Australia to be first arrival for Daegu world championships

Australian athletes will be the first to arrive in South Korea for the upcoming World Championships in Athletics, organizers said Tuesday.

The biennial championships are set to open in Daegu, 300 kilometers southeast of Seoul, on Aug. 27 for a nine-day run.

Australia will send 11 athletes and five officials as an advance team on Wednesday.

Australia will have a total of 47 athletes, led by two reigning world champions ― Steve Hooker in men’s pole vault and Dani Samuels in women’s discus throw, according to the Daegu organizers.

Sally Pearson is considered a medal contender in women’s 100-meter hurdles. She has the fastest time this season at 12.48 seconds. In men’s long jump, Mitchell Watt has the season-best world record of 8.54 meters.

Hooker, Samuels and Pearson will travel separately from the rest of the team. Australia ranked 10th at the previous world championships in 2009 in Berlin with two gold and two bronze medals.

Daegu officials said Australia hasn’t set up a training camp and its athletes will practice at training facilities inside the athletes’ village and the warm-up stadium near the main Daegu Stadium.

The U.S. and Jamaica, the top two medal winners in Berlin two years ago, haven’t finalized their rosters, but will send a select number of athletes on Saturday and next Tuesday, respectively, according to the organizers.

An official said flight schedules for star athletes, such as Usain Bolt of Jamaica, the world record holder in men’s 100 and 200 meters, and Russia’s Yelena Isinbayeva, who owns the world record in women’s pole vault, have not been released. Their agents have cited concerns about distractions ahead of the big event, the official added. 

(Yonhap News)