Barbora Spotakova and Christina Obergfoll head a deep world-class javelin field at the 2015 IAAF Diamond League meeting in Eugene on 30 May, after organisers for the famous Prefontaine Classic announced the line up for the this event on Monday (30).This particular pair should have a unique rivalry this season as they are the only winners of the Diamond Race in their event during the five seasons of the IAAF Diamond League.World record-holder and two-time Olympic champion Spotakova of the Czech Republic missed almost all of the 2013 season after giving birth to her son Jan in May that year but returned in 2014 to win the European title and at the IAAF Continental Cup.Germany's Obergfoll is also a reigning global gold medallist, winning at the 2013 IAAF World Championships before taking last season off for maternity leave, her son being born in October.&nbsp; Obergfoll has a special fondness for Hayward Field, having won at the past two editions of the Prefontaine Classic when the javelin has been held, in 2011 and 2013, and she owns the meeting record of 67.70m from two years ago.Russia&rsquo;s Mariya Abakumova is another major championship gold medallist in the field, winning at the 2011 IAAF World Championships, the last time someone other than Spotakova or Obergfoll won a major gold in this event. Abakumova's lifetime best of 71.99m is second only to Spotakova&rsquo;s world record of 72.28m on the all-time list.Linda Stahl of Germany claimed her most famous victory in 2010 when winning the European title ahead of Obergfoll and Spotakova while South Africa&rsquo;s Sunette Viljoen is also in the field and she owns the US all-comers best of 69.35m.Slovenia&rsquo;s Martina Ratej and her fellow Olympic finalist Madara Palameika from Latvia will add depth to the classy list of leading javelin throwers at the 41st edition of the Prefontaine Classic.Organisers for the IAAF2015 IAAF Diamond League calendar Doha, QAT &ndash; 15 May Shanghai, CHN &ndash; 17 May Eugene, USA &ndash; 30 May Rome, ITA &ndash; 4 June Birmingham, GBR &ndash; 7 June Oslo, NOR &ndash; 11 June New York, USA &ndash; 13 June Paris, FRA &ndash; 4 July Lausanne, SUI &ndash; 9 July Monaco, MON &ndash; 17 July London, GBR &ndash; 24-25 July Stockholm, SWE &ndash; 30 July Zurich, SUI &ndash; 3 September Brussels, BEL &ndash; 11 September

Barbora Spotakova and Christina Obergfoll headline a deep world-class javelin field at the 2015 IAAF Diamond League meeting in Eugene on 30 May, after organisers for the famous Prefontaine Classic announced the line up for the this event on Monday (30).

Spotakova and Obergfoll to duel in Eugene – IAAF Diamond League

<a href="#FR">Fran&ccedil;ais</a>World Athletes of the Year Renaud Lavillenie and Valerie Adams are the athletes for January featured on the 2015 IAAF Calendar, which is available now.The desk top calendar also has many spectacular images from the IAAF World Indoor Championships, IAAF World Half Marathon Championships, IAAF World Junior Championships, IAAF Continental Cup, IAAF Diamond League and Youth Olympic Games.A sneak preview of the entire calendar can be seen by clicking on the file available under 'RELATED DOCUMENTS' on the right-hand side of this page.The 14-page calendar, measuring 24cm x 17cm and printed on high-quality glossy paper, is only US$12 (postage included).For payment options and ordering, please send an email to: <a href="mailto:info@iaaf.org">info@iaaf.org</a>Details of all IAAF publications can be found <a href="http://www.iaaf.org/about-iaaf/publications">here</a>.IAAF<hr /><a name="FR"><h3>Le calendrier de l'IAAF 2015 est disponible
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 Ce sont les Athl&egrave;tes mondiaux de l'ann&eacute;e, Renaud Lavillenie et Valerie Adams, qui ornent la page du mois de janvier du

calendrier 2015 de l'IAAF, disponible d&egrave;s &agrave; pr&eacute;sent. Ce
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mois, de nombreuses photos spectaculaires prises lors de diff&eacute;rents
 grands rendez-vous de l'IAAF, tels que les Championnats du monde en 
salle, les Championnats du monde de Semi-marathon, les Championnats du 
monde Juniors, la Coupe continentale, la Ligue de diamant, ou encore les
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Un aper&ccedil;u du calendrier dans son int&eacute;gralit&eacute; est disponible en cliquant sur le lien sous la rubrique "Related
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 calendrier de 14 pages, de 24x17cm, et imprim&eacute; sur du papier brillant 
de haute qualit&eacute;, ne co&ucirc;te que 12 dollars US (frais d'exp&eacute;dition
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<a href="mailto:info@iaaf.org">info@iaaf.org</a>Le d&eacute;tail de l'ensemble des publications de l'IAAF est disponible en cliquant&nbsp;<a href="http://www.iaaf.org/about-iaaf/publications">ici</a>.IAAF

World Athletes of the Year Renaud Lavillenie and Valerie Adams are the athletes for January featured on the 2015 IAAF Calendar, which is available now.

2015 IAAF Calendar now available

As part of their promise to showcase all of Germany&rsquo;s medallists from the recent European Championships, organisers of the ISTAF meeting have added the women&rsquo;s shot put and steeplechase to the programme of the IAAF World Challenge meeting in Berlin on 31 August.It means that European champions Christina Schwanitz and Antje Moldner-Schmidt will join the line-up, alongside fellow European champions David Storl and Robert Harting, both of whom had been already announced, completing Germany&rsquo;s quartet of gold medallists from Zurich.It&rsquo;s not just Germany&rsquo;s gold medallists who will be in action in Berlin, as all of the nation&rsquo;s other medallists from Zurich have also been invited.Discus bronze medallist Shanice Craft will contest the shot put, an event in which she won the world junior title two years ago, while 100m bronze medallist Cindy Roleder will take on European champion Tiffany Porter in the sprint hurdles.The quartet of sprinters who took silver in the men&rsquo;s 4x100m &ndash; Julian Reus, Lucas Jakubczyk, Sven Knippahls and Alexander Kosenkow &ndash; will contest the 100m in the German capital, and European bronze medallist Linda Stahl will line up for the javelin.Storl&rsquo;s opponents in the men&rsquo;s shot have also been revealed, and they include world leader Joe Kovacs, former world champion Reese Hoffa, two-time world indoor champion Ryan Whiting and double Olympic champion Tomasz Majewski.&ldquo;We are trying everything to keep our promise to present all of the German medallists and as many European champions as possible at the ISTAF,&rdquo; said meeting director Martin Seeber. &ldquo;I&rsquo;m pleased that both Christina Schwanitz and Antje Moldner-Schmidt have agreed immediately and now the German golden quartet will be on show in Berlin.&rdquo;Organisers for the IAAF

As part of their promise to showcase all of Germany’s medallists from the recent European Championships, organisers of the ISTAF meeting have added the women’s shot put and steeplechase to the programme of the IAAF World Challenge meeting in Berlin on 31 August.

All of Germany’s European medallists will compete in Berlin

An outstanding men's hammer field has been assembled for the 19th Miner’s Day Meeting in Velenje, Slovenia, on Tuesday (1).Most of the world’s top men’s hammer throwers will be in action at the small alpine nation’s premiere annual athletics event, led by Olympic champion Kristian Pars. The 32-year-old Hungarian will arrive riding an eight-meeting winning streak and as the world leader at 81.57m from Ostrava.Pars has lost just once in 11 starts this season. That loss came at the hand of world champion Pawel Fajdek who is also in the field. The Pole’s season’s best also came in Ostrava but at 79.65m is nearly two metres shy of his rival’s. He was a distant third at the European Team Championships, his most recent outing, with 75.26m.After Pars, Dilshod Nazarov has been the season’s most consistent thrower. The winner in Moscow and Zhukovskiy, Nazarov hit his 80.62m season’s best in Ostrava, the second-farthest throw of his career.Russia’s European Team Championships winner Sergey Litvinov, who has a season’s best of 78.77m, is also in the field.Local eyes will focus on former world and Olympic champion Primoz Kozmus, whose early season training was slowed by a series of injuries. With a modest 73.02m season’s best, the Beijing Olympic champion will have a struggle to just finish in the top five.Ratej v Stahl in the javelinThe capacity crowd expected at Velenje’s municipal stadium can expect a significantly better finish by in-form Martina Ratej in the javelin throw.The 32-year-old national record-holder has performed well this season, collecting notable victories at the IAAF Diamond League kick-off meeting in Doha (65.48m) and in Ostrava, and with runner-up finishes at Rome’s Golden Gala and at the European Team Championships first division competition in Tallinn where she battled difficult conditions.She’s hardly a shoe-in for the win however. Carrying the status of favourite is Germany’s Linda Stahl, the Olympic bronze medallist who reached a career best of 67.32m at the IAAF Diamond League stop in New York two weeks ago, currently the farthest throw in the world.The rest of the evening’s programme will largely focus on regional talent chasing standards for the European Championships, with a handful of notable exceptions.The men’s 100m will attract attention, courtesy of Kemarley Brown, a 21-year-old Jamaican newcomer who clocked 9.93 at the California junior college championships in May. Velenje will be Brown’s first race since his dash into the sub-10 club, at the time a short-lived world leading performance. Akani Simini, who clocked a personal best 10.02 to finish runner-up at April’s South African Championships, is also in the field.Elsewhere, Botswana’s Isaac Makwala, who holds national records at all three sprint distances, and Jamaican champion Anneisha McLaughlin lead the fields in the 200m.Germany’s Michelle Weitzel, who has improved her PB to 6.66m this year, leads a competitive long jump field of five women near or beyond the 6.50m mark this season, and in the pole vault Slovenian national record-holder Tina Sutej will square off against German Katharina Bauer.Bob Ramsak for the IAAF

An outstanding men's hammer field has been assembled for the 19th Miner’s Day Meeting in Velenje, Slovenia, on Tuesday (1).

Pars the favourite, but local eyes will be in Kozmus in Velenje

It took Germany's 2010 European champion Linda Stahl a couple throws to get in the swing, but when she finally did, she was able to score her first victory of the 2014 IAAF Diamond League season with a world-leading mark of 67.32m in the women's javelin at the adidas Grand Prix on Saturday (14).Unlike Kathryn Mitchell of Australia, who took the early lead with a 66.08m on her very first throw of the competition, it took Stahl until round three to launch the spear more than a metre past Mitchell's mark, taking the world lead from Mitchell’s compatriot Kimberley Mickle, who threw 66.83m in Melbourne in March."I am very satisfied with the personal best today," said Stahl. "I came in a little tired with three competitions in the last week but felt great after warm-ups. My first throw was a season's best and I knew it was not a perfect throw, so it progressed from there."The competition also saw Madera Palameika set a Latvian record of 64.86m for third place.In 2011, Fabiana Murer of Brazil cleared 4.85m to win gold at the IAAF World Championships in Daegu, and that was the last time she jumped 4.80m.The 33-year-old turned back the clock, clearing 4.80m on her first attempt to win the women's pole vault and establish a world-leading mark."It felt very good," said Murer. "I had really good training before coming here and this is the first time that I have jumped this high in three years. Since Daegu, I have always had some problems with the training or some little injuries, but today we had good weather and I took the chance. I'm very happy."Two sub-20s for Jamaica in 200mJamaicans Warren Weir and Nickel Ashmeade provided a sprint thrill to the Jamaican faithful that made up most of the crowd in Icahn Stadium on Randall's Island. Running into a slight headwind, Weir blazed to victory in a world-leading 19.82, dipping at the line to edge Ashmeade who was second in 19.95. The two are now tied for the Diamond Race lead with six points."I am feeling good," said Weir. "I'm extremely happy with today and proud to come out here and compete in front of this great crowd. Not only are Jamaicans great, but everyone is."Puerto Rico's Javier Culson fought through a stiff wind on the backstretch to make up the stagger early and then held off three season-best performances coming down the final straight to win the men's 400m hurdles in 48.03. Diamond Race leader Michael Tinsley of the US was second in 48.56, followed by Cornell Fredericks of South Africa in 48.58 and two-time Olympic champion Felix Sanchez of the Dominican Republic in 49.09. Looking to build back his fitness after spending almost all of the summer of 2013 on the sidelines, Kenya's David Rudisha scored his first victory of the season in the men's 800m, clocking a season's best of 1:44.63. The world record-holder, who injured his right knee jogging in Central Park before this meeting last year, recovered from an awkward cut-in to get behind pacer Daniel Dey, who brought him through 400m in 50.48. Unlike in Eugene, where he faded badly off the final bend, Rudisha maintained his lead throughout."The race went well," he said. "It was windy so it was hard for us and our rabbit, but I'm glad to be back in New York after competing well here two years ago. The racing is good here and the crowd is great."Adams' shot streak hits 50Valerie Adams of New Zealand extended her remarkable winning streak in the women's shot put to 50 consecutive meetings, winning with a fifth-round effort of 19.68m. The victory was a bit different than her usual dominating performances, however. She actually trailed USA's Michelle Carter, who opened with 19.51m, for three rounds. Adams edged into the front on her fourth throw, which measured 19.52m, before gaining a bit more distance in the next round."Keeping my streak going today was awesome," Adams said. "Training has been going great. There have been some days where there's aches and pains, but that's just being an athlete. This was a really good class of throwers today so they kept me accountable, really kept me on top of my game. But I'm glad I could grab a win today."Nobody in the crowd was surprised to see a Jamaican win the men's 100m, a non-Diamond League event. They were probably a bit shocked, though, at which one prevailed. Nesta Carter got out fast and then brought home the victory in 10.09. 2011 world champion Yohan Blake, one of the headliner athletes on the bill, could not recover from the second-slowest reaction time (0.209) and wound up second in 10.21."It was a good race with a strong wind," Carter said. "It is always good to compete well here in New York in front of this great crowd.""First of all, great race to Nesta Carter," Blake added. "He's been running well recently and deserves to win a race like this. I just need to work on my start. I cannot make mistakes like that at these big meets. Bad starts are frustrating. It's just something I have to work on."US sweeps 100m hurdlesThe women's 100m hurdles unfolded as an all-American affair as expected with Queen Harrison taking the victory in 12.62 and the Diamond Race lead with five points. "It feels great to come out here, compete well, and win," Harrison said. "I have been racing a lot so it's nice to come away with a win."Two-time Olympic medallist Dawn Harper Nelson was second for the second straight meet in 12.63 while Lolo Jones, racing in her first IAAF Diamond League meeting of the season after competing at the Sochi Winter Olympic Games as a bobsledder, was third in 12.77.US upstart sprint sensation Tori Bowie continued her IAAF Diamond League success in the sprints, winning her third consecutive race and second in the 100m, this time in 11.07, just 0.02 off her personal best set in Rome just over a week ago.Bowie, who leads the 100m Diamond Race with eight points, also won the 200m in Eugene.In the women's triple jump, Jamaica's Kimberly Williams reached a slightly-wind-aided (2.1m/s) mark of 14.31m on her second attempt of the competition to score her first IAAF Diamond League victory of the season.Joe Battaglia for the IAAF

It took Germany's 2010 European champion Linda Stahl a couple throws to get in the swing, but when she finally did, she was able to score her first victory of the 2014 IAAF Diamond League season with a world-leading mark of 67.32m in the women's javelin at the adidas Grand Prix on Saturday (14).

Stahl, Murer and Weir get world leads in New York – IAAF Diamond League

Russia’s defending women’s Javelin champion Maria Abakumova showed that she will not be giving up her title without a fight and has arrived at these IAAF World Championships in terrific form as she threw 69.09m with her first throw in Friday morning’s qualifying rounds.It was the longest distance in a qualifying round at any championships in history with the current women’s Javelin specification.In contrast to a number of other field event qualifiers that have been held in the morning, where there have only been a few athletes reaching the automatic qualification standard, the javelin throwers seemed raring to go.No less than 11 throwers went over the automatic qualifying standard of 61.50m.Australia’s Kimberley Mickle was the next best behind Abakumova when she added more than a metre to her best, set in Paris at the IAAF Diamond League there last month, with her second round effort of 65.73m.Four other women made it a short morning’s work, reaching the qualifying standard with their first throw, including the German pair of Linda Stahl and Christina Obergfoll, who went through to Sunday’s final easily with 64.51m and 62.36m.Another to get qualification quickly resolved was South Africa’s Sunette Viljoen, the bronze medallist at the last championships in Daegu two years, who was the fourth woman to throw over 64 metres on Friday morning when she launched her first throw out to 64.51m as well.Although they are not expected to be medal contenders, Serbia’s Tatjana Jelaca and Sweden’s current World and European junior champion Sofi Flinck have already made their mark on the competition by setting national records of 62.68m and 61.96m respectively.The 12th and last place went to Nadeeka Babaranada with 60.39m, just 25cm away from her recent national record, who became not only the first Sri Lankan woman to make the final of a World Championships field event but was actually the first woman from her nation to compete in a World Championships field event when she took part in the qualifying competition.A number of names stand out from the 15 women who didn’t progress on a morning when conditions were obviously conducive to good throwing. The biggest casualty was Germany’s Katherina Molitor, fifth at the last World Championships and sixth at the 2012 Olympic Games, who could throw no farther than 60.32m.Japan’s Yuki Ebihara, Ukraine’s Marharyta Dorozon, Slovenia’s Martina Ratej and Latvia’s Madara Palameika have all thrown over 62 metres this season and would have come to Russia hoping to make the final but found 60 metres beyond them on Friday.Phil Minshull for the IAAF

Report: Women's Javelin qualifying – Moscow 2013

After being so long in the shadow of other throwers at major championships, not least Czech Republic’s London 2012 Olympic Games champion and World record-holder Barbora Spotakova who will be missing in Moscow because of maternity leave, Germany’s Christina Obergfoll will possibly never have a better chance of taking a global title.This season, the 31-year-old Obergfoll has been in outstanding form and won seven of her eight competitions. Consequently, she will start as the favourite for her first major international title.She already has the 2013 Diamond Race victory sealed after victories in New York, Eugene, Rome, Paris and London; and her only defeat came after she made a tiring dash across the border to compete at the German Championships in Ulm on 7 July, after winning in the French capital the previous night.Obergfoll, a former European record-holder with a best this season of 67.70m from Eugene, has acquired an impressive array of medals and near-misses since she emerged as a world-class thrower in 2005 but none of them gold.&nbsp; At the past four World Championships, she finished second in 2005 and 2007, fifth in 2009 and fourth in 2011. At the Olympics last year, she was again runner-up to add to her bronze from 2008 and she was second at the past two editions of the European Athletics Championships.Her obvious immediate rival to stand on top of the podium is home favourite and reigning World champion Maria Abakumova.After two low-key winter outings, the Russian started the serious part of her season in stunning fashion with a throw of 69.34m at the European Champion Clubs' Cup in Spain back in May and that effort leads the 2013 world list by more than a metre.However, since then, her form has been rather indifferent although she threw over 65 metres to win on Russian soil at both the World University Games and Russian Championships last month.Abakumova has also lost all five of her encounters with Obergfoll this summer and, despite her talent and winning in Daegu two years ago, has admitted that she has sometimes struggled to cope with high pressure situations, demonstrated by her finishing down in 10th at the Olympic Games last summer.In addition to the anticipated two main protagonists, the only other woman going to Moscow to have thrown over 65 metres this season is Germany’s Linda Stahl.Stahl does not have the big distances to her name that Abakumova and Obergfoll can boast of, but she has a habit of doing well at major championships and her best of 66.81m came when she won the 2010 European title.She picked up two bronze medals last year after finishing third both at the European Athletics Championships and Olympic Games, and is the only woman this year to have beaten Obergfoll. Australia’s Kim Mickle and Ukraine’s 2012 European champion Vira Rebryk have both thrown over 64 metres this year and so could enter into medal contention but, curiously, neither has won a competition outside their home country so far this year.Rebryk won her continental crown in Helsinki last year with a personal best of 66.86m and is a former World junior champion as well as the World junior record-holder but has never quite rid herself of the reputation of being an erratic performer. In addition to her Olympic disaster, when she failed to make the final in London, she could only finish third at the recent Ukrainian Championships. Other throwers who could entertain hopes of getting a medal include South Africa’s Sunette Viljoen and Germany’s Katharina Molitor, fourth and sixth at the 2012 Olympic Games, and the pair have both gone over 63 metres in 2013.Click <a href=" http://www.iaaf.org/competitions/iaaf-world-championships/14th-iaaf-world-championships-4873/athletes">here</a>&nbsp;for OFFICIAL ENTRIES in the Moscow 2013 Athletes’ section.Phil Minshull for the IAAF

Women’s Javelin Throw – Preview

Brianna Rollins, Valerie Adams, Jason Young, Yarisley Silva and Linda Stahl highlighted the Spitzen Leichtathletik EA Classic meeting at the Allmend Stadium in Lucerne on Wednesday (17).These athletes shared the $20,000 jackpot which was awarded to the best performers of the evening.USA’s rising 100m Hurdles star Brianna Rollins, who sensationally broke Gail Devers’ American record with 12.26 at the US Championships in Des Moines last month, clocked a winning 12.63 into a headwind of -0.4 m/s in her first European race as a professional athlete.In a rematch of the US Championships, Rollins, the third-fastest woman of all time, beat US silver medallist Queen Harrison (12.79) and Kristi Catlin (12.80).“I don’t put pressure on myself, I felt great competing for the first time in Europe and the Swiss crowd were appreciative,” said Rollins. “I am satisfied with the time. I took some time off after the US Championships to prepare for my debut in Europe. I will run in Monaco and in Finland before returning to the USA to finish my preparation for the World Championships in Moscow.”Jamaican sprinter Jason Young won in Lucerne for the consecutive year, again dipping under the 20-second barrier with 19.98 into a headwind of -0.3 m/s, one year after he set his PB of 19.86 in his breakthrough race on the same fast track.Jaysuma Saidy Ndure finished runner-up in 20.36 ahead of USA’s Curtis Mitchell (20.51). The Norwegian record-holder had earlier cruised to an easy win in the 100m in a season’s best of 10.07 ahead of Kemar Hyman of the Cayman Islands.World and Olympic champion Valerie Adams won the Shot Put clash against European indoor champion Christina Schwanitz, throwing 20.76m. Her next four best attempts – 20.64m, 20.36m, 19.71m and 19.70m – would have been enough to win over the German who produced her best release of 19.65m in the third attempt. It marked Schwanitz’s first loss of 2013, having won her past 14 competitions this year.It was a popular win for Adams who is based in the Swiss town for most of the year. “Switzerland is my second home and I enjoy competing here,” said Adams. “My motivation is to continue winning and work to defend my world title in Moscow.“Today is the birthday of my late mother,” she added. “This period is special for me as my brother was chosen in the NBA draft. I’m very proud of him.”Olympic Pole Vault silver medallist Yarisley Silva from Cuba, who holds the Central American record with 4.90m, had a clean sheet at 4.51m and 4.61m before clearing 4.71m and 4.81m on her second attempts. Silva then made one attempt at 4.91m and one at 5.00m.German record-holder Silke Spiegelburg cleared 4.41m, 4.51m and 4.61m at the first time of asking before failing three attempts at 4.81m. The enthusiastic locals were thrilled by the Swiss record set by Nicole Buchler who improved it by one centimetre by vaulting 4.61m.Former European champion Linda Stahl from Germany took the win in the Javelin with a solid 65.24m on her sixth attempt in a battle against 2012 European champion Vira Rebryk, who threw 63.94m on her fifth attempt.Stahl started with 60.64m and improved with each of her five remaining attempts (61.81m, 62.44m, 62.79m, 63.46m and 65.24m). Australia’s Kimberley Mickle finished third with 62.38m.Andrew Riley, this year’s Jamaican champion and last year’s 100m and 110m Hurdles NCAA champion, edged 2009 World champion Ryan Brathwaite and 2011 World champion Jason Richardson in the 110m Hurdles, clocking 13.32. Brathwait was second in 13.36 with Richardson third (13.38).Jamaican Carrie Russell dominated the women’s 100m in 11.20, beating Brazilian Franciela Krasucki (11.29) and former World junior 200m champion Sheniqua Ferguson (11.39).In the 200m, Krasucki was again beaten by a Jamaican, this time Anneisha McLaughlin taking the win, 22.79 to 22.85. Christine Day continued the Jamaican domination of women’s sprints in Lucerne, winning the 400m in 51.91.USA’s Justin Gaymon edged Cuban Omar Cisneros in the men’s 400m Hurdles in 48.69 to 48.76. European champion Rhys Williams set a PB of 48.84 in third.US middle-distance runners scored a 1-2 in the men’s 800m with Charles Jock first in 1:46.18 and Moscow-bound Brandon Johnson second in 1:46.41.Kenyan Cornelius Kangogo crossed the finish line in the men’s 3000m in 7:42.51 ahead of US 3000m Steeplechase record-holder Evan Jager (7:43.36) and David Torrence (7:43.36).Mirela Demireva won the women’s High Jump on count-back over German Marie-Laurence Jungfleish at 1.87m. Lauma Griva from Latvia clinched the women’s Long Jump with 6.58m over German Lisa Steinkamp (6.53m) and Swiss record-holder Irene Pusterla (6.48m).The US quartet formed by Tori Bowie, Mandy White, Muna Lee and Vashti Thomas won the 4x100m unchallenged in 43.75. The Portuguese 4x100 team formed by Diogo Antunes, Francis Obikwelu, Arnaldo Abrantes and Yazakles Nashimento notched up close victory over a US team in 39.23, winning by 0.05.Diego Sampaolo for the IAAF

Adams, Silva and Young among the winners in Lucerne

The women’s High Jump contest should be one of the main attractions at the ‘Meeting de Madrid 2013’, an IAAF World Challenge meeting and Spain’s most prestigious athletics event, thanks to the presence of USA’s London 2012 Olympic Games silver medallist Brigetta Barrett and Croatia’s two-time former World champion Blanka Vlasic on Saturday (13).The 22-year-old Barrett made a major breakthrough last season when she bagged a relatively unexpected silver medal in London after improving her career best to 2.03m in the thrilling final won by Russia’s Anna Chicherova.After a relaxed indoor campaign due to finishing off her degree at the University of Arizona, Barrett is again enjoying a fantastic outdoor season and lands in Madrid as the current world leader with a best of 2.04m set in Des Moines when she took the US title three weeks ago.Her last appearance came at the IAAF Diamond League meeting in Paris where she had a 1.98m clearance, which was still enough to take second on countback from Vlasic.Vlasic missed the Olympic Games last summer through injury but the 29-year-old has bounced back this outdoor season, and she managed to get over the 2.00m barrier in the German town of Bühl last month.The Croatian should have nice memories of Madrid as she set what was then a national record of 2.05m there back in 2007, before failing three times at the World record height of 2.10m.In addition to Barrett and Vlasic, the home crowd will be delighted to have Ruth Beitia, Spain’s reigning European champion both outdoors and indoors, also on show on Saturday. The 34-year-old jumper narrowly missed a medal in London will be eager to prove she’s still a force in the event in front of her many fans in the Spanish capital. Storl looking for a big toss&nbsp; Reigning World Shot Put champion David Storl is still rounding into form this outdoor campaign; the holder of an impressive career best of 21.86m when taking the Olympic Games silver medal in London last summer, the 22-year-old German surpassed 21 metres for the first time in 2013 last Sunday when he won the national title in Ulm with 21.04m.However, Storl will not start the contest as the leading performer this year as that honour goes to Bulgaria’s 2004 World junior champion Georgi Ivanov who set a national record of 21.06m on the home soil of Burgas in May.Czech Republic’s Martin Stasek, USA’s Joe Kovacs and Spain’s newly-minted Mediterranean Games champion Borja Vivas add depth to a quality line-up.The sprint events also offer classy fields as the men’s 100m is headed by Jamaica’s 2012 IAAF World Indoor Championships 60m silver medallist Nesta Carter. The 27-year-old double (2008 and 2012) Olympic Games 4x100 Relay gold medallist had to settle for fourth at the Jamaican Championships recently but has clocked 9.97 this year.The other sub-10 sprinter in 2013 on show will be Zimbabwe’s US-based Gabriel Mvumvure, who managed a big best of 9.98 last month. Watch out as well for US sprinter Mookie Salaam, fresh from a fifth place in Des Moines with 10.01, and Saint Kitts and Nevis’s Antoine Adams, the author of career bests of 10.01 and 20.13 very recently, the latter being a national record albeit set at altitude.&nbsp; The women’s 100m also looks good thanks to the presence of Jamaica’s Sherone Simpson and the USA’s Barbara Pierre, the holder of an impressive personal best of 10.85 in the semifinals in Des Moines although she had to settle for fifth in the final, as well as the latter’s compatriot and 2005 World champion Lauryn Williams.Hall, Johnson, Montano: a vast array of American talent The men’s 400m features three finalists from the US Championships: Arman Hall, Josh Mance and Manteo Mitchell.The 19-year-old Hall, the 2011 World Youth Championships gold medallist, lowered his best to 44.82 in Des Moines. Trying to deny the top spot to the US athletes will be a member of Bahamas’ victorious 2012 Olympic Games 4x400m quartet, Ramon Miller, who joins Hall as the only contenders in Madrid to have ducked under 45 seconds this year after having run 44.93.The men’s Long Jump promises to be a wide contest as the entry list include South Africa’s Zarck Visser and Germany’s Alyn Camara, who can both boast season’s bests of 8.29m. Australia’s 2010 World indoor gold medallist Fabrice Lapierre and Greece’s Louis Tsaoumas are also in the field and very good jumpers on their day.US 800m runner Brandon Johnson, who secured his Moscow berth by placing third in Des Moines in a best of 1:43.97, should be the man to beat in an interesting 800m, but the 28-year-old will face tough opposition from Poland’s 2010 European champion Marcin Lewandowski, Colombia’s Rafith Rodriguez and local star Kevin Lopez.Newly-minted US 800m champion Alysia Montano will try to take revenge from Morocco’s Malika Akkaoui, who went past her in the final few metres in Paris last Friday, although both ran fast times of 1:57:64 and 1:57.75, which was a career best for Akkaoui.The women’s Javelin’s contest should be dominated by the German pair of 2012 Olympic Games bronze medallist Linda Stahl and her compatriot Katharina Molitor, who have both thrown beyond 65 metres this season.Many athletes will be shopping for sun cream on their arrival in Madrid as weather forecasters predict a very hot day with the thermometer rising as high as 36 degrees Celsius.Emeterio Valiente for the IAAF

Barrett, Vlasic, Storl: infield events take centre stage in Madrid – IAAF World Challenge

The 6th edition of the Meeting Mohammed VI in the Moroccan capital Rabat, an IAAF World Challenge meeting,should be able to boast of a number of impressive track events on Sunday (9). Ethiopian 800m runner Mohammed Aman will be looking to improve on his world-leading time of 1:43.61, set when winning in convincing fashion at the IAAF Diamond League meeting in Rome on Thursday night.Another man to hop straight on a plane from the Italian capital is US sprinter Justin Gatlin, fresh from providing the upset of the night at the Golden Gala when he defeated Usain Bolt.The 2004 Olympic 100m champion and London 2012 Olympic Games bronze medallist will face St Kitts’ 2003 World champion Kim Collins over 100m, who actually lead Thursday’s thrilling race at the halfway&nbsp; point, as well as France’s Christophe Lemaitre, Jamaica’s Michael Frater &nbsp;and Morocco’s 100m and 200m record holder Aziz Ouhadi.Another US winner in Athens nine years ago, Jeremy Wariner, is up against the man who succeeded him as Olympic champion LaShawn Merrrit. The latter has been in good form but Wariner, the two-time World 400m champion, will be looking to improve on modest start to the season and go faster than his 2013 best of 45.35.Morocco’s solitary medallist from last year’s Olympic Games, 1500m bronze medallist Abdelaati Iguider, will get plenty of cheers when he runs in his specialist event.In women’s 100m, Jamaica’s Kerron Stewart will face the USA’s 205 World champion Lauryn Williams as well as Germany’s 2010 European champion Verena Sailer and the in-form US sprinter Lekeisha Lawson. Chandra Sturrup’s meeting record of 11.14, from 2010, could be under threat.There are also some good names in the field events, which could lead to some excellent meeting records being posted.Ukraine high jumper Bohdan Bondarenko has already cleared 2.33m twice this season. He faces Russia’s 2011 World Championships silver medallist Aleksey Dmitrik along with France’s Mickael Hanany and Czech Republic’s Jaroslav Baba.In the Long Jump, Greek record holder Louis Tsatoumas will face South Africa’s former World Indoor Championships winner Godfrey Khotso Mokoena.Spain’s Mario Pestano takes on and Turkish record holder Ercument Olgundeniz&nbsp; in the Discus favorites. In the women’s Triple Jump, Ukraine’s Hanna Knyazeva is the top name and faces Italy’s former European indoor champion Simona La Mantia while a good quality Javelin sees 2012 Olympic Games bronze medallist Linda Stahl against the improving Latvian Sinta Ozolina-Kovala and South Africa’s 2011 World Championships bronze medallist Sunette Viljoen.Mohamed Bencherif for the IAAF

Aman, Gatlin and Merritt among ths stars in Rabat - IAAF World Challenge

Aman, Gatlin and Merritt among the stars in Rabat - IAAF World Challenge

The annual throwing meeting in the German city of Halle, now in &nbsp;its 39th edition, saw Tajikistan’s Dilshod Nazarov become the first hammer thrower to go over 80 metres this year when he achieved a personal best of 80.71m on Saturday (25).The 2010 Asian Games champion, and a finalist at the 2011 IAAF World Championships and London 2012 Olympic Games, added 41cm to his previous best from 2011. Second in Halle was local thrower Markus Esser with 77.86 but there was a good home win for Germany’s 2011 World champion David Storl in the Shot Put with 20.97m.Christoph Harting, the younger brother of World qand Olympic champion Robert Harting, showed some of his sibling’s form in the Discus when improving his best to 64.99m and he had two other throws over 64 metres. Poland took the men’s Javelin with Lukasz Grzeszcuk reaching 83.75m, Germany’s 2011 World champion Matthias de Zordo back in fourth with 79.80m.Germany’s World record holder Betty Heidler won the women’s Hammer with 74.92m while Hungary’s Eva Orban improved her national record for the second time in five days when she threw 73.44m. Germany’s 2013 European Athletics Indoor Championships Sot Put gold medallist Christina Schwanitz continued her good form with her seventh consecutive competition over 19 metres, reaching 19.84m while Linda Stahl threw the Javelin 65.76m, the second best result this year, with Katharina Molitor second with 63.55m. Another German thrower, 2012 World Junior Championships gold medallist Anna Ruh, triumphed in the Discus with 64.28m, just five centimetres away from her recent personal best. China’s Tan Jian was second with 64.08m and Germany’s Julia Fischer third with 64.04m in an exciting contest.Elsewhere in Europe, two of the world’s top Hammer throwers were also going through their paces.Slovenia’s 2008 Olympic champion Primoz Kozmus started his 2013 campaign, as has been traditional in recent years, at the 13th Slovenska Bistrica international meeting and threw 78.75m for his best start to a year since 2008. Poland’s Pawel Fajdek, the only man to beat 2012 Olympic champion Krisztian Paris last year, defied rainy conditions and a treacherous circle to throw 78.02m in Bialymstok.Phil Minshull for the IAAF

Nazarov throws Hammer world lead, German throwers also on song in Halle