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News04 Sep 2000


Hattestad targets Overall Grand Prix after Golden League Jackpot success

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Hattestad targets Overall Grand Prix after Golden League Jackpot success
Yuriy Belonog faces stand-off with the Americans Maurice Greene and Angelo Taylor

5 September 2000 - MONTE CARLO – Monaco – The world record holder in the javelin, Trine Hattestad (NOR) and the Ukrainian shot putter Yuriy Belonog, are the leaders of the IAAF Grand Prix standings, after the Rieti Meeting on Sunday 3 September, going into the Grand Prix Final, which will take place in Doha, Qatar, on 5 October.

For Trine Hattestad, the autumn looks truly golden, as the chances are that she can top-up her share of the IAAF Golden League Jackpot (she won 10kg of gold) with the $200,000 up for grabs for success in the overall Grand Prix. If she also wins her individual title in Doha, she will add to this another $50,000, the cherry on an already rich cake!

Gail Devers, the American hurdler, who was another jackpot winner, and American superstar Marion Jones are currently joint-second in the overall Grand Prix standings, nine points behind Hattestad. Bearing in mind that, in the Final, the points are tripled with respect to the normal Grand Prix meetings (for example: first place earns 24 points as opposed to 8, second place 21 as opposed to 7, etc.), the chances of Devers or Jones overturning the current standings are slim unless they set a new world record in the Final (worth 18 bonus points) or Hattestad bombs out completely (fifth place at best).

Meanwhile, the situation is very different for 26-year old Yuriy Belonog, the 1992 World Junior Champion, who placed second behind John Godina (USA) in the shot put at the 1998 Grand Prix Final in Moscow. Belonog leads by just two points ahead of the American athletes Maurice Greene and Angelo Taylor. The chances of both the sprinter and the hurdler regaining the lost ground are good. Greene, who also won a share of the 50kg gold Jackpot has, in any event, to compete in Doha to collect his prize from the IAAF Golden League. There is no doubt that he will go all out to defend his prestige and also attempt to take home a season’s end bonus of $250,000. The same goes for Angelo Taylor, the season’s leading 400m hurdles specialist.

The full IAAF Grand Prix Standings Overall and By Event are available on the IAAF web site. The first eight-ranked in the following events can participate in the Final (Men: 100m, 400m, 400mh, high jump, pole vault, triple jump, shot put, hammer throw; Women: 100m, 400m, 100mh, long jump, discus and javelin throw) and the first ten-ranked in the 1500m and 3000m (men and women).

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