In the run-up to the IAAF World Championships Daegu 2011 in August, the Daegu Colorful Pre-Championships Meeting, a prelude to the athletics world championships, will kick off at Daegu Stadium on May 12.
The Daegu Colorful Pre-Championships Meeting is the second of its kind since it became an IAAF World Challenge series competition and the third competition among this year’s 14 World Challenge series after one in Melbourne, Australia and another in Kingston, Jamaica.
With just 100 days to go before the 13th IAAF World Championships, to be held at the same stadium, the competition will provide the participating 150 or more world-class track and field sprint athletes from across the globe with an opportunity to test the track.
Three athletes, including Tizita Bogale Ashame of Ethiopia, who will compete in the women’s 1,500 meters, arrived in Daegu on May 7, and 16 athletes and coaching staff arrived the next day. Half of the 13 athletes who arrived as of May 8 are favorites to win the championships.
The men’s 100 meter dash is expected to see fierce competition with only those with personal bests of less than 10 seconds joining the event. Carmelita Jeter of the U.S., the world’s fastest woman, will run in the women’s 100 meters.
Gold medalists at the Doha Samsung Diamond League will also compete at the championships. They include Walter Dix and LaShauntea Moore of the U.S. who will run the 100 meter dash; Anna Mishchenko of Ukraine who won gold in the women’s 1,500 meters at the Colorful Daegu Pre-Championships Meeting 2008; Kellie Wells of the U.S. in the women's 100-meter hurdles; and Funmi Jimoh of the U.S. aiming for her second win in a row in the competition’s women's long jump.
Dix, who will compete in the 100-meter sprint said, his goal is to win the competition and that he has built up his body to thrill the spectators and set a new world record.
David Oliver of the U.S., who claimed gold in the 110-meter hurdles at the previous Daegu competition, has stepped up his physical fitness regime. Allyson Felix of the U.S. will also join the competition as the main contender for gold in the women’s 200 meters.
With around 100 days remaining before the opening of the IAAF World Championships Daegu 2011, the competition is beginning to stoke the impatience of athletics fans wanting the event to get underway.
