Athletics Africa Magazine

Usain Bolt might be the headline act in Ostrava, but the biggest clash of the day could be in the women's 800m with former World Champion, Caster Semenya of South Africa vs reigning Olympic Champion Pamela Jelimo of Kenya. Sad David Rudisha withdrew. In New York, South African Oscar Pistorius, fresh from winning the 200m at Paralympic World Cup in Manchester with 22.08 on Tuesday and Ethiopia’s Tirunesh Dibaba, the reigning Olympic 5000m and 10,000m champion will surely thrill the crowd. Results and More....... OSTRAVA (CZE): Both 800m stars Pamela Jelimo with Caster Semenya will compete on Friday on May 25 at 51st Ostrava Golden Spike (IAAF World Challenge). The latest addition to the start list is Ethiopian 800 m revelation Fantu Magiso with Doha improvement to 1:57.90. Organisers were forced to accept an important withdrawal from 800m world record holder David Rudisha. "David Rudisha withdrew from Ostrava meeting due to unforeseen circumstances in K...

DIBABA AT 5K, DEFAR IN THE 1500m in NEW YORK (USA): The revealed start list of adidas Grand Prix in New York on Saturday shows that for example for first time this year main 200 m rivals will clash. World champion Allyson Felix with olympic gold medalist Veronica Campbell-Brown. A world leader looks like something for sure. Double olympic winner Tirunesh Dibaba will make her track debut 2010 at 5000 m. Her main rival Meseret Defar opted for shorter 1500 m where her best 4:06.12 comes from 2006. But she does not look like favorite there. Olympic champion Nancy Lagat is unbeaten so far, Ethiopian former world indoor champion Gelete Burka added by all top US runners Anna Pierce, Shannon Rowbury and Christin Wurth-Thomas. JELIMO WILL TRAIN AT HOME - NAIROBI (KEN): Olympic 800 m winner Pamela Jelimo after not being satisfied with her marks at meetings end of May continues in training. Her next competition will be the Kenyan Trials at the end of June. After that decision about her racing pr...

Her performances this season have been nothing less than dominant, her journey to Brussels this night was most improbable. But at the Belgacom Memorial Van Damme, IAAF Golden meeting in front of a sell-out 47,000 crowd in the King Baudouin Stadium in Brussels, the Olympic and African champion Pamela Jelimo became a millionairess - in only her first season on the world athletics scene. Jelimo won the women's 800m in 1:55.16 seconds ahead of compatriot and World Champion Janeth Jepkosgei whilst Kenia Sinclair of Jamaica was third. Yet, a few months ago, the Kenyan teenager, was not even running the 800m, but she had been such a dominant force in the two-lap event this season that, had it not been for the emergence of Jamaican super star Usain Bolt, would have been the greatest story of the year. Jelimo, 18, secured the $1 Million ÅF Golden League Jackpot outright tonight, as Croatia Blanka Vlasic’s hope of at least a share of the prize crumbled as she failed under pressure at 2.02...

After an impressive display in front of a 26,000 capacity crowd at the IAAF's Weltklasse Zürich, Golden League meeting at the Zurich's Letzigrund stadium, Kenyan sensational teenager Pamela Jelimo now has only one more hurdle between her and a share of the Golden League $1 Million Jackpot. The 18-year-old Olympic 800m champion has remained undefeated over the distance so far this season and her latest improvement of both the senior African and World Junior 800m records jointly for the fourth time this season (the junior mark for a fifth) with a 1:54.01 run in Zurich, is simply phenomenal. When she lines up next Friday 5 Sept at the last meet of the series in Brussels, only herself and Croatian High jumper Blanka Vlasic (the only other athlete to have successfully won five out of the six stages) can stop her from claiming at least a share of the $1 Million Jackpot . However, watching Vlasic tiredly climbing over 2.01m in Zurich, who's going to bet on Jelimo not taking the w...

Mozambique's Maria Mutola claimed the second automatic spot in Heat 1 of the women's 800m Semi-Finals. The race was won by Russian Svetlana Klyuka in 1:58.31. Kenya's 18-year-old Pamelo Jelimo wins heat2 in 1:57.31, with Hasna Benhassi of Morocco setting a season's best to claim the second automatic spot. Janeth Jepkosqei of Kenya took the third semi-final of the women's 800m, in a time of 1:57.28. Ukraine's Yuliya Krevsun was second in 1:57.32 . Tatiana Adrianova of Russia and Kenia Sinclair of Jamaica claim the two fastest loser spots in the final.