Rieti GP Recap

Meet website
Results
IAAF recap
AP wirestory

The big news:

Asafa Powell ran 9.74 for a new 100m World Record...in the heats. More on that in another post yet to come. The rap on Powell recently is he can produce fast times but is a horrible underachiever in championships, and running a WR in qualifying does nothing to change that impression.

Men's 100: In the final, Powell ran 9.78 to leave Michael Frater a full 1/4 second behind.

Men's 400: Tyler Christopher beat a mostly B-group in 44.94.

Men's 800: A pretty deep field, including Yego and Borza, was beaten by Belel Mansoor Ali (1:44.02).

Men's 1500: Like the 400, a B-group was beaten by the only Osaka finalist entered. Here it was Juan Carlos Higuero in 3:34.78.

Men's 3000m: Seven Kenyans, two Spaniards, two Americans, and a Japanese. The Kenyans took spots 1-7 (Thomas Pkemei Longosiwa won in 7:32.79) while the two Americans bombed.

Men's 400H: Marek Plawgo proved his Osaka bronze was no fluke. He defeated silver medalist Sánchez, 49.07-49.12.

Men' Pole Vault: A grand total of five entries. Osaka last-placer Denys Yurchenko gained some measure of redemption with a clear win over Averbukh.

Men's Long Jump: The pre-meet headlines were mostly centered around the absence of Italian worlds hero Andrew Howe. Irving Saladino continued his winning streak, defeating the field by over a foot.

Men's Hammer: This was probably the deepest event on today's program; half of the Osaka finalists inlcuding the gold and bronze medalists were present. Koji Murofushi took the lead by a single centimeter on his final throw and it held up for the win. Video

Women's 100: Worlds semi-finalist Sally McLellan beat a few decent sprinters, such as Stephanie Durst, Debbie Ferguson and Sherone Simpson.

Women's 200: Lauryn Williams beat a halfway-decent field (Durst, Mothersill, Ferguson, Hurtis) in 22.76.

Women's 400: A mostly Jamaica vs Russia race was won by Shericka Williams (over Osaka finalist Antyukh) in 51.01.

Women's 800: Jepkosgei continued her late-season dominance. She ran 1:56.29 to leave second place (Svetlana Usovich) over two seconds behind.

Women's 1500: Olga Yegerova (remember her?) ran 4:03.27 to beat Osaka finalists Viola Kibiwott and Yuliya Fomenko. American Fleshman ran a PR (4:05.62) back in fifth.

Women's 3k: Winner Vivian Cheruyiot ran the world's second-best time (8:30.25). In third and fourth, Kara Goucher and Kim Smith dueled again just like in Osaka; Goucher came out ahead with a new PR (8:34.99). It's an outdoor AR of sorts (the only two who ran faster had their careers end with doping suspensions).

Women's Steeple: Osaka champ Yekaterina Volkova beat a decent field in a relatively easy 9:26.80.

Women's 400H: Anna Jesien (Worlds bronze) won in 54.78. Danvers-Smith, last place in Osaka, pushed Worlds silver-medalist Pechonkina back into third.

Women's Triple Jump: Another deep field event; Worlds finalists present were Yargelis Savigne (gold), Tatyana Lebedeva (silver), Anna Pyatykh (fourth), Magdelin Martínez (sixth), Olha Saladuha (seventh), and Keila Costa (ninth). They finished in that exact same order--what are the odds?