London Diamond League Attracts Big Names
Seventeen of Australia’s top track and field athletes – including WAIS scholarship holders Steve Hooker, Ben Offereins and Alana Boyd – are set to feature across a bumper two days of athletics action this weekend, as Round 12 of the IAAF Diamond League tour rolls into London.
In-form Olympic silver medallist Sally Pearson (100m hurdles) and world, Olympic, world indoor and Commonwealth Games champion Steve Hooker (pole vault) will lead the green and gold charge, alongside 12 fellow Commonwealth Games-nominated athletes and three New Delhi hopefuls in action at Crystal Palace.
Fresh from her maiden Diamond League victory in Round 11 of the 14-meet series in Stockholm (SWE) last week, Pearson will step out in London on Friday night full of confidence that she is back to her blistering best form as the countdown to the Commonwealth Games gains momentum.
In the field, Australian team captain Steve Hooker will go head-to-head with French rival and Diamond Race leader Renaud Lavillenie in what is set to be a highlight of day one. Hooker, who sits third on the Diamond Race leaderboard behind Lavillenie and Germany’s Malte Mohr, is yet to claim a win on the Diamond League circuit but the current caretaker of all four major international crowns can never be overlooked on the pole vault runway and will line up in London as a genuine threat.
In what could be the event of the night for Australian athletics fans, national 10,000m record-holder Collis Birmingham and national 5000m record-holder Craig Mottram both feature on the start list of the men’s 3000m, the two middle distance running greats on course for their first meeting on the track since 2008 if both athletes take to the start line.
Rounding out Friday night’s Diamond League action, in-form steeplechaser Youcef Abdi will return to the track following his A-qualifying run at the Folksam Grand Prix in Gothenburg (SWE) on Tuesday night, the 2008 Olympic and 2009 world championships representative’s sights now firmly set on a last-minute call-up to the Commonwealth Games team.
National 400m champion Ben Offereins will line up in the ‘B’ event of the one-lap race and Delhi-bound wheelchair athlete Richard Colman will be joined by Richard Nicholson in the T54 1500m.
On Saturday afternoon nine Commonwealth Games-nominated athletes will feature in the track and field action, newly-crowned national 1500m record-holder Ryan Gregson to headline the Australian campaign when he steps out in the mile event.
With just two rounds of the men’s long jump series remaining, world indoor champion Fabrice Lapierre will be out to turn the tables on Diamond Race leader Dwight Phillips (USA) in the sandpit, the 2004 Olympic and three-time world champion sitting in poll position in the race to claim the winner’s USD$40,000 pay check with 12 points to his name, one point ahead of his Australian nemesis.
Lapierre will be joined on the long jump runway by fellow Commonwealth Games nominee Chris Noffke.
Also stepping out at Crystal Palace on Saturday afternoon will be Alana Boyd in the women’s pole vault and Australia’s 4x100m Commonwealth Games relay team of Matt Davies, Jacob Groth, Patrick Johnson, Isaac Ntiamoah and Aaron Rouge-Serret, the relay team to make its debut appearance on the European circuit since booking its ticket to New Delhi, India, in April.
– Athletics Australia