes.”
Guevara versus Williams-Darling
Gatlin is the second Olympic champion confirmed for the 2005 Banamex Galatlética in Monterrey as he joins Bahamas’ 400m gold medallist Tonique Williams-Darling.
The duel between Williams-Darling and Mexico’s world champion and Olympic runner-up Ana Gabriela Guevara over the one-lap race will be the main attraction of the 12 events to be held in Monterrey.
Men will contest in 100, 200, 400, 5000m, 400m Hurdles and Pole Vault, while women will run 100, 200, 400 and 3000m, High Jump and Long Jump.