Just as it was last year, the 100m will provide the highlight of the Diamond League meeting at the Stadio Olimpico here on Thursday with Usain Bolt the main draw once again.
And just as was the case last year his main competition will come from compatriot Asafa Powell and European champion Christophe Lemaitre. It may not be an unusual highlight but that won’t make it any less anticipated or explosive.
Last year Olympic champion Bolt was slow out of the blocks and former world record holder Powell looked set for victory until the leggy legend strode past him to pip him at the post by two hundredths of a second. It was Bolt’s first outing of the year and he was far from satisfied with it but this time he comes into the race following his slowest 100m in three years.
Bolt ran 10.04sec in Ostrava last week and although he won, like everyone else he was shocked at the time he clocked.
But he says he believes the track in Rome is fast and he’s hoping to see something nearer 9.7sec come up on the scoreboard when he crosses the finish line.
“Like every race I definitely want to win but for me it’s all about execution,” he said. “The key thing is getting a consistent start, my coach likes me to execute properly so he can review the race and analyse it and figure out what I need to do to go forward.”Pretty much execute and win, and a fast time would be great also. “Last year’s was the first of the season so I was slightly nervous, I just wanted to get out there and run and get the first out of the way.
“At the end it was just a relief to get through the first injury free and feeling good. “The positive thing is the first race is always good and I won so it was even better.” Powell will likely be his toughest competition but Lemaitre has proved himself an elite level athlete over the last 12 months, finishing fourth in the 100m final at the World Championships in Daegu and going one better in the 200m.
It won’t just be about the 100m here as there are many other world class performers on show.
The women’s 5,000m promises to be an intense battle with world 5,000m and 10,000m champion Vivian Cheruiyot of Kenya facing former world record holder Meseret Defar of Ethiopia.
World champion and Athens Olympic champion Ezekiel Kemboi will be the major draw in the men’s 3,000m steeplechase alongside Kenyan compatriots Brimin Kipruto, the Olympic champion, Paul Koech and Richard Matelong.
The women’s 800m will see world champion Mariya Savinova of Russia take on the women she deposed, South Africa’s Castor Semenya and Olympic champion Pamela Jelimo, the fastest women over the last 29 years. In the field events the men’s discus promises to be a battle royale with Olympic champion Gerd Kanter of Estonia taking on German world champion Robert Harting. In the women’s javelin world record holder and Olympic champion Barbora Spotakova of Czech Republic tackles Russian world champion Mariya Abakumova.
Rivals hope Bolt will slow down
Usain Bolt’s 100m sprint rivals admitted Wednesday their only chances of beating him are if the Jamaican legend starts running slower. The world record holder clocked an unimpressive 10.04sec in Ostrava last week but still managed to win the race, in which current world bronze medallist Kim Collins finished just behind him. Bolt’s time in winning here last year was 9.91sec which is a long way off his world record of 9.58sec but again he was first past the post, with compatriot Asafa Powell two hundredths of a second behind. But rather than believing they can get faster than the double Olympic sprint champion, Bolt’s rivals are simply hoping he’ll slow down. “It’s very complicated, someone was saying to me that in order to beat Bolt I’ll have to run 9.5sec,” said Collins, the 2003 world 100m champion who is now a veteran on the circuit at the age of 36. “What I explained is that to beat Bolt he has to just go slower than me. “If he goes 9.5sec that day I can’t catch him, I can’t run 9.5sec, that’s not on my plate. “When Bolt runs slow one day, I can beat him.” Collins, though, believes that even if Bolt still finishes out in front, the day is coming when every runner in a race will dip under the magical 10sec barrier. Five men have already broken 9.9sec this year and Collins expects great things at the Olympics. “I’m definitely not surprised (at the times being run) because it’s an Olympic year and for me it’s not just competition, it’s mad competition,” he said. “This year is going to be special, this year you’re probably going to see eight men in a race under 10sec, so keep watching.” For Powell, there is no secret formula to beating Bolt, it just comes down to running faster than him on the day.
