Athletics Africa Magazine

A record number of 179 nations will compete in Bressanone/Brixen World Youth Championships - Sudtirol 2009. Athletes are coming from as far as 18,600 km and 13 hours time difference. Opening Ceremony on July 7th. This is also by far the largest number of participants for any sport event ever hosted in South Tyrol. Aruba, Cook Islands, Nauru, Kiribati, Comoros, Mariana Islands, Micronesia or Palau: never heard of them? The World Youth Championships "Südtirol 2009" taking place in Bressanone/Brixen from July 8th to 12th has the answer. Read More here Meanwhile, South Africa has selected 30 athletes for the championships, while Kenya picked 20 .

Nigeria women's 4x100m team has qualified for the relay event at the World Athletics Championships after dipping under the 43.90 seconds IAAF qualifying standard yesterday at the NAAA/Sagicor National Track and Field Open Championships at the Hasely Crawford Stadium, Mucurapo, Port of Spain, Trinidad and Tobago. Read more

Here at AthleticsAfrica.Com, We wish Khotso Mokoena all the best at the World Championships in Berlin...stay with us for all the coverage on the African teams from Berlin - August 2009

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Ethiopian Meselech Melkamu has become only the fourth woman in history to break the 30-minute barrier for 10,000m, clocking 29:53.80 - second fastest of all-time mark - in Utrecht, the Netherlands on Sunday. For more, click here and see the video courtesy Flotrack/Bart Van Aalst

Men Zimbabwe's Florida State University sophomore Ngonidzashe Makusha defended his Long Jump title at the 2009 National Collegiate Athletics Association (NCAA) outdoor track and field championships in Fayetteville, Arkansas. Makusha, who was the 26th and last wild card invitee in the event - his season's best jump being 7.73 metres, leapt to a modest, by his standards, 8.11 metres to win his second straight individual national championship. Stanley Gbagbeke of Middle Tennessee State settled for second with a best of 8.00 metres. Women University of Houston senior Seun Adigun finished third (13.20s) in the 100m Hurdles final at the 2009 NCAA Outdoor Championships. UTEP's Blessing Okagbare finished fifth in the women's triple jump with a mark of 13.60m in the final day - her seventh USTFCCA All-American honour. And schoolmate and countrywoman Endurance Abinuwa clocked in a time of 52.81 in the women’s 400-metres dash final to finish ninth in the event.

Zimbabwean long jumper and Florida State University (FSU) sophomore Ngoni Makusha and fellow long jumper Brian Chibudu (who had the longest mark in the US coming into last week's regionals) have both failed to earn a berth into next week's NCAA national championship meet in Fayetteville, Ark. Since Makusha finished 12th at the East Regional in Greensboro, N.C., he was automatically entered into the at-large pool for the long jump — the top 12 for each region get entered. And since Makusha's season's best jump ended up being the sixth best in the nation for non-automatic qualifiers, FSU track coach Bob Braman assumed the Zimbabwe native had narrowly slipped into the NCAA meet. There are almost always 26 long jumpers invited (20 automatic qualifiers and six from the at-large pool) to the national championships. In 2009 however, there will be just 25 competing (20 qualifiers and five at-large berths). So the reigning national champion won't be able to defend his title....

European champion and Sweden’s big hope for the upcoming World Championship, Johan Wissman has put up a website www.johanwissman.com for his fans to follow his journey towards new successes and new medals. Johan Wissman says: "The website is an effective and enjoyable way of communicating with all my fans and I shall be updating it frequently with news, pictures, as well as You Tube clips. "I will also be conducting my own interviews at competitions and training campswith my fellow landsmen and rivals, and I certainly hope to be able to contribute with a scoop in the near future." Johan will have his first appearance on the international track-and-field scene for the outdoor season, this Saturday the 30th of May in Kalamata, Greece and will be facing numerous big competitions in the nearby future with the main target being theWorld Championship In Berlin where the set goal is to take a medal and finishing in the top three positions. The website will be introduced in Swed...

The International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF) has called on interested participants to register for the IAAF Fantasy Athletics: Season 2009 Game. The game started last year was very successful and this year the IAAF has increased the games offer to TWO and as always they are free to enter. IAAF Fantasy Athletics: Season 2009 . Registration OPEN NOW, first event 14 June IAAF Fantasy Athletics: World Championships Edition . Registration opens middle of July, event starts 15 August. The first event - the ÅF Golden League meeting in Berlin - takes place on 14 June, so don’t delay and enter your team now. According to the IAAF, the "Fantasy Athletics Season 2009 is an exciting online game which is free to enter and covers 12 events during the outdoor season culminating in the 2009 IAAF / VTB Bank World Athletics Final. This season there are thousands of dollars worth of prizes to win including a trip for two to a major IAAF competition. "The goal of Fan...

Last season, Nigerian born Spanish hurdler , Josephine Nkiruka Onyia was flying in the grand Prix circuit. From Oslo to Lausanne to Berlin she was the new kid on the block. She won the 100m hurdles in last year's Golden League meetings in Oslo and Berlin. Then, all of a sudden, news came out that the International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF) want the 22-year-old runner banned for two years for allegedly returning two positive tests in post-race doping controls last year. The Spanish Athletics Federation's disputed the test results and refused to punish her in both cases. They exonerated her after a positive test for an unnamed stimulant following an event in Lausanne on September 2 and for a banned anabolic agent - believed to be Clenbutero l - after winning the 100-metre hurdles at the World Athletics Final in Stuttgart , Germany, on September 13. Clenbuterol is regarded by the World Anti-Doping Agency as an anabolic agent. Its deliberate use carries a two...

More than 170 nations have registered interest to compete at the  6th IAAF World Youth Championships, Sϋdtirol, Italy  from the 8th-12th July, 2009, according to the  International Amateur Athletics Federation (IAAF) . The 2009 World Youth Championships in Sϋdtirol is thereby on course to witness one of the greatest ever gatherings of nations in the competition's history. 173 of the IAAF's 213 Member Federations have submitted preliminary entries to compete in this biennial World Athletics Series competition, involving approximately 2000 athletes and officials. The championships which will take place in the town of Bressanone which is situated in the Italian Sϋdtirol are open to athletes aged 16 or 17 on 31 December 2009 (born in 1992 or 1993). For more, continue:

Olympic champions Pamela Jelimo, Wilfried Bungei, Christine Ohuruogu, and Gerd Kanter will be among the headliners of the Meeting Mohammed VI d' Athlétisme- CAA Super Grand Prix- in Rabat on Morocco on 23 May 2009, according to  Elshadai Negash for the IAAF The  Meeting Mohammed VI d' Athlétisme  is one of a select group of Area meetings at which points can be acquired by athletes to qualify for the  IAAF / VTB Bank World Athletics Final, to be held on 12-13 September in Thessaloniki, Greece. Last year’s meeting was highlighted by Olympic 5000m and 10,000m champion Kenenisa Bekele’s victory in the 5000m, and organisers have again unveiled a stellar field which includes ten Olympic medallists out of which four topped the podium over the course of nine days at the Bird’s Nest stadium in Beijing last year. Kenya’s Pamela Jelimo, who enjoyed an unbelievable 2008 in her first season in international athletics at 800m, is expected to be the headliner of the event as she makes her 200...

Triple Olympic sprint champion sprinter Usain Bolt has escaped major injury and possibly death in a car accident in Jamaica whilst driving a BMW M3 when it reportedly veered off the rain-soaked road. Jamaica police sergeant David Sheriff said the 22-year-old and his female passenger were taken to hospital in Spanish Town but neither is seriously injured. He won gold in the men's 100m and 200m at the Beijing Olympic Games in world record times and also triumphed in the 4x100m relay with Jamaica. His manager, Norman Peart, said Bolt suffered nothing worse than scratches from thorn bushes when he got out of the vehicle as it rested in the bush. Gebremariam stunner Meanwhile in Ethiopia, Africa, an outstanding finishing by the reigning World Cross Country champion Gebregziabher Gebremariam highlights of the first day’s action at the 38th Ethiopian Athletics Championships (29 April- 3 May 2009) at the Addis Ababa stadium yesterday. The Ethiopian World championships trials continu...

The International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF) has confirmed that "it has been advised by the International Olympic Committee (IOC) that three athletes have returned positive tests to the new form of EPO named MIRCERA following re-analysis of samples taken by the IOC in Beijing. "The IAAF understands that the relevant National Olympic Committees have been notified. "The cases are currently confidential, and the IAAF is bound by its Rules and unable to confirm the names or nationalities of any athletes involved or comment further at this stage. "The usual results management procedures for samples taken during the period of the Olympic Games will now apply including the option for all athletes to have their B samples tested. "The IAAF must wait for further details from the IOC before considering any provisional suspension of the athletes and a decision is not expected within the next week. "Just as the IAAF has already re-analysed its own sam...

Ethiopia's Olympic bronze medallist Tsegaye Kebede hope to bring the African country its second major marathon victory in a week (his compatriot Deriba Merga’s won the Boston Marathon on Monday ) when he takes on one of the best marathon fields ever assembled in the Flora London Marathon this Sunday. However , he still has the likes of reigning champion Martin Lel, Olympic gold and silver medallists Sammy Wanjiru and Jaouad Gharib, and Abderrahim Goumri to contend with in the British capital. Kebebe recently won 25,000 U.S dollars after he placed second (1. 08.52 seconds) at the 2009 Glo Half Marathon in Lagos, a race won by Kenya's Luke Kibet. Also two-time Olympic 10,000m champion Olympic Champion, Kenenisa Bekele will make his come back on the track on June 1 and will race the 1500 metres at Fanny Blankers-Koen (FBK) Games in Hengelo. Bekele’s manager Jos Hermens told the IAAF: "Kenenisa is training well but the problems cost him two months of training. Hengelo will ...

IAAF’s Member Federations will celebrate the IAAF World Athletics Day in the weekend of Saturday 16 and Sunday 17 May, 2009, according to the IAAF.org The annual global Athletics calendar, remains as popular as ever, with 160 of the 213 IAAF Member Federations requesting to participate in 2009. This year’s project involves Youth Age Group children from Clubs who were born in 1992-1993 (16-17 years old). For the fourth year in accordance with the goal of the IAAF Athletics’ World Plan to make Athletics the number one sport in schools, the World Athletics Day is also being organised in close cooperation with the relevant national ministry which is in charge of School Sport in each country. READ MORE Are you planning an event to mark this day in your local athletics club or in your national federation? What are the things you have in mind to engage the youth in athletics endeavour in your region across the continent? Post your comments below or email the editors (contactus at athletic...

Ethiopian sweetheart Tirunesh Dibaba has joined other 2008 Olympic champions Jamaican Usain Bolt and Russian Yelena Isinbayeva as the three athletes among the finalists for the 2009 Laureus World Sport Award. Dibaba was the first woman to claim the 5000m and 10,000m double at the same Olympic Games when she dominated in Beijing last summer. UTEP's Blessing Okagbare for the second time was named the Conference USA Co-Athlete of the Week . The 2008 Olympic Long Jump Bronze medallist from Nigeria beat out distinguished professionals such as Alice Falaiye, Ola Sesay and Tori Polk in the women's Long Jump at the 2009 UTEP Invitational soaring to a world season lead and NCAA regional qualifying mark of 6.86 metres .

University of Texas, El Paso (UTEP) Junior and five-time All-American Blessing Okagbare has been named the Conference USA Outdoor Track and Field Athlete of the Week. At the 82nd Clyde Littlefield Texas Relays, Okagbare - who is the Olympic bronze medalis t, posted the second-best performance in the US in the women's triple jump with a mark of 13.52m, which also ranks as Conference-USA's Top Performance for the 2009 season and is a NCAA regional qualifying mark. She was also part of the women's 4X400m relay quartet made up of Gladys Nwaubani, Endurance Abinuwa, Shalaiyah Sommerville that posted the first regional mark on the track with a time of 45.05 seconds.

Green Africa Foundation, an initiative which was supported by the IAAF as part of its sustainable development initiatives, wins the IOC award for Sport and the Environment at the World Conference on Sport and Environment in Vancouver, Canada. Also, South Africa's juniors qualifies for the 6th IAAF World Youth Championships in Südtirol , Italy from 8-12 July and the Africa Junior Championships in Bata Equatorial Guinea from 2-5 July Young stars Annemie Smith (Hammer Throw) and Willem le Roux (Decathlon) set national records, as sprinter Tshegofatso Meshoe sparkled at the South Africa Youth, Junior and Under-23 Championships in Tshwane.

Florence Kiplagat did what many undoubtedly felt like doing when she won the senior women’s race at the 37th IAAF World Cross Country Championships in Amman, Jordan, she fainted. After one of the most thrilling finishes in the history of the championships, Ethiopia’s Gebre Gebremariam took the Senior Men’s 12km title at Bisharat Golf Club... marking a stunning comeback for the 24-year-old father-of-two whose string of World Cross individual medals from 2002 to 2004 had been followed by four fallow years. More here