The 30-something generation would appear well poised to mount a strong challenge for the Olympic gold in an event which serves up a number of compelling story lines.
The form horse of 2016 is the indefatigable Ruth Beitia, who at the age of 37 is seeking to be the oldest ever winner of a jumps medal &ndash; of either gender &ndash; at an Olympic Games.
The Spanish veteran has been in supreme form this season, banking the European title for a third time as well as securing IAAF Diamond League wins in Oslo, Stockholm and London.
During a distinguished 21-year international career, Beitia has pocketed a slew of medals on the world and European stage, but has yet to win an Olympic medal &ndash; she finished fourth at the 2012 London Olympics Games and briefly retired in the wake of that disappointment &ndash; and she is desperate to finally mount the podium in Rio.
Among her chief rivals is the 32-year-old mother-of-three Chaunte Lowe, who propelled herself to the top of the world lists with an impressive 2.01m clearance to take the US title in July.
Lowe, the 2012 world indoor champion, has competed sparingly this season but on current form is more than capable of improving upon her two sixth-place finishes at the past two Olympics in Beijing and London.
Another 30-something looking to create a slice of history is Blanka Vlasic, who plans to defy a longstanding achilles tendon injury to strike gold.
The one title missing from the flamboyant Croatian&rsquo;s CV is an Olympic crown and should she achieve her ambitions it would be nothing short of a minor miracle as her achilles issues have restricted her to just one competition in 2016 &ndash; and that was back in January.
The 32-year-old 2008 Olympic silver medallist should never be discounted, though, as she bagged a World Championships silver medal in Beijing last year having made just two outdoor appearances prior to the competition in the Bird&rsquo;s Nest Stadium.
<h3>Cunningham mature beyond her years</h3>
At the other end of the athletics age spectrum, half the age of Beitia, is the 18-year-old world indoor champion Vashti Cunningham.
The beanpole US jumper, the daughter of NFL great Randall Cunningham but looking to make a name for herself in her own right, set a world U20 indoor record of 1.99m this winter and has cleared 1.97m outdoors.
Other names who could feature at the sharp end of the competition include Poland&rsquo;s 2014 world indoor champion Kamila Licwinko, who has cleared 1.99m outdoors this year. She is a consistent performer and claimed bronze at the World Indoor Championships Portland 2016 earlier this year.
Germany&rsquo;s Marie-Laurence Jungfleisch advanced to number two on the 2016 world list with a stunning PB of 2.00m last month to mark her down as a potential medal candidate, especially after she finished sixth at last year&rsquo;s World Championships.
Lithuania&rsquo;s European joint silver medallist Airine Palsyte, who was fourth in Portland, is another potential challenger while another interesting entrant is the gifted combined-eventer Akela Jones of Barbados, who boasts an outstanding 1.98m clearance from the indoor season.
The other European silver medallist, Mirela Demireva of Bulgaria, is another to be respected along with Italy&rsquo;s Desiree Rossit and Ukraine&rsquo;s Oksana Okuneva, and all three have cleared 1.97m this season.
There will also a lot of interest in the current world U20 and U18 champion Michaela Hruba, although the Czech jumper&rsquo;s chance of a medal is more likely to come in Tokyo in four years&rsquo; time.
Steve Landells for the IAAF

The 30-something generation would appear well poised to mount a strong challenge for the Olympic gold in an event which serves up a number of compelling story lines.

Preview: women's high jump – Rio 2016 Olympic Games

Americans usually celebrate with fireworks on 4 July, their Independence Day. In Eugene on Sunday (3), the fireworks came a day early.
The US Olympic Trials were so eventful on Sunday that LaShawn Merritt&rsquo;s time of 43.97 in the 400m or Vashti Cunningham becoming USA&rsquo;s youngest Olympian in 36 years did not even merit headlines. Six of seven finals produced the best marks in the world this year.
Allyson Felix stayed on course for a 200m/400m Rio double that was once imperilled by an ankle injury. The 30-year-old Felix, who was fourth coming out of the last bend, burst down the stretch to win the 400m in 49.68. It was the fastest time since her 49.26 in winning the world title in Beijing last year.
Phyllis Francis was second in 49.94, taking half a second off her PB. Courtney Okolo came to the trials as the world leader (49.71) and finished sixth in 50.39. Times for third through sixth were the fastest ever at the US Trials.
&ldquo;It&rsquo;s been a tough year, and it was a relief,&rdquo; Felix said. &ldquo;I have put in so much work, and to see it all come together when two months ago I was barely walking.&rdquo;
<h3>Henderson and Gardner top ground-breaking competitions</h3>
Jeff Henderson won one of the greatest long jump competitions of all time, and his one-centimetre victory over Jarrion Lawson was closest in the history of the US Trials.
Henderson&rsquo;s 8.59m (2.9m/s) was wind-aided, but Lawson&rsquo;s 8.58m (1.8m/s) was legal. The helpful wind certainly contributed to the results, but never before had more than five men jumped beyond 8.30m in the same competition, and six did so on this day &ndash; all of them farther than the 8.31m that Greg Rutherford jumped in winning Olympic gold in 2012.
Olympic bronze medallist Will Claye finished third on countback with 8.42m because of a better second jump than Marquis Dendy, whose 8.42m was wind legal. But the same wind (5.0m/s) that pushed Claye invalidated the mark for entry into the Olympic Games. Because Claye has no legal jumps meeting the standard of 8.15m &ndash; his best within the qualifying period is 8.14m, just one centimetre short&nbsp;&ndash; Dendy will take the third spot on the team for Rio.
To rub salt in the wounds, though, all five of Claye&rsquo;s measured attempts had illegal following winds; his one foul in the series had a legal wind of 1.5m/s, so he missed a perfect opportunity to record a qualifying distance. Dendy, meanwhile, picked up an injury during the competition and his fitness is now in doubt.
Distances for fourth, fifth, sixth and seventh were the longest ever for those respective places in any conditions. Marquise Goodwin, who came to the trials as the world leader, jumped a wind-assisted 8.25m. That got him seventh, so he will report to the Buffalo Bills for preseason football camp instead of to Brazil.
English Gardner led three women under 10.80, unprecedented in any 100m race. She was first in 10.74, climbing to seventh on the world all-time list. She was followed by Tianna Bartoletta and Tori Bowie, both in PBs of 10.78. Jenna Prandini, who ran wind-aided times of 10.81 and 10.86 in the rounds, was fifth in 10.96.
This was the only final in which there was no world-leading mark. (Elaine Thompson clocked 10.70 at the Jamaica Trials.) No one except Florence Griffith Joyner in 1988 has ever run faster at the US Trials. Gardner, 24, was seventh in 2012. She said she sat in her car then and cried.
&ldquo;I cried my eyes out and came to the realisation that I never wanted to feel that feeling again,&rdquo; she said. &ldquo;And so when I crossed the line and saw the results, I didn&rsquo;t really care if I came in first, second or third. I was just excited that I made the team.&rdquo;
<h3>Lowe secures Olympic berth</h3>
Chaunte Lowe made her fourth Olympic team in the high jump, tying her US Trials record with a world-leading 2.01m. Cunningham, the world indoor champion, was second at 1.97m. At 18, she is the youngest to make a US Olympic team in athletics since 16-year-old long jumper Carol Lewis in 1980.
&ldquo;God blessed that girl, that little tall girl,&rdquo; said Cunningham&rsquo;s father, Randall, a former pro football quarterback. &ldquo;She stayed so calm out there. She listens, and she wants it just as much as Allyson Felix.&rdquo;
Justin Gatlin won the 100m in 9.80, the fastest time in the world since last year&rsquo;s IAAF World Championships in Beijing. 20-year-old Trayvon Bromell was second in 9.84 and 22-year-old Marvin Bracy third in 9.98. Gatlin and Bromell won silver and bronze behind Jamaica&rsquo;s Usain Bolt in 2015.
Roy Jordan for the IAAF

Americans usually celebrate with fireworks on 4 July, their Independence Day. In Eugene on Sunday (3), the fireworks came a day early.

World leads fall on third day of US Olympic Trials

He is already a world and Olympic champion and the owner of the second-best triple jump of all time but what Christian Taylor really wants is competition.
He&rsquo;s inviting it, hoping for it every time he competes.
&ldquo;I&rsquo;m chasing records now and I need that push,&rdquo; said Taylor after winning with 17.76m at the IAAF Diamond League meeting in Eugene on Saturday (28).
&ldquo;I don&rsquo;t want it to be a blowout; I want it to be a back and forth, a rivalry.&rdquo;
He certainly did get some &lsquo;back and forth&rsquo; at Hayward Field.
After a somewhat subdued start to the competition, his former university teammate Will Claye made things interesting with a final-round jump of 17.56m which took the lead from Taylor, whose third-round mark of 17.46m put him in command of the competition.
Taylor needed a response with his final attempt and he produced it, bounding out to 17.76m with the last jump of the competition to clinch the victory and grab back the distinction of being the world leader from Claye. &nbsp;&nbsp;
&ldquo;This is what I&rsquo;m asking for, I&rsquo;m trying to challenge the field to step it up,&rdquo; Taylor said. &ldquo;I can&rsquo;t do it alone.
&ldquo;I always want to put on a show. I believe I&rsquo;m a performer. The conditions (in Eugene) are beautiful. I&rsquo;m also a little greedy and so I was chasing the 18-metre mark, but it&rsquo;s definitely progress.&rdquo;
However, 18 metres wasn&rsquo;t necessary for the win at the famed Prefontaine Classic meeting and he left feeling encouraged with his winning performance. &ldquo;I didn&rsquo;t even touch the board so that&rsquo;s really exciting for me,&rdquo; Taylor said. &ldquo;I know there&rsquo;s a lot more in the tank.&rdquo;
Behind Taylor and Claye, Omar Craddock&rsquo;s 17.15m final-round jump rounded out the top three.
<h3>Abelrahman equals javelin world lead</h3>
In the men&rsquo;s javelin, world silver medallist Ihab Abelrahman of Egypt set a meeting and stadium record of 87.37m with his final throw. It also equalled the world lead set by Germany&rsquo;s Thomas Rohler in Ostrava eight days ago.
He snatched the win from the world champion, and his sometime training partner, Kenya&rsquo;s Julius Yego.
Yego led the competition from the opening round when he posted a mark of 84.68m, itself a meeting record, but couldn&rsquo;t respond with his own final throw. Rohler, on this occasion, finished third with 82.53m.
France&rsquo;s world record-holder Renaud Lavillenie won the men&rsquo;s pole vault on fewest misses after he and Canada&rsquo;s world champion Shawn Barber both failed to get over 5.87m. Lavillenie&rsquo;s first attempt clearance of 5.81m was enough to secure the win.
&ldquo;I was expecting something better,&rdquo; Lavillenie said. &ldquo;The good thing is I take the win, I take the 10 points for the Diamond League,&rdquo; added the man who has won the Diamond Race in his event all six years it has been in existence. His win in Eugene was also his 28th win at an IAAF Diamond League meeting.
Lavillenie passed all the way up to 5.71m and only took five attempts in the entire competition. Barber finished second after taking three attempts to get over 5.81m and USA&rsquo;s Sam Kendricks, the winner at the IAAF Diamond League meeting in Shanghai, was third with 5.71m.
Three-time Olympian and US record-holder Chaunte Lowe&rsquo;s first attempt clearance at 1.95m was, perhaps surprisingly, enough to win the women&rsquo;s high jump.
&ldquo;This indoor season was really rough. I had to take a lot of losses because I knew the plan ultimately was the Olympic Trials,&rdquo; said Lowe, who had no failures up to and including her winning height before three failures at 1.97m. &ldquo;So now the execution of the plan seems to be flawless.&rdquo;
Levern Spencer of Saint Lucia was one of five women who cleared 1.92m, but her first-time clearance got her second place. USA&rsquo;s Vashti Cunningham and Spain&rsquo;s Ruth Beitia, first and second at the IAAF World Indoor Championships Portland 2016, were also over 1.92m but finished down in fifth and sixth respectively.
Kevin Sully for the IAAF

He is already a world and Olympic champion and the owner of the second-best triple jump of all time but what Christian Taylor really wants is competition.

Taylor throws down the gauntlet in Eugene – IAAF Diamond League

<a href="#FR">Fran&ccedil;ais</a>
IAAF President Sebastian Coe was present at the Ibero-American Championships in Rio de Janeiro, which finished on Monday (16), and which doubled as the official test event for athletics for the forthcoming Rio 2016 Olympic Games.
Coe &ndash; who was accompanied by Rio 2016 Olympic Games President Carlos Nuzman and its executive director for sport,&nbsp;Agberto Guimaraes &ndash; applauded the preparations in the Olympic Stadium, with athletics taking place between 12-21 August. &nbsp;
&ldquo;It will be a very good event and the message to people is &lsquo;come and watch it&rsquo;," said Coe. "You will see some of the most outstanding athletes not just of their generation, but in the history of the sport.
&ldquo;I&rsquo;ve spent time with our (IAAF) technical delegates and they&rsquo;re very pleased with how these championships have been delivered for the athletes. And the great thing about a test event is that you go away and absorb all those things that you need to absorb and learn from over the next 80 days.&rdquo;
The possibility of world records in Rio was raised by local reporters, perhaps in similar fashion to David Rudisha&rsquo;s 800m standard in London four years ago, and Coe sounded an optimistic tone.
&ldquo;I sincerely hope so," he said. "It&rsquo;s a very fast surface, Mondo is a great provider of tracks and have been our partner for many years. So yes, with a full stadium of noisy, passionate track and field fans, the athletes will raise their game and rise to the occasion."
<h4>Lowe goes high</h4>
The competitive highlight over the three days of the 17th edition of the Ibero-American Championships came in the women&rsquo;s jumps.
As a test event, guests from outside the Ibero-American family were invited and one of those who benefited was US high jump record-holder Chaunte Lowe, who won her specialist event with a world-leading 1.96m.
Local pole vault star Fabiana Murer, the 2010 world indoor champion and 2011 world champion, opened her Olympic campaign &ndash; which she has announced will be her last competitive season at age 35 &ndash; with a win at 4.60m.
&ldquo;I&rsquo;m far from my best form and I still lack speed, but I wanted to test the track to see how it feels to vault here,&rdquo; said the South American record holder at 4.85m. "I had eight jumps which enabled me to know that the track is very good."
In the sprints, Dominican Republic&rsquo;s Yancarlos Martinez set a national record of 20.19 in the 200m. Martinez also anchored the 4x100m team to victory with another national record of 38.52.
But his compatriot Luguelin Santos, the Olympic silver medallist, only finished second over one lap of the track in 45.58, finishing behind Cuba&rsquo;s Yoandys Lescay, who won in 45.36.
Chile&rsquo;s Ivan Lopez obtained an impressive double at 1500m and 3000m with 3:38.64 and 7:52.53, the latter a national record, while Brazil&rsquo;s Lutimar Paes and Kleberson Davide got a 1-2 in the 800m with 1:45.42 and 1:45.79 respectively.
In the field, the leading men&rsquo;s performances came from Argentina&rsquo;s German Chiaraviglio, who won the pole vault with 5.60m, and Colombia&rsquo;s Arley Ibarguen who threw 80.28m to win the javelin.
<h4>Colombian women triumph</h4>
In spite of the absence of two-time world triple jump champion Caterine Ibarguen, several other Colombian women displayed good form, topped by javelin thrower Flor Denis Ruiz.
The 25 year-old Ruiz, the 2014 Central American and Caribbean Games Champion and South American record-holder with 63.80m from 2014, dominated her event with 62.15m in round three, the second best of her life which sealed her Olympic ticket.
Another fine Colombian victory came from Pan-American Games champion Muriel Coneo with a 1500m win in 4:09.35.
Venezuela&rsquo;s Ahymara Espinosa won the shot with a national record of 18.19m, which also secures her Olympic qualification.
USA&rsquo;s Stephanie Brown Trafton, the 2008 Olympic discus champion, won her event with a season&rsquo;s best of 61.22m while Argentina&rsquo;s Belen Casetta also qualified for the Olympic Games in the 3000m steeplechase thanks to her victory in 9:42.93, a national record.
<a name="FR"></a>Eduardo Biscayart for the IAAF
&nbsp;
<hr />
<h3>Le pr&eacute;sident de l&rsquo;IAAF, Sebastian Coe, donne le feu vert pour les pr&eacute;paratifs olympiques &agrave;&nbsp;l&rsquo;occasion de la comp&eacute;tition test de Rio 2016</h3>
Le pr&eacute;sident de l&rsquo;IAAF, Sebastian Coe, &eacute;tait pr&eacute;sent &agrave; l&rsquo;occasion des Championnats Ib&eacute;ro-am&eacute;ricains organis&eacute;s &agrave;&nbsp;Rio de Janeiro, qui se sont termin&eacute;s ce lundi (16), et qui tenaient en outre lieu d&rsquo;&eacute;preuve test officielle pour l&rsquo;athl&eacute;tisme dans la perspective des tout prochains Jeux Olympiques de Rio 2016.
Le Pr&eacute;sident Coe - accompagn&eacute; pour l&rsquo;occasion par le pr&eacute;sident des Jeux Olympiques de Rio 2016, Carlos Nuzman, ainsi que du directeur d&eacute;l&eacute;gu&eacute; sportif des Jeux, Agberto Guimaraes - a lou&eacute; les pr&eacute;paratifs accomplis dans le Stade olympique, qui accueillera les &eacute;preuves d&rsquo;athl&eacute;tisme du 12 au 21 ao&ucirc;t.
&ldquo;Nous allons assister &agrave; une manifestation du plus haut niveau et le message &agrave; propager au monde entier est qu&rsquo;il faut venir y assister, a d&eacute;clar&eacute; Coe. Les spectateurs pr&eacute;sents pourront y admirer des athl&egrave;tes parmi les plus exceptionnels, non seulement de leur g&eacute;n&eacute;ration, mais de l&rsquo;histoire toute enti&egrave;re de notre sport.
&ldquo;J&rsquo;ai pu &eacute;changer avec nos D&eacute;l&eacute;gu&eacute;s techniques [de l&rsquo;IAAF], et ils se d&eacute;clarent ravis de la mani&egrave;re dont ces championnats ont &eacute;t&eacute; livr&eacute;s pour les sportifs en lice. Ce qui est fabuleux, avec une &eacute;preuve test telle que celle-ci, est qu&rsquo;elle vous donne l&rsquo;opportunit&eacute; de bien prendre en compte tout ce qu&rsquo;il s&rsquo;y est pass&eacute;, de l&rsquo;absorber, et d&rsquo;&eacute;ventuellement agir, quand n&eacute;cessaire. Et il nous reste 80 jours avant l&rsquo;ouverture des comp&eacute;titions olympiques pour nous assurer que tout sera au point.&rdquo;
L&rsquo;&eacute;ventualit&eacute; de voir des records du monde battus &agrave; Rio a &eacute;t&eacute; &eacute;voqu&eacute;e par la presse locale, qui se remm&eacute;morent peut-&ecirc;tre l&rsquo;exploit de David Rudisha sur 800m &agrave; Londres voil&agrave; quatre ans. Lorsqu&rsquo;on a abord&eacute; le sujet avec le Pr&eacute;sident Coe, celui-ci s&rsquo;est montr&eacute; r&eacute;solument optimiste&nbsp;:
&ldquo;Je l&rsquo;esp&egrave;re sinc&egrave;rement, a-t-il ainsi confi&eacute;. La surface install&eacute;e par Mondo, une soci&eacute;t&eacute; du plus haut niveau, et qui sont nos partenaires depuis de longues ann&eacute;es, est tr&egrave;s rapide. En outre, les athl&egrave;tes vont &eacute;voluer devant des tribunes remplies de fans d&rsquo;athl&eacute;tisme passionn&eacute;s qui les encourageront de tout leur c&oelig;ur, ce qui les davantage encore les comp&eacute;titeurs &agrave; se surpasser."
<h4>Lowe tutoie les sommets</h4>
Les points culminants, au niveau des &eacute;preuves les plus disput&eacute;es lors des trois journ&eacute;es de cette 17e &eacute;dition des Championnats Ib&eacute;ro-am&eacute;ricains, ont &eacute;t&eacute; dans les sauts f&eacute;minins.
Comme il s&rsquo;agissait d&rsquo;une comp&eacute;tition test, des invit&eacute;s ext&eacute;rieurs &agrave; la famille ib&eacute;ro-am&eacute;ricaine avaient &eacute;t&eacute; convi&eacute;s &agrave; la f&ecirc;te, dont Chaunte Lowe, d&eacute;tentrice du record des Etats-Unis du saut en hauteur, qui a remport&eacute; sa discipline avec une meilleure performance mondiale de 1,96m.
La star locale, la perchiste Fabiana Murer, championne du monde en salle en 2010 et en plein air en 2011, a lanc&eacute; sa campagne olympique sous les meilleurs auspices, avec une barre &agrave; 4,60m qui lui a valu la plus haute marche du podium. Murer a d&rsquo;ores et d&eacute;j&agrave; annonc&eacute; que cette saison serait sa derni&egrave;re et qu&rsquo;&agrave; sa cl&ocirc;ture elle allait prendre, &agrave; 35 ans, sa retraite sportive.
&ldquo;Je suis loin de ma meilleure forme, et je p&ecirc;che encore par manque de vitesse, mais je tenais &agrave; tester la piste pour me faire une id&eacute;e de ce &agrave; quoi elle ressemblait, a dit celle qui, avec 4,85m, d&eacute;tient le record sud-am&eacute;ricain de la perche. J&rsquo;ai eu huit sauts, et ils m&rsquo;ont permis de me rendre compte que la surface est vraiment tr&egrave;s bonne."
Dans les sprints, Yancarlos Martinez a &eacute;tabli un nouveau record national de la R&eacute;publique dominicaine avec un chrono de 20&rdquo;19 dans le 200m. Martinez a en outre couru le quatri&egrave;me relais du 4x100m, dans lequel il a men&eacute; son &eacute;quipe &agrave; la victoire, avec &agrave; la cl&eacute; un nouveau record national de 38&rdquo;52.
Sa compatriote, Luguelin Santos, vice-champion olympique, n&rsquo;a fini que seconde dans le 400m f&eacute;minin, avec un temps de 45&rdquo;58, derri&egrave;re la Cubaine Yoandys Lescay (45&rdquo;36).
Le Chilien Ivan Lopez a r&eacute;ussi un doubl&eacute; impressionnant 1500m/3000m avec des temps de 3&rsquo;38&rdquo;64 et 7&rsquo;52&rdquo;53 (un nouveau record national du 3000m), tandis que les Br&eacute;siliens Lutimar Paes et Kleberson Davide ont pris les deux premi&egrave;res places du 800m masculin en 1&rsquo;45&rdquo;42 et 1&rsquo;45&rdquo;79 respectivement.
Dans les concours, les meilleures performances masculines ont &eacute;t&eacute; le fait de l&rsquo;Argentin German Chiaraviglio, qui a remport&eacute; le saut &agrave; la perche avec une barre franchie &agrave; 5,60m, et du Colombien Arley Ibarguen, avec un javelot projet&eacute; &agrave; 80,28m qui lui a valu la victoire dans son &eacute;preuve.
<h4>Les Colombiennes au sommet</h4>
En l&rsquo;absence de la double championne du monde du triple saut, Caterine Ibarguen, ses compatriotes colombiennes se sont illustr&eacute;es sur la piste de Rio, notamment la lanceuse de javelot, Flor Denis Ruiz.
Ruiz, 25 ans, qui avait remport&eacute; le javelot f&eacute;minin aux Jeux d&rsquo;Am&eacute;rique centrale et des Cara&iuml;bes 2014 et est d&eacute;tentrice du record d&rsquo;Am&eacute;rique du Sud avec 63,80m r&eacute;ussis cette m&ecirc;me ann&eacute;e, a domin&eacute; ses adversaires ici avec un jet de 62,15m &agrave; son troisi&egrave;me lancer, la seconde meilleure performance de sa carri&egrave;re, d&eacute;crochant ainsi sa qualification pour Rio 2016.
Une autre victoire colombienne &agrave; retenir fut celle de la championne des Jeux Panam&eacute;ricains, Muriel Coneo, avec un 1500m couru en 4&rsquo;09&rdquo;35.
La V&eacute;n&eacute;zu&eacute;lienne Ahymara a remport&eacute; le lancer du poids avec un nouveau record national de 18,19m, synonyme, l&agrave; aussi, de qualification olympique.
Stephanie Brown Trafton, des USA, championne olympique du lancer de disque en 2008, a remport&eacute; son &eacute;preuve avec la meilleure performance de la saison &agrave; date, 61,22m, tandis que l&rsquo;Argentine Belen Casetta s&rsquo;est &eacute;galement qualifi&eacute;e pour les Jeux Olympiques avec une victoire dans le 3000m steeplechase, assortie d&rsquo;un nouveau record national de 9&rsquo;42&rdquo;93.
Eduardo Biscayart pour l&rsquo;IAAF

IAAF President Sebastian Coe was present at the Ibero-American Championships in Rio de Janeiro, which finished on Monday (16), and which doubled as the official test event for athletics for the forthcoming Rio 2016 Olympic Games.

IAAF President Coe gives green light to Olympic preparations at Rio test event

Ten more global medallists have been added to the array of big names competing at the New Balance Indoor Grand Prix, an IAAF Indoor Permit meeting, in Boston on 7 February.Among the latest star additions are US shot putters Ryan Whiting and Christian Cantwell, winners of five of the past six world indoor titles. Also announced was Jamaica&rsquo;s Asafa Powell, the former 100m world record-holder.The meeting is celebrating its 20th edition in 2015 and will be staged at the Reggie Lewis Track and Athletic Center at the Roxbury Community College.The New Balance Indoor Grand Prix has played host to seven world records and 11 US records in its first 19 years. It is the third stop on the 2015 IAAF Indoor Permit meeting series.Among the names already announced are Olympic pole vault champion Jenn Suhr, two-time Olympic medallist Bernard Lagat, 18-year-old phenomenon Mary Cain, and 2011 world 1500m champion Jenny Simpson.The other names announced on Friday are 2008 Olympic 1500m silver medallist Nick Willis, 2012 world indoor 1500m champion Abdalaati Iguider, 2012 world indoor high jump champion Chaunte Lowe, 2005 world long jump champion Tianna Bartoletta, Olympic 10,000m silver medallist Sally Kipyego, Olympic relay silver medallist Ryan Bailey, and Olympic 5000m silver medallist Dejen Gebremeskel.Boston fans will remember Gebremeskel beating Great Britain&rsquo;s Mo Farah, in 2011 in just one shoe, after losing the other shoe early in the race. Organisers for the IAAF

Ten more global medallists have been added to the array of big names competing at the New Balance Indoor Grand Prix, an IAAF Indoor Permit meeting, in Boston on 7 February.

10 more stars set for Boston Indoor Permit meeting

Maria Kuchina was looking to end her 2014 competition schedule in the same manner in which she had started it: on top of the world.At the IAAF World Indoor Championships in March, the 21-year-old Russian won a global gold medal, sharing the title with the inspired Pole Kamila Licwinko. Six months on, Kuchina lined up in the IAAF Continental Cup as the only woman in the field with a clearance at two metres or better to her name in 2014, having negotiated precisely that height for an outdoor best at the IAAF Diamond League meeting in Paris back in July.Her Europe team-mate Ana Simic from Croatia did have a 1.99m effort to her name, thanks to the jump that secured her the European Championship bronze behind Ruth Beitia and Kuchina in Zurich last month.As the competition unfolded, however, it was US record-holder Chaunte Lowe who posed the biggest challenge to the favourite.Lowe, the 2012 world indoor champion, needed three attempts to negotiate 1.95m but cleared 1.97m at the first time of asking, a season’s best.Simic was still in the hunt at that stage but three failures kept her down in third place, although she had a first-time success at 1.95m.Kuchina’s first failure of the night came at 1.99m but she succeeded with her second attempt. Lowe drew three blanks, leaving Kuchina the victor.The Russian had three shots at a world-lead equalling 2.01m, but it proved a height too far for her.Simon Turnbull for the IAAF

Maria Kuchina was looking to end her 2014 competition schedule in the same manner in which she had started it: on top of the world.

Report: women's high jump – IAAF Continental Cup, Marrakech 2014

The women’s high jump at the ExxonMobil Bislett Games on 11 June is shaping up as one of the most eagerly anticipated competitions to be staged at the Oslo leg of the IAAF Diamond League.Rarely has a Diamond League competition boasted as many reigning champions on its start list as there are on this year’s edition of the Bislett Games.Meeting director Steinar Hoen, the 1994 European high jump champion, has painstakingly put together a field that boasts enormous pedigree, with no fewer than seven winners of global high jump titles.Olympic champion Anna Chicherova of Russia heads the list of gold medallists which also includes her team-mate and world champion Svetlana Shkolina, two-time world champion Blanka Vlasic, 2012 world indoor champion Chaunte Lowe, the joint winners of the 2014 world indoor title, Kamila Licwinko of Poland and Russia’s Maria Kuchina, and world junior champion Alessia Trost.European champion Ruth Beitia of Spain and European bronze medallist Irina Gordeyeva of Russia are also in the field. All nine high jumpers have PBs higher than two metres.Shkolina displayed consistent form all season in 2013 and improved on her Olympic bronze medal by taking the gold in Moscow at the World Championships.Chicherova has been a dominant figure in high jumping over the past decade and while she was disappointed with her bronze medal at last year’s World Championships, she has returned to the strict training regime that brought her the Olympic and world titles and Russian record of 2.07m.Lowe, who has remarkably returned to the sport after the birth of her third child, is a firm favourite with the Oslo crowds. A winner at Bislett in 2012, Lowe started jumping only a matter of months ago but already shares the world lead with a clearance of 1.96m, just nine centimetres shy of her US record of 2.05m.Organisers for the IAAF2014 IAAF Diamond League calendarDoha, QAT – 9 May Shanghai, CHN – 18 May Eugene, USA – 31 May Rome, ITA – 5 Jun Oslo, NOR – 11 Jun New York, USA – 14 Jun Lausanne, SUI – 3 Jul Paris, FRA – 5 Jul Glasgow, GBR – 11-12 Jul Monaco, MON – 18 Jul Stockholm, SWE – 21 Aug Birmingham, GBR – 24 Aug Zurich, SUI – 28 Aug Brussels, BEL – 5 Sep

The women’s high jump at the ExxonMobil Bislett Games on 11 June is shaping up as one of the most eagerly anticipated competitions to be staged at the Oslo leg of the IAAF Diamond League.

Seven global high jump champions set to feature in Oslo – IAAF Diamond League

The&nbsp;final day of action at the 105th HyVee Drake Relays in Des Moines, USA, saw Kristin Castlin end Brianna Rollins' winning streak, which stretched back to the 2012 US Olympic Trials, on Saturday (26).<o:p></o:p>Rollins had won 35 races in succession across a range of individual events, including heats, since July 2012. But in Des Moines Castlin won by just 0.005, with the pair timed at 12.571 and 12.576 respectively. <o:p></o:p>&ldquo;I was surprised,&rdquo; said Castlin after her world-leading run. &ldquo;This is my first race of the season. I&nbsp;had a&nbsp;little bit of a&nbsp;chip on my shoulder being in lane eight. I&nbsp;had to execute my best race since I&nbsp;was out there on my own.&rdquo; <o:p></o:p>In a thrilling race of tremendous depth, Kellie Wells was third in 12.68 with Queen Harrison fourth in 12.70 and Great Britain&rsquo;s Tiffany Porter fifth in 12.71.<o:p></o:p>The women&rsquo;s 400m hurdles saw Tiffany Ross-Williams win in 55.53 with Jamaica&rsquo;s Nickiesha Wilson second in 55.68 and former world champion Lashinda Demus crossing the line third in 55.97. <o:p></o:p>Renaud Lavillenie kept his 2014 unbeaten streak alive, but only just, as the pole vault world record-holder won with a relatively modest 5.70m to take the verdict on count-back against Great Britain&rsquo;s Steve Lewis, who cleared the same height.<o:p></o:p>US high jump record-holder Chaunte Lowe made an impressive return to action in her first major competition for almost two years, after taking a break due to pregnancy, by going over 1.96m.<o:p></o:p>&ldquo;I really didn&rsquo;t know what to expect,&rdquo; said Lowe. &ldquo;It was a&nbsp;coin toss. I&nbsp;have been training really, really hard, but I&nbsp;hadn&rsquo;t had any great competitions up to this point. I&nbsp;had two small ones just to see where my steps were. This week I&nbsp;came and jumped at Hy-Vee, that was exciting. To come out here and take the win made me feel like I&nbsp;still have the juice. The last real competition I&nbsp;had was in Belgium in 2012 right after the Olympic Games.&rdquo; <o:p></o:p>Inika McPherson finished second with a personal best of 1.96m but more failures than Lowe. St Lucia's Levern Spencer, USA&rsquo;s Olympic Games and World Championships medallist Brigetta Barrett and Spain&rsquo;s European champion Ruth Beitia were third, fourth and fifth respectively, all three women getting over 1.93m. <o:p></o:p>Ethiopia&rsquo;s Aman Wote won the mile in an impressive 3:53.39, winning by approximately 60 metres.<o:p></o:p>Phil Minshull for the IAAF<o:p></o:p>

The final day of action at the 105th HyVee Drake Relays in Des Moines, USA, saw Kristin Castlin end Brianna Rollins' winning streak, which stretched back to the 2012 US Olympic Trials, on Saturday (26).

Castlin ends Rollins' winning streak at Drake Relays

Organisers of the IAAF World Challenge meeting in Beijing have announced another raft of top names that will grace their meeting on 21 May, including both of the 2011 IAAF World Championships gold medallists in the javelin, Germany’s Mattias De Zordo and Russia’s Mariya Abakumova.De Zordo will face the strong Czech pair of Jakub Vadlejch and Petr Fredrych while Abakumova, who has already thrown 69.34m this year when winning at the European Cup Winter Throwing last month, will have opposition from Australia’s Kathryn Mitchell and a very good Chinese trio of Lu Huihui, Li Lingwei and Zhang Li.Both De Zordo and Abakumova had Olympic Games to forget, neither getting on the podium and De Zordo did not even make the final after three no throws in qualifying due to injury, and so they will want to test themselves ahead of the defence of their World titles this summer.The men’s High Jump brings together Russia’s 2010 European champion Alexander Shustov and his young compatriot Nikita Anishchenkov, who took the 2011 European junior title, as well as two talented 21-year-old Chinese high jumpers: Zhang Guowei, who jumped a Chinese indoor record of 2.32m in Nanjing last month and Wang Yu, who jumped 2.30m indoors this winter.At the same Nanjing meeting, triple jumper Dong Bin set an Asian indoor record of 17.12m and, boasting of an outdoor best of 17.35m, he is one of the emerging Chinese men’s talents looking to fill the hole left by the absence this year, due to injury, of the 2004 Olympic Games 110m Hurdles champion Liu Xiang. In Beijing, Dong will face the 2012 Chinese outdoor champion Cao Shuo with the European challenge led by Greek record-holder Dimitrios Tsiamis and Italy’s Fabrizio Schembri.Lowe to HighThe meeting organisers have recruited the USA’s 2012 World Indoor Championships High Jump gold medallist Chaunte Lowe to give Russia’s previously announced Olympic and World champion Anna Chicherova some opposition and Lowe’s compatriot Funmi Jimoh leads the women’s Long Jump field.In addition to the top Chinese women Javelin exponents, it’s no surprise that several of the country’s other top female throwers will also be in action in the famous Bird’s Nest stadium, including 2012 Olympic Games Shot Put bronze medallist Gong Lijiao and hammer thrower Zhang Wenxiu, who took an Olympic Games bronze medal in the same stadium five years ago and who also has two World Championships bronze medals to her name.A notable addition to the names already announced for the track events is US hurdler Kellie Wells, who won the Olympic Games 100m Hurdles bronze medal in London last summer.One of the aims of Beijing hosting IAAF World Challenge meetings in 2013 and 2014 is to accumulate experience ahead of the 2015 IAAF World Championships, which will be staged in the Chinese capital, and train the officials who will be in charge during that event.Phil Minshull and organisers for the IAAF

Javelin world champions De Zordo and Abakumova added to Beijing field - IAAF World Challenge

Javelin World champions De Zordo and Abakumova added to Beijing field - IAAF World Challenge

Organisers of the IAAF World Challenge meeting in Beijing have announced another raft of top names that will grace their meeting on 21 May, including both of the 2011 World Championships gold medallists in the javelin, Germany’s Mattias De Zordo and Russia’s Mariya Abakumova.

The women’s High Jump at the 106th Millrose Games will be truly memorable as USA’s Chaunte Lowe and Brigetta Barrett today announced that they will compete at the Armory on February 16.Barrett won a surprise silver medal at the 2012 London Olympics with a personal best of 2.03m.“I’m very excited to come back home and compete where it all started for me in the world of track and field,” said Barrett. “The Armory has always been one of my favourite places to jump. The energy is always great.”Lowe, 29, holds both the indoor (2.02m) and outdoor (2.05m) American records and is the reigning World indoor champion.“I love to compete in the United States where I’ve had my best indoor results,” said Lowe, whose appearance at Millrose will be her only indoor competition of the year. “Millrose and New York are special and both have a lot of tradition. Winning there would be one of the highlights in my career.”Meet director Ray Flynn is excited at the prospect of the Lowe-Barrett head to head. “Here are two of the most dynamic and entertaining athletes in all of track and field,” he said. “Their appeal to the fans is amazing.”Lowe and Barrett join a top-class cast for the Millrose Games. Among the athletes previously announced for the meeting are World indoor 3000m champion Bernard Lagat, World 110m Hurdles champion Jason Richardson, Olympic Pole Vault champion Jenn Suhr, and World and Olympic Long Jump champion Brittney Reese.The 106th Millrose Games will be the second stop of USA Track &amp; Field’s nationally 2013 Indoor USATF Championship series, which also includes the New Balance Indoor Grand Prix in Boston – an IAAF Indoor Permit meeting – on February 2 and the USATF Indoor Track &amp; Field Championships in Albuquerque on March 1-2.Organisers for the IAAF

Lowe and Barrett set for New York clash

The women’s High Jump at the 106th Millrose Games will be truly memorable as USA’s Chaunte Lowe and Brigetta Barrett today announced that they will compete at the Armory on February 16.