Daegu athletics meet to take place Thursday

Lee Yeon-kyung of South Korea competes in the women’s 100-meter hurdles in this file photo taken on Nov. 25, 2010 at the Asian Games in Guangzhou, China, in which she won the nation’s first gold medal in a sprint event. The 30-year-old will participate in the Colorful Daegu Pre-Championships Meeting starting Thursday. / Korea Times file By Yoon Chul The 2011 Colorful Daegu Pre-Championships Meeting opens today at Daegu Stadium where the IAAF World Championships Daegu 2011 will be held in August. About 220 athletes from 43 countries will compete in 17 events. It will feature 10 track events, from the 100 meters to the 3,000-meter steeplechase as well as six field events including the javelin and long jump. Among the competitions the men’s 110 meter hurdles will be one of the most competitive. Last season’s world No. 1 David Oliver of the United States will race against world No. 4 Ryan Wilson and No. 7 Joel Brown, also from the U.S., and No. 8 Dwight Thomas of Jamaica. Park Tae-kyung will run against the world top class sprinters. Park finished third in the Guangzhou Asian Games last year, setting a new personal best in a time of 13.48 seconds. Thomas is the only entrant who has broken 13 seconds, having clocked in at 12.89 seconds, just 02 seconds off the world record. The competition between Walter Dix of the U.S. and Churandy Martina of the Netherlands in the men’s 100 meters will also draw attention. The sprinters finished third and fourth respectively at the Beijing Olympics in 2008. On the women’s side America’s Carmelita Jeter, currently the fastest female athlete, will run in the 100 meters. Jeter’s best of 10.64 seconds is the second fastest time ever. Top U.S. sprinter Allyson Felix will also come to Korea. Felix has three consecutive world championship titles in the women’s 200 meters, the last in 2009 in Berlin. This event is the last stage for the organizing committee to evaluate Daegu’s overall readiness in areas such as transportation and accommodation ahead of the world championships. The athletes will also have the chance to compete at Daegu Stadium before the world championships. The Colorful Daegu Pre-Championships began in 2005. For the last six years world class athletes have visited and showed their prowess to Koreans. Previously, Justin Gatlin, Tyson Gay and Usain Bolt in the 100 meters and Yelena Isinbayeva in the pole vault in meetings have all competed at the Daegu event. Ahead of the competition Oliver and Felix gave pointers to Korean children in a special session Wednesday.

yc@koreatimes.co.kr