Talent pool deep despite no-shows
Headliners withdraw from Track Classic
In its four years up running, jumping and throwing, the Edmonton International Track Classic has rebounded from the odd hit, and it’s going to have to do it again, as its headliners — sprint stars Yohan Blake and Veronica Campbell-Brown — have withdrawn from Saturday’s meet.
U.S. long jumper Janay DeLoach, the bronze medallist in that event at the 2012 London Olympics, also has pulled out, as has Canadian sprinter Jared Connaughton, who famously stepped on the lane stripe on the final curve in London, a misstep that cost Canada a bronze medal in the relay.
Still, by any measure, meet director Peter Ogilvie has assembled a loaded field for the competition (10:30 a.m. — 1:30 p.m. at Foote Field). It is deeper in elite talent across a wider array of events than the 2012 track meet, which featured Blake winning the 100 metres.
Blake, silver medallist behind Jamaican superstar Usain Bolt in both the 100- and 200-metre sprints and golden with Bolt in the men’s 4x100-metre relay in London, is nursing a balky hamstring.
He withdrew, with regret, earlier this week, Ogilvie said.
Campbell-Brown, a two-time Olympic 200-metre champion, was suspended by the Jamaican federation following a positive test for a banned diuretic, which can be used as a masking agent for performance-enhancing substances.
The IAAF has not yet ruled on a possible suspension for Campbell-Brown, who sat out her country’s national championships last weekend.
Nonetheless, the EITC will feature 44 Olympians, including six Olympic medallists such as Sanya Richards-Ross of the United States, who won gold in the women’s 400 metres in London, and Liguelin Santos of the Dominican Republic, who won silver in the men’s race at the Olympics.
Richards-Ross, mind you, is battling back after having post-Olympic surgery on her right big toe.
The posse of Olympians includes 18 Canadians, 14 of whom have qualified to compete for Canada at the 2013 World Championships in Athletics in Moscow from Aug. 10-18.
The Canadian talent on offer includes shot putter Dylan Armstrong of Kamloops, fourth by a centimetre at the Beijing Olympics and fifth in London, and hurdlers Angela Whyte, who won the Canadian title last weekend in Moncton, N.B., and Jessica Zelinka, the former heptathlete who is in her first season focusing solely on the hurdles.
“I don’t consider that we did take a hit,” Ogilvie said at a news conference Thursday.
“I think the talent pool that we have here is truly exceptional.
“Although we might have had one or two athletes drop out due to injury, the meet is bigger than one or two athletes.
“For us, the quality of the competition is world class.”
The facts support Ogilvie, actually.
Ogilvie added U.S. sprinter Wallace Spearmon, a college teammate of Tyson Gay at Arkansas, and fourth-place finisher in the 200 metres in London, to the roster this week. Spearmon will compete in both the 100- and 200-metre sprints in Edmonton.
Even without Blake and Campbell-Brown, you want a feature event to zero in on? Take your pick.
The men’s 200 metres will feature Jamaica’s Warren Weir, bronze medallist in London, against Spearmon, countryman Jason Young and Canada’s Tremaine Harris.
Spearmon also is expected to race in the men’s 100 metres, against Jason Rogers, a native of St. Kitts and Nevis who trains in Toronto under Desai Williams and Anthony McCleary, as well as Jamaica’s Lerone Clarke and Justyn Warner, the top Canadian sprinter.
In the women’s hurdles race, Whyte, who was sixth in this event at the 2004 Olympics in Athena, and Zelinka, a finalist in London, will be able to test themselves against U.S. stars Lolo Jones and Nia Ali.
Armstrong is back for the fourth straight year, and is fit and well, after being hampered in 2012 by an elbow injury.
Fellow Canadians and training partners Justin Rodhe and Tim Nedow will be among his top competition.
And so it goes.
The men’s 800 metres will be something to watch, as Americans Nick Symmonds, who finished fifth at the London Games, goes against fellow American Duane Solomon, as well as Geoff Harris of Canada.
Symmonds, who comes from Eugene, Ore., a track mecca, not to mention the home of NIKE, waxed eloquently about Edmonton on Twitter soon after he landed here on Wednesday night. He reinforced that on Thursday.
“It’s very tough because in the summer, there are only so many opportunities to race,” Symmonds said, of choosing which meets to compete in. “I’m a guy who doesn’t race very much at all, maybe just half-a-dozen dimes a season.
“For me to use one of those efforts, it means I’ve got to have a lot of faith that the meet’s in a place that I want to go, it’s going to be run professionally, and it’s going to be an opportunity for fast times.
“Edmonton fit all of those criteria.”
The 28-year-old Spearmon, like many athletes, it turns out, has been unlucky this season. He suffered a concussion after falling in a race in April, which set him back a couple of weeks. After he returned, a hamstring tweak set him back again.
He had just two weeks of training before the U.S. nationals in Des Moines, Iowa, last weekend. He ran 20.10 in the 200 metres, but that wasn’t enough for top three and a spot on the American team at world’s.
But he says he is fit and motivated to race hard, happy to be able to do it in North America and in Edmonton.
“Honestly, I think it’s a really big deal,” Spearmon said. “As an athlete, I love that we don’t have to go overseas.
“In Europe the circuit is great, but the more meets we can have in our own backyard, it just benefits us because we don’t have to travel as far, not as much wear and tear on your body.
“And it builds awareness around the country for the athletes. If this meet succeeds (long-term) it could be a really big deal for us.”