50th Ostrava Golden Spike, Ostrava May 31

I think it's about time I got this thread going over the 50th Ostrava Golden Spike that is to take place in Ostrava tomorrow, featuring Usain Bolt in the 100m and a number of top British internationals in action. But first here is the official website of the meeting (you can see the start-list link towards the top right):

http://www.zlatatretra.cz/

British athletes on show in Ostrava tomorrow:

Men
100m Craig Pickering, Mark Lewis-Francis
400mh Dai Greene, Rhys Williams
HJ Samson Oni

Women
400m Shana Cox, Kelly Sotherton
PV Kate Dennison, Holly Bleasdale

Good eve Isabre

Have finally made my way over here following the dismantling of 606.

Will be interesting to see what we get from the Brits tomorrow ( and rest of the season...). Dai Greene's already had a good start to the year - that 2nd place in 48.24 ( Rome ) was very good. Pickering has got a lot to do, but that recent 10.23 seems like it could mark the beginning of some decent form. Not sure what kind of form MLF is in.

A lot of work for the British girls to do over the 400m.

Still early days in many respects.

Good luck to em all...

Good eve to you Izzy, nice to see you over here!

I disagree completely with everything you say.

Only kidding, ho ho ho. Just thought I'd say hi.

Good luck to the guys competing tonight, hopefully some nice conditions and we could see some fireworks from Dai.

oh dj you crack me up sometimes

anyway strong field again in the men's 400 hurdles, Dai Greene up against Clement and Van Zyl (also Dutch, though he hasn't done so much this year). Given how well Dai did against a quality field in Rome, this is a good thing, and if conditions are good i can see him going under 48 secs tonight...

Dai Greene comes runner-up for a second time on the trot to LJ van Zyl in a slower than his season opener 48.47 secs in the men's 400m hurdles as the South African continues to dominate the early stages of the season in style to match his world-leading time and PB of 47.66 secs, but this time round at sea level.

Nevertheless, the European champion collects a full set of the American hurdlers on show again as Johnny Dutch comes in third behind him in a SB of 48.72 secs and Justin Gaymon gets fourth in 49.21 secs, Kerron Clement having another indifferent display way back in sixth in 49.53 secs.

As for van Zyl, all that Dai has got to do is bide his time and start reeling the South African gradually as the season wears on, I don't think he's going to last for the entire season at this level.

Rhys Williams has to be content with 50.11 secs negotiating the inside lane, where I'm having the impression that he may have had a slight setback earlier this month and is making his way back.

Wow, what was that? Veronica Campbell-Brown destroys the field to sear to an astonishing 10.76 secs in the 100m (1.3m/sec), that is a clear message to her rivals that she's in there with as good a shout as anybody for the (second) world title.. What a race by her!

Incidentally, Campbell-Brown moves eighth equal with great Evelyn Ashford in the world all-time lists at 10.76 secs, adding that top ten ever glow to her amazing sprinting pedigree.

Better race than in Rome, same time for Usain Bolt who looks like he's going to have to work harder than in previous seasons to earn his spurs. He really had to go flat out to see off a very spirited Steve Mullings in 9.91 secs (equal SB), the latter dipping under 10 secs again in 9.97 secs (-0.2m/sec).

A very good confidence boost for MLF there to take the B race in a SB of 10.20 secs (1.0m/sec), but Craig Pickering must have been looking for more than his 10.31 secs for seventh in Bolt's race.

Not a great meet for the Brits. Best was probably Holly Bleasdale in the PV at 4:50m. Kelly Sotherton did OK in the 400 and SB for Samson Oni (2:24m).

That was a very good opener for swiftly-rising Holly Bleasdale, Teassoc, as she picked up right where she left off indoors to equal her total PB of that 4.50m from the outset, let alone that was a third Daegu A standard for her.

I really like her audacious approach, she looks like she's got no fear whatever about what heights she may come to attempt on her way or who's competing around her, and she's so very consistent. I sense that it's a matter of time before she moves over 4.60m and she could take the UK record in her stride.

I'm not disappointed by Kate Dennison, though, as she's still implementing new things that take some time to bed into her vaulting and I don't know whether she was using a limited run-up again. But that was a B standard for Daegu and somewhere useful to begin her season in earnest.

A really strange race by Shana Cox who very much switched off round the final bend after a good first 200 and then picked it up again late to finish well in 51.56 secs, but that dip in the third hundred affected her display a lot.

I've seen her racing again this season and she usually runs a very good third hundred unlike today so I'm inclined to think that she may be returning from a slight setback or something - a few days ago she ran in the mid 53s. She'll be back in full flight in a week or two.

I liked the way Kelly (Sotherton) ran, it was a controlled race through, and that 52.59 secs is a solid platform to build on down the season. Her confidence will get a useful boost after that. Let's not forget she had to run it totally blind from the outside lane as well.

I expect Kelly to only get quicker, but would be happy just to see her get to the low-51s consistently this year, and build on that next year

She has said she wants to be on the first leg of the w4x400m, so she needs to be able to run those sort of times on a regular basis

By the way, missed saying hi to you DjLovesYou! Welcome on board!

Veronica Campbell-Brown, the star of the evening in Ostrava, speaks after her lightningh 10.76 secs in the women's 100m:
http://www.zlatatretra.cz/video.asp?id=90

Final results:
http://www.zlatatretra.cz/results.asp?season=2011

By the way, which do you think was the greatest upset yesterday?

A third successive defeat over 400m for Sanya Richards-Ross at the hands of Francesca McCorory, although the latter has showed she's a handful and a rising global force in the event, Jeff Riseley's superb win against the odds in the men's 1000m or Yohan Blake's crashdown in the 200m?

In the last instance, it wasn't only that he got beat on the back of a highly impressive 9.80w that struck me but also that winner Marvin Anderson (JAM) didn't run anything really extraordinary (20.27) to stage such an upset. Some injury has crept in maybe?

Also noted that Shawn Crawford, a familiar slow-starter, matched his days-old SB of 20.58 secs but this time into a slight headwind of -0.3m/sec rather than a perfect tailwind the previous time, so watch out for him. Something fast looks there in the works.

The women's 100m where Veronica Campbell-Brown roared to the eighth fastest time of 10.76 secs in history:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KqXGQCuQAA0

Dayron Robles wins the 110m hurdles:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-wkjFJBbSLI&feature=related

The men's 100m with Usain Bolt edging out Steve Mullings:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5qjpPcw5rBU&feature=related

By the way, I didn't get the same impression as the commentator that Usain Bolt's start was so bad this time but I think it was Steve Mullings that came so slick out of his blocks that made him look rather 'sluggish' - if it is possible to dub someone running 9.91 secs that way!

http://www.morethanthegames.co.uk/athletics/0114713-sluggish-bolt-wins-again-991-ostrava

PS Note this in Bolt's post-race interview; "I felt much better in this race. I think I could have executed it a bit better, I was expecting a faster time, but I got through this race without injury."

A nice photo-gallery courtesy of Track & Field:

http://www.trackandfieldnews.com/index.php?option=com_content&id=678&Itemid=118