Chat-bout.net - Spotlight on women's 100m

Spotlight on women's 100m

No Usain Bolt, no Yohan Blake, no title sponsor; no problem.

In spite of the forced withdrawals of two of the biggest drawing cards to the meet, organisers of today's 10th staging of the Jamaica International Invitational believe that the IAAF World Challenge series meet still boast enough star-power to rival any meet on the planet.

Bolt and Blake were forced to pull out of the meet after picking up recent hamstring injuries but with the likes of Veronica Campbell-Brown, Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce, Allyson Felix, Tyson Gay, Kerron Stewart, Hansle Parchment, Warren Weir, Nesta Carter and Murielle Ahoure set to compete in front of the Kingston crowd, member of the organising committee Dennis Gordon believes there is a whole lot to see and experience at the meet.

Positive

"On the positive side, the field that we have minus those two (Bolt and Blake) is as good as any Diamond League field anywhere in the world and that's a positive thing for the meet," said Gordon and right he is.

With many-time Olympic and World Championships medalists Campbell-Brown and Felix as the headliners, the women's 100m for instance is one of most anticipated clashes in the world. The pair will not have it all their way, as World 100m bronze medal winner Baptiste and fast-rising indoor star and Olympic finalist Ahoure, along with Stewart and Sherone Simpson - who based on her Penn Relays performance seems to be back in good shape, will definitely make this an interesting contest.

The Warren Weir vs Nickel Ashmeade 200m clash along with 400m world leader Stephenie-Ann McPherson's biggest test to date, are also likely to excite.

Besides the withdrawals, which Gordon admitted may have an impact on the gate receipts, organisers of the meet have also found things difficult where sponsorship dollars are concerned, with former title sponsor Jamaica National (JN) and LIME both pulling out because of financial constraints.

The organiser is, however, confident that the Jamaica Athletic Administrative Association has done enough to put together a package that will offer top-level entertainment for track and field fans.

"We have done everything asked of us consistent with the IAAF standards, the only setback is that Bolt and Blake, through injury are not participating and that may have an effect on our gate, but all in all its all systems go, so far," said Gordon.

"There is general disappointment that the two big names are not available. The purists will come, I am not sure about the others and as you know, track and field is a delicate balance between those who come and those who support the sport because of school," he added. "We are trying to build that clientele to ensure that you have a track and field following; maybe not as big as football but at least 20,000 or so, and we are not far from solidifying that but there is more work to be done and we are moving in that direction."

Gordon also explained that the usual pre-game entertainment package was also scrapped this year because of the budgetary issues.

"The pre-game show as we know it, we could not continue that this year because of austerity, most of the sponsors that we had such as JN are no longer with us unfortunately. LIME is going through some restructuring and they too were not able to participate, but the show must go on," he added.

The meet is set to start at 6:05 p.m. with the women's discus.

Order of events

5:40: 400 METRES DEVELOPMENT - WOMEN

5:45: 400 METRES DEVELOPMENT - MEN

5:55: 200 METRES DEVELOPMENT - WOMEN

6:00: 200 METRES DEVELOPMENT - MEN

6:05: DISCUS WOMEN

6:10: 100 METRES MASTERS - MEN

6:15: 100 METRES DEVELOPMENT - WOMEN

6:20: 100 METRES DEVELOPMENT MEN

6:30-6:45 OPENING CEREMONY

6:50: TRIPLE JUMP WOMEN

6:53: 4x100M RELAY HIGH SCHOOL GIRLS