Sydney GP: Wariner loses

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Historic 800m highlights Sydney Grand Prix

Eight years on from the Olympic Games, track and field returned to its rightful atmosphere of excitement and drama in Sydney. The crowd was abuzz with the performances delivered by Australia’s finest athletes, resulting in two A and nine B qualifiers for Beijing.

The historians were sent scurrying to the archives following the women’s 800m. Their task: to determine whether two Australians had ever run below two minutes in the same race before. Whilst not completely confirmed, historians believe the feat had never been achieved.

Tamsyn Lewis continued her fine form this season, holding off a strong run from fellow Victorian Madeleine Pape – 1:59.59 to 1:59.92. Both marks were Olympic A-qualifiers: Lewis’ fifth, but Pape’s first.

Lewis followed the pacemaker through a fast first lap of 58 seconds and passed through the 600m mark in 1:28, with Charlene Rendina’s 1976 record of 1:59.0 under threat. It was not to be on this occasion, but with Pape planning to challenge Lewis further and the gap between them constantly closing, it could fall at the Olympic selection trials in Brisbane in a fortnight.

“I love to race against Tamsyn,” said Pape, who became only the fifth Australian under the coveted two-minute barrier. “But she’s not the only one doing hard work out there.”

Lewis remarked that she was “not chasing times, but the final in Beijing.”

“It would be nice to have other girls around me,” Lewis said in reference to the upcoming world indoor titles in Spain,” she said.

Men’s 200m

The crowd was completely silent for the start of the final race of the night, the men’s 200m. All attention was focused on lane five, that of Olympic and dual world champion over 400m, Jeremy Wariner (USA). In his first race of the season, he was last to leave the blocks.

The lead was shared around the bend by 2005 world championship 100m silver medalist Michael Frater (JAM) and versatile hometown sprinter Daniel Batman. Batman ran strongly down the home straight to win in 20.81 seconds, holding off a late surge from Wariner who ran 20.93 seconds.

Batman hopes to run the 200m in Beijing, as well as being part of both relay squads.

“It felt quicker, but I felt like I ran a pretty good race,” said Batman. “It’s good to have the competition here, but I’ve still got to run a bit quicker in the next couple of weeks.”

Wariner knows exactly where he needs to improve his race in the short term.

“I need to get up a little faster,” he said. ““It’s early in my season. My main event is the 400m, so I’m looking forward to next week.”

Aside from the women’s 800m, quality middle distance displays were put on in the men’s 1500m and 3000m steeplechase.

Men’s 1500m

The men’s 1500m saw one of the deepest fields in Australian history set foot on the track, with eight of the ten Australians in the field holding personal bests under 3:40. The first four in the field all improved on their bests in a thrilling race.

It was Australia’s 10,000m champion Collis Birmingham who ignited the field, making a strong move to the lead with 250m to go. This was the spark that set Brad Woods and Mitch Kealey into full stride, with Woods drawing onto Birmingham’s shoulders as they entered the straight. Kealey matched Woods stride for stride down the straight, with them separated only by a desperate lunge at the line by Woods, winning in 3:37.63. Kealey was two hundredths of a second behind, with Birmingham clocking a promising 3:37.88 before his attempt at the Olympic qualifier over 5000m at Thursday’s World Athletics Tour meet in Melbourne. All three clocked B-qualifiers for Beijing and have the A-qualifier of 3:36.60 in their sights.

“My coach has let me do a bit more speed work, which has really helped the back end of my race,” said Woods explaining his breakthrough performance.

Men’s 3000m Steeplechase

Martin Dent produced a gutsy effort to win the 3000m steeplechase, fading slightly over the final lap to see the A-qualifier slip out of reach. The 29 year old finished in a B-qualifier of 8:27.00, just two and a half seconds outside his personal best, which he set at the meet last year.

“The opportunity was there tonight,” said Dent. “I think I’m in as good a shape as last year, but it didn’t happen tonight.”

Men’s 400m

The much anticipated 400m lived up to expectations in terms of being a stellar contest, with six athletes entering the straight together. It was Australian champion, Sean Wroe, who prevailed in the race to the line, stopping the clock at 45.84 seconds ahead of Dylan Grant (46.16) and Mark Ormrod (46.30).

Darold Williamson, Olympic and dual world champion in the relays, was sluggish in his first race of the season, finishing fifth in 46.53 seconds. He has a lot of work ahead of him before Thursday’s race in Melbourne, which will feature Jeremy Wariner and New South Wales’ Joel Milburn, who will return to competition fully recovered from a minor injury which kept him out of tonight’s race.

Men’s 100m

Matt Shirvington was clocked at the same time as 2003 world championships silver medalist Darrel Brown, but to the delight of the crowd was given the nod by the photo finish judges. Although Shirvington’s time of 10.43 seconds was well outside the Olympic qualifiers of 10.21 (A) and 10.28 (B), his victory has put a stride into his step to make his second Olympic team.

“I’m enjoying it more than I ever have and the Olympic Games is a big motivation.”

Women’s Shot Put

The crowd was treated to a spectacular display in the women’s shot put, with world champion obliterating the meet record by over a metre, with a world class performance of 19.78m. World junior discus champion Dani Samuels improved her personal best in her secondary event with a throw of 16.30m.

Women’s Javelin

The crowd was captivated by the infield action in the women’s javelin. Kathryn Mitchell and Kimberley Mickle continued to improve on their quest for the A-qualifier of 60.50m, both recording B-qualifiers – Mitchell (58.07m) taking the lead in the fourth round and holding onto it despite a fifth round effort of 57.64m by Mickle.

Women’s Pole Vault

Queensland’s Alana Boyd had only four jumps in the women’s pole vault, which suffered from the windy conditions on the back straight. Her first attempt of the competition at 4.30m was cleared successfully and is her second B-qualifier for Beijing.

Other performances

Other quality performances were recorded by Jamaica’s Sherone Simpson in the 200m (23.44s), Kiwi Andrea Miller in the 100m Hurdles (13.30s), Commonwealth champion Bronwyn Thompson in the long jump (6.52m), Japan’s Tusuku Tanonaka in the 110m Hurdles (13.88s), Brendan Cole in the 400m Hurdles (50.53s), and a meet record of 61.50m to Benn Harradine in the discus.

Attention now turns to the World Athletics Tour in Melbourne on Thursday night.

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20.9 is pretty much ass bad for any time of the year for someone with a 20.2 pr, who ostenstibly doesn’t do much speed work, unless of course the conditions wern’t so hot.

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does Wariner normally compete at this time of year? It is a rather interesting result for a guy who says he is expecting to improve his 200m as part of his preparation. Guess we’ll see how things are really going shortly.

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great to see further success for pape. she’s been working hard and is closing the gap every time they meet… :smiley:

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i think 02-04 with hart he was running indoors at this time of the year, and faster realitive to his pr’s than now.

in 06 he ran on the indoor 4x4 WR, but besides that this would be his earliest opener since 04.

i think all that really matters is how he does in the 400 next week.

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Im just waiting till the summer, then we will know for sure how him seperating from hart has affected him and how much talent he really has.

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All of the times are ass bad. Look at Sherone’s 200 and Williamson’s 400. Heck, I don’t know if John Woods (10.5 in the 100 at this meet) has run 10.5 in at least a couple years.

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yes, the times overall are tough.

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no thats where he is at at present - results from canberra GP below

Men 100m A Final Open 1, Adam Miller, AIS, 10.41. 2, Aaron Rouge-Serret, VIS, 10.43. 3, Matt Shirvington, Nswis, 10.54. 4, John Woods, USA, 10.56.

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I’m not saying that isn’t what he ran, just saying all of the times are bad. Sherone 23.4 and Williamson 46.anything is just bad for those two. What were the conditions like?

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i stayed away from the meet, 1 - JR not running and because a female i coach ranked 5th nationally at 24.19 couldnt get a start… look at the womens 200m race…:eek:

BUT from a call i just had the conditions have been alot worse in recent weeks ie rained almost every meet this year in sydney and stronger head winds, americans aside as they dont count for form this early on, alot of the sprinters may have got caught up racing.

not a good sign for either 4 x 100m relay teams.

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Remember these guys just got off the plane. First up race is always going to be terrible.

I remember from a few years ago when alvin (or calvin) harrison was in australia, his first up race was high 45s. The next week, after the jetlag was out of his body, he popped out a sub 45s, streaking away the last 100m.

So the real test will be next week

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i think like me he was more concerned with the aussie times not the overseas runners…

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Saturday, 16 February 2008 Vili, Lewis impress, Batman defeats Wariner at 200m - Sydney report

http://www.iaaf.org/news/kind=100/newsid=43410.html

Tamsyn Lewis ® leads Madeleine Pape to sub-2 minute clockings in Sydney (Getty Images)

Sydney, Australia – Valerie Vili served notice of her determination to add the World indoor Shot Put title to her outdoor crown with a mighty display of power on Saturday at the Sydney Grand Prix in which local sprinters upset their more decorated guests who included American Jeremy Wariner.

The Sydney Athletics Grand Prix is one of a select group of Area meetings at which points can be acquired by athletes to qualify for the 2008 IAAF / VTB Bank World Athletics Final to be held on 13-14 September in Stuttgart.

Vili, the towering New Zealander, extended her world outdoor lead to 19.78m and in so doing threw further than Belorussia’s Nadzeya Ostapchuk’s best indoor mark of 2008, her 19.73m in Minsk on 19 January.

“I’m not 100 percent, I’ve got a bit of a back injury but I’m managing it,” said Vili, explaining that she hurt herself doing 50m sprints on a grass track at home in Auckland.

Vili, who has an English father and a Tongan mother, is married to French Discus champion Bertrand Vili who she met in New Caledonia. Together with Valerie’s coach, Kirsten Hellier, Bertrand contributed thoughts which led to Vili experimenting with her action last night and the evidence suggests the changes have worked.

In 200m tune-up, Batman defeats Wariner

Of course it would be ridiculous to suggest that after a loss in his season opening race over 200m that Wariner’s recent change of coach, from Clyde Hart to Michael Ford has not worked out.

It was only to be expected that the Australian sprinters gearing up for their national championships which double as their main Olympic selection trial (February 28-March 2) would have the edge in sharpness and race fitness.

So Daniel Batman, running in the lane immediately inside Wariner, got the jump and stole a couple of metres within the first 50m of the 200m race and although the Olympic 400m champion closed on the stocky Australia he could not catch him in time. Batman clocked 20.81 (-0.5m/s) and held on to beat Wariner (20.93), NSW’s Henry Mitchell (21.05) and Jamaica’s 2005 Helsinki World 100m silver medallist Michael Frater (21.11) who suffered after the race.

“It’s my first race, really a tune-up race for me,” said Wariner who will contest his favoured 400m in the Melbourne Grand Prix, a World Athletics Tour meet this Thursday 21 February.

“Last year I started in 21-flat. I’m below 21 this year. My strength is there. I was able to fight back, but in my first 50 I could feel Batman get up on me.

“I knew Daniel Batman is a good runner. He was recruited to Baylor (the University Wariner attended and still trains at in Waco, Texas), but he didn’t come. I don’t know why. Anyway, I’m not worried about getting beaten now, especially in the 200.”

He preferred not to speculate on what time he might be capable of over 400m based on his 200 result last night, but it is safe to say the tightness through his entire action evident as he searched for top speed he doesn’t have yet will not be a factor in Melbourne where the longer distance will permit him to relax into the superb rhythm which typifies his 400m performances.

Two Aussies go sub-2 in the same race for the first time

The performance of perhaps greatest significance for the home crowd last night came in the women’s 800m in which, for the first time, two Australians bettered two minutes in the same race.

Tamsyn Lewis, already winner of 11 national 800m titles and now fitter than she’s ever been, was dominant up front winning in 1:59.59, while fellow Victorian Madeleine Pape forged below her previous best of 2:01.17 from last year to clock 1:59.92 to become only the fifth Australian under two minutes.

Both women broke the meet record of 2:00.52 Lewis had set in the year of the Sydney Olympics, newcomer Pape now looking likely to represent at the Beijing Games having never run for Australia even at junior level.

How appropriate then for Pape, 24, a student in international studies who is contemplating a career working for the Dept of Foreign Affairs.

“It doesn’t even feel real. It’s just amazing. I can’t believe it,” Pape said of her breakthrough run which broke the Olympic A-qualifying standard of 2min exactly.

Lewis has done it tough all these years, carrying the burden of making the pace and for that she is respected. She probably did not need to comment over the public address system post-race that: “I’m looking forward to running in Europe. It sucks running on your own all the time.”

Pape responded later by saying she loves running against Lewis, who she has never bettered over any distance. But Pape added: “I ran my fastest first lap ever last weekend in the Victorian state championships and we didn’t have a pacemaker. Every race overseas has a pace maker. She (Lewis) has to give more credit to the other girls. She’s not the only one doing hard work out there.”

Nevertheless it is Lewis who carries Australia’s 800 hopes at the World indoor championships in Valencia from 7-9 March.

Rough and tumble men’s 1500m

The other middle distance race also provided a brilliant battle as the 1500, which included eight sub 3:40 runners in the field of 10, saw the first three cross the line in times faster the Olympic B-qualifying mark of 3:39.00.

Beaten at the NSW state championships only a week ago, Bradley Woods tumbled to the track after finishing first last night in 3:37.63 ahead of Queensland’s Mitchell Kealey (3:37.65) with Zatopek 10,000m champion Collis Birmingham of Victoria third (3:37.88) after breaking to the front with 150m to go.

“This was everything I had hoped for. Everyone in the race had a crack,” said Woods, 24, a civil engineering student at Sydney University. “This is probably the first night I’ve peaked at the right time. I’ve done a bit more speed work this year which helped the back end of my race.”

Three Kenyans in the race struggled at that pace, the first of them, Bernard Kiptum, finishing sixth in 3:39.74.

Visitors also struggled in the other men’s sprints, with former national champion Matt Shirvington hanging on just long enough to gain the verdict in a photo-finish from 2003 Paris World 100m silver medallist Darrel Brown of Trinidad, both in 10.43 (+0.1m/s). Under the pressure Shirvington reverted in the later stages to his old technical model but he did enough good work through to 60m to show that he could yet regain the national title.

“It’s just nice to get a couple of wins again. I’ve just got to get a break with the time,” Shirvington said. “This is my last crack (at an Olympics). I’m sick of running slow. I just want to run fast again. I’ve enjoyed this season more than I ever have. An Olympic Games is a big incentive. I’m not saying I’ll retire after this, although I nearly did after the (2006) Commonwealth Games. “

Victorian Sean Wroe, the Australian champion, won the 400m in 45.84 overhauling Queensland’s Dylan Grant (46.16) with US Olympic 4x400m relay gold medallist Darold Williamson fifth in 46.53 in his season-opener.

But Jamaica’s Sherone Simpson, the world’s No.1 100m performer in 2006, made easy and stylish work of winning the women’s 200m in 23.44 (-0.7m/s) from Fiji’s Makelesi Batimala (23.84) and Victoria’s Lauren Hewitt (24.12).

“I’m much stronger mentally after coming through injuries last year,” Simpson said. “I definitely don’t want to go through that again.”

Powell unsure about Melbourne appearance

Her stablemate at coach Stephen Francis’s MVP squad, 100m World recordholder Asafa Powell, was due to have four stitches removed from his left knee after the meet finished.

“I’m getting some good treatment. I’ll make the decision about competing in Melbourne after I’ve done some practice (probably on Monday),” Powell said.

The world’s fastest man, known for his casual approach to training, confessed that he injured his knee falling in the stairs at his home in Jamaica when he should have been at training, just a day before his scheduled departure for Australia.

“I can’t help it sometimes being late for training – but I’ll never fall on the stairs again,” he said with a broad bright smile.

In other results: Japan’s Tusuku Tanonaka was too powerful and technically efficient in winning the 110m Hurdles in 13.88 (-1.0m/s) from NSW’s Justin Merlino (13.95) and New Zealand’s James Mortimer (14.06).

China took the top two spots in the men’s triple jump, Yanxi Li (16.58m) winning from Shujing Zhu (16.41m); Victoria’s Ben Harradine remained consistent in winning the discus with 61.50m; Victoria’s Georgie Clarke won the national title in capturing the 5000m in 15:24.03.; Queenslander Bronwyn Thompson continues her return to form, long jumping 6.52m (+0.0).

Mike Hurst for the IAAF

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Why do you think that matters either??? It’s February, last checked the medals weren’t being handed out for another six months.

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to clairify, i ment for his AU trip all that mattered was the 400, this thread is more about his aussie trip than bejing.

last checked you can count months on a calender. :rolleyes:

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Terribly sorry it was just from the content of your posts I’m not entirely confident that you could…

Fact is, the Aussie season means FA to anyone from over seas and if the meets weren’t compulsory they’d mean just as much to the Aussies.

20.91 isn’t “Ass bad” nor is Williamson,s 46. Like the interview said he was running 21 oh in his early races last year and when MJ raced in Oz in I think 94 he only broke 21 seconds once and struggled to get bellow 10.5. Now I’m not sure what his seasons bests were but I’m pretty sure they were in the vicinity of 19.79 and 10.07.

Take a look at Darold’s opener indoor times from college in '04-'05 and you’ll see some high 47’s and even some low 48’s going on to finish the out door season with 44.4 and 44.2 respectively.

So just in case I have to spell it out for you one more time, the Australian campaign matters to no one but the Australians that are required to compete to gain selection. I doubt that any one will be altering their work in response to any perceived poor performances. It is just an opportunity to break things up and collect a $60,000 cheque at the end of it.

The fact is this represents a great opportunity for those of you who know better than all than elite athletes to coaches to see what athletes are capable of during the middle of their preparation and comparing it to the end of the season.

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Frankly Dazed, it DOES matter how performances compare with what has been done by the same individual at the same time in the past. It may be that Wariner has done it both ways- with a winter competition season or without but he is on record as saying that his 200m will be a priority- AND HE IS THERE.
I have had some experience with athletes at a high level and, surprisingly to you perhaps, not all of them want to go out and lay a turd on the track, no matter when, and if they aren’t ready, they STAY HOME.
There was a great quote once from "Pritzy Honor’, where the hitman says: “If he’s so fricken smart, how come he’s so fricken dead?”
Well, Dazed, if you’re so fricken smart…

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:stuck_out_tongue:

Batman kapows American superstar
February 17, 2008

Daniel Batman caused a boilover at the Athletics Grand Prix meeting at Sydney Olympic Park, knocking off American superstar Jeremy Wariner in the men’s 200m.

On a nostalgic night for some of the veteran men and women of Australian athletics, Matt Shirvington won the 100m and Tamsyn Lewis set a meet record in the women’s 800m, but Batman’s performance stole the show.

The meet had suffered from a raft of high-profile absentees, including world 100m record holder Asafa Powell and world champion Jana Rawlinson.

It left Wariner as the big name on last night’s program and the Texan was clearly the man most of the public came to see.

But Batman - who took most of 2007 off - had his measure, leading from the start and holding on to win in a time of 20.81 seconds, with Wariner second in 20.93.

Wariner’s pet event is the 400m, in which he is the reigning world and Olympic champion, and he is far from peak form.

But Batman was still thrilled to claim the American’s scalp on a windy night in Sydney.

“He’s proven that he’s a champion so anytime you can take a scalp like that it’s an honour,” Batman said.

“But in saying that it’s February, a long way from the competitive European season.”

Wariner was unperturbed at being beaten tonight.

“This is really just a tune-up race for me to see where I’m at with my training and what I need to work on,” he said.

“I’ve got a lot of improvement to do. It’s early in my season, it’s only February, Olympics aren’t til August. I knew (Batman) was a good runner.”

Wariner is looking forward to returning to the 400m at the next event in Melbourne on Thursday.

In the men’s 100m, Shirvington and world championship silver medalist Darrel Brown finished in the same time of 10.43 seconds, but Shirvington was given the victory after a review by officials.

Shirvington admitted afterwards he had come close to retirement many times in recent years.

“It’s just nice to win,” he said.

"Half of the people probably think I’ve retired, but I just want to give it one last crack.

"I’m enjoying it more than I ever have and the Olympic Games is a big motivation.

“It would be nice to have another one under my belt.”

Lewis (1:59.59) and Madeleine (1:59.92) had a cracking duel in the women’s 800m and it was believed to be the first time two Australians had gone under two minutes in the same race.

Sean Wroe (45.84secs) took out the men’s 400m, while Jamaican Commonwealth Games champion Sherone Simpson won the 200m.

AAP

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That title is beautiful!