News and Notes, Volume 11, Number 12

In this issue:

American women deliver at the Diamond League
Trio of Olympians headline Pacific Association Champs
Bidding for Outdoor Championships

American women deliver at the Diamond League

Allyson Felix ran a world-leader in the 400 meters and fellow Americans Kara Patterson and Sara Hall turned in A-Standard performances at the Rome Golden Gala, which served as the third stop of the Samsung Diamond League series.

The meet will be broadcast on Universal Sports at 10:00 pm. ET tonight.

Felix ran to a world-leading time 49.82 in her first event of the day, the women’s 400m. Felix ran a smooth quarter and extended a lead of several meters over the rest of the field to take the win over Amantle Montsho of Botswana, with American Francena McCorory in third in 50.70. In Sanya Richards-Ross’ first Diamond League appearance, she finished fifth in a season best 50.98.

Bianca Knight took the win in a season best time of 22.64 in the women’s 200 meters. With only forty-five minutes between races, Felix and Richards-Ross were unable to reach the podium in their second race of the day as Felix finished fourth and Richards-Ross was fifth.

Hall stormed to a personal best time of 9:39.48 in seventh place to improve her previous best by nearly 9 seconds and secure the Olympic “A” Standard.

For the second race in a row, Dawn Harper sprinted to the win in the women’s 100m hurdles in a season best time of 12.70 seconds. Kellie Wells (12.73) finished in second, followed by Danielle Carruthers (12.80) to complete the U.S. podium-sweep.

In the women’s long jump, Brittney Reese and Funmi Jimoh finished 1-2. Reese twice leaped to her season best mark of 6.94m/22-9.25 to take the win, and Jimoh took second in 6.87m/22-6.5.

In one of the biggest upsets of the day, Khadevis Robinson won the 800m nearly half a second faster than the rest of the field featuring athletes as much as 16 years younger than the veteran athlete. Robinson made his move on the backstretch and held off the finishing kicks of his competitors to win in 1:45.09.

The American shot putters were unable to stand atop the podium in a highly competitive field. However, Reese Hoffa picked up 3-points in the Diamond Race with his third place finish (21.13m/69-4), and Christian Cantwell threw a season best of 21.09m/69-2.5 to take fourth.

Other American performance of note included Angelo Taylor in third in the men’s 400m hurdles (48.66) and Kara Patterson who threw 62.76m/205-11 to secure the Olympic “A” standard and place fourth in the women’s javelin.

For more information and full results, visit here.

Trio of Olympians headline Pacific Association Champs

Olympic discus gold medalist Stephanie Brown Trafton and American record holder Suzy Powell-Roos are entered in a discus battle featuring three of the world’s current top ten women’s throwers at Sunday’s (May 29) USA Track & Field Pacific Association Championships at College of San Mateo.

Also, javelin thrower Kim Kreiner is slated to return to the site of her 2006 American Record throw of 203 feet, 10 inches. She has represented the USA in the last two Olympics.

There is no admission charge to watch these Olympians and other top athletes perform on Memorial Day weekend – and compete for $15,000 in Pacific Association Grand Prix prize money.
For further meet information,visit www.pausatf.org

Bidding for Outdoor Championships

The bidding process for the 2013-2015 USA Track & Field Outdoor Championships is now open to host cities that are interested in entertaining some of the world’s greatest athletes and fans. If you are a member of a community interested in the possibility of hosting these Championships, feel free to visit the Championships bid process page to view our Request For Proposal.

About USA Track & Field

USA Track & Field (USATF) is the National Governing Body for track & field, long-distance running and race walking in the United States. USATF encompasses the world's oldest organized sports, the World's #1 Track & Field Team, the most-watched events at the Olympics, the #1 high school and junior high school participatory sport, and more than 30 million adult runners in the United States: www.usatf.org.