A few more athletes have confirmed their participation this Friday for the Monaco Herculis Meeting. A quick run-down, event-by-event:
110m hurdles Men : Garfield Darien won the silver medal with a personal best time of 13.34 seconds at the 2010 European Championships. He repeated this success this year by winning the silver medal in the 110m hurdles at the European Championships in Helsinki !
Jason Richardson won his first world title in the 110 meter hurdles at the 2011 World Championships in Daegu. At the U.S. Olympic Trials Richardson posted a time of 12.98 seconds, a personal best ! They will both be coming to Monaco Herculis this Friday !
100m Women : Kerron Stewart qualified for a trip to the 2012 Olympics in London by placing third in the 100-meter dash of the Jamaican trials. Stewart shared a silver medal in the 100 meters and was a bronze medalist in the 200 meters at the 2008 Olympics ! Myriam Soumare won the gold medal in the 200m and a bronze medal in the 100 at the 2010 European Championships. This year in the women's 200m final at the European Championships, she claimed bronze. She will be coming to Monaco to run the women's 100m event along with Ivet Lalova, also known as "the fastest white woman in the world", has triumphed with the European Title in the 100 m sprint at the European Championship in Helsinki, she ran the 100m in 11.28 seconds. She finished 4th in the 100m at the 2004 Summer Olympics and is this year one of the contenders for a medal at the London Olympics!!
High Jump Men :Mutaz Essa Barshim won the gold medal and established a new personal best and asian record of 2.37m at the 2012 indoor Asian Championships. He will be coming to Herculis along with his biggest rival Jesse Williams, both going to the London Olympics!!!
Long jump Men : Godfrey Mokoena, in 2008 won long jump at the World Indoor Championships and silver at the Olympic Games. One year later he sets a new African record with 4.50m. In 2010, he won a gold medal at the World Championships in Spain and another at the African Championships. He will be coming to the Herculis Meeting in Monaco before heading to his third Olympic Games!!
3000SC Men : Victor Garcia got silver medal at the 2012 European Championship in Helsinki at the 3000 metres steeplechase event. He will be running his last meeting in Monaco before the London Olympics!!!
400m Men :Wariner has won four Olympic medals (three gold, one silver) and six world championship medals. He is the third fastest competitor in the history of the 400 m event with a personal best of 43.45 seconds.
1500m Men : Yoann Kowal won the bronze medal at the 2009 European Indoor Championships, and came in second place at the French Championship in Angers this year. He will be coming to the Herculis Meeting in Monaco along with Amine Laalou, gold medalist on 1500m at the 2010 Continental Cup and won silver at the 2010 African Championships. His personal best over 1500m is 3.29.53, which was made in Monaco in 2010, this year h is back and will try to beat his personal best before heading to the Olympic Games !
800m Men :Abubaker Kaki is a two-time World Indoor Champion over 800m (2008/2010) and also won silver at the 2011 World Championships in Daegu. His personal best in 1500m was done in Monaco last year, this year he is back! This time he will be running the men's 800m event!! Will he beat his personal best in 800m in Monaco ?
200m Men : Sprinter Nickel Ashmeade was the top Jamaican performer at the Prefontaine Classic in Eugene. At the adidas Grand Prix of New York he sets his personal best on 200m with 19.94 and will be running the men's 200m at the Monaco Herculis Meeting this week along with Kirani James. James illuminated the World Championships with a fabulous run to win the 400 metres in Daegu, became the third fastest of all time indoors (44.80seconds).
Wallace Spearmon is currently the seventh fastest runner of all-time !! He won the bronze medal twice at the World Championships in 2007 and 2009 and holds the indoor American record. This year Spearmon finishes first in the men's 200m final at the US Olympic Trials in Eugene and earns the chance to compete for the United States for a second straight time in the Summer Olympic Games!!
400m hurdles Women : Melanie Walker of Jamaica won Gold at the 2008 Beijing Olympics in a new Olympic record time of 52.64 seconds. In 2009, she set the second fastest time in history of 52.42 seconds to win the women's 400m hurdles final at the 2009 World Championships in Berlin. She was the silver medalist in the 2011 World Championships in Daegu, ran 52.73, her seasonal best. She will be coming to run the 400m hurdles in Monaco along with her team mate Kaliese Spencer!
Pole Vault Women : In January 2012, Holly Bleasdale improved the British indoor record by clearing 4.87m, this puts her third on the world all-time list, behind Yelena Isinbayeva and Jenn Suhr. Later in the year she won a bronze medal at the World Indoor Championships held in Istanbul. She confirmed her place in Britain’s track and field squad for London and will be coming to Monaco Herculis, joining the world best pole vaulters!!!
Discus Throw Women : Melina Robert-Michon, won in Angers the french championships, for the 12th time in her career. Shewill stop at the Monaco Herculis Meeting before going to her fourth Olympic Games!
