The Best of Quarter-Miler U

Of all the tough decisions I’ve had to make in putting these all-time Baylor athletic teams together, one of the most difficult choices was trying to determine how many athletes to put on the track team.

In track, you may have 40 guys on a roster. There are so many different events, so many races, and Baylor certainly has produced a slew of talented thinclads, especially on the men’s side.

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Source: WacoTrib.com

Texas A&M Women Begin 2009 Indoor Track and Field Campaign at No. 1

NEW ORLEANS - After finishing the 2008 indoor track and field season in seventh place at the NCAA Championships, the Texas A&M Aggie women will begin the 2009 season with the No. 1 ranking in hand in the U.S. Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association Division I women's indoor track and field preseason rankings.

The Aggies are led by juniors Porscha Lucas and Jessica Beard. Both Beard and Lucas picked up two All-American honors last year at the NCAA Championships. Beard is the defending 400-meter dash champion and also ran on the runner-up 1600-meter relay team. Lucas finished fourth overall in the 200-meter dash and 11th in the 60-meter dash.

A&M also will return All-Americans Sandy Wooten, who ran on the 1600-meter relay, and Ashika Charan, an All-American in both the long and triple jumps, and Jeneba Tarmoh.

LSU, last year's NCAA Championship runner-up, will begin 2009 ranked second behind the Aggies. LSU picked up 127.20 points and is led by junior LaTavia Thomas, the defending 800-meter champion. LSU also returns junior All-Americans Samantha Henry and Andrea Linton. Henry finished fifth in the 60-meter dash, while Linton placed seventh and ninth in the long and triple jumps.

No. 3 Michigan finished third in the team championship standings last year and is led by Bettie Wade (2nd in the pentathlon at 2008 Indoor NCAAs), and Tiffany Offili (defending 60-meter Hurdles champion). Michigan also placed second in the DMR behind Tennessee. Geena Gall, fourth in the 800 at the 2008 Indoor NCAA Championships, will also return for the Wolverines.

Tennessee is ranked fourth followed by Florida State at No. 5. Tennessee will look to improve on its eighth place championship finish from a year ago. The Lady Vols are led by distance standout Sarah Bowman and sprinters Lynne Layne, and Celriece Law.

Fifth-ranked Florida State returns all three All-Americans from the 2008 championship squad, including two defending national champions. Susan Kuijken (3000-meter champion) and Hannah England (Mile champion) both will look to defend their titles from 2008. The Seminoles also return Kimberly Williams, a standout in the jumps.

Arizona State is ranked sixth, followed by Virginia Tech at No. 7 and Oregon at No. 8. Arizona State is the defending champion from 2008 but lost several key members from that championship squad. The Sun Devils do return All-Americans Sarah Stevens and Stephanie Garnett. Tech is led by hurdlers Kristi Castlin, and Queen Harrison. Castlin and Harrison went two-three in the 60-meter hurdle finals in 2008.

Texas Tech opens up at No. 9 in the rankings led by senior standout Sally Kipyego. Minnesota (No. 10) completes the women's Division I top ten.

Arkansas, Texas, Florida, Penn State, and Arizona complete the women's Division I top 15.

The 2009 USTFCCCA Division I Rankings will be released on Wednesdays during the indoor track and field season.  Rankings are compiled by Tom Lewis.

The 2009 NCAA Division I Indoor Track and Field Championships will be held March 13-14 in College Station, Texas.

USTFCCCA Division I women's indoor track and field preseason rankings
January 7, 2009

Oregon Opens '09 as Top Men's Division I Indoor Track and Field Team

NEW ORLEANS - The Oregon Ducks open up the 2009 season as the top ranked team in Division I men's indoor track and field the U.S. Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association announced on Wednesday.

Oregon is led by 2008 Beijing Olympians Andrew Wheating and Galen Rupp. The Ducks also return All-Americans Ashton Eaton (Heptathlon) and Andrew Acosta (Mile runner-up in 2008). Oregon finished 19th at the NCAA Championships in 2008.

Ranked second in the preseason rankings is Arizona State. Last year the Sun Devils took home the NCAA Championship team title outdueling No. 5 Florida State 44-41 in the overall team standings. Ryan Whiting returns for his junior season at Arizona State and is the defending shot put champion. Whiting, along with transfer Brandon Bethke and senior Joel Phillip should give the Sun Devils a shot at back-to-back national titles.

Arkansas is ranked third and will be seeking its first indoor national title since 2006. The Razorbacks return several All-Americans including defending national champion Nkosinza Balumbu who took home top honors in the triple jump a year ago. J-Mee Samuels is also back for Arkansas after earning two All-American honors in the 200-meter dash and 60-meter dash.

Florida comes in at No. 4 followed by in-state rival Florida State. FSU also returns several All-Americans. Gonzalo Barroilhet, the national champion in the heptathlon, returns to lead the way for the Seminoles as is Charles Clark, the 200-meter dash runner-up.

Texas A&M begins the bottom half of the top ten at No. 6 with Texas right behind the Aggies at No. 7.

LSU, fourth at the 2008 NCAA Championships, is ranked eighth and will have to replace a lot of star power in the sprints. Ex-Tiger Richard Thompson, a 2008 Silver Medalist, moved on, but the Tigers brought in transfer Walter Henning to compete in the weight/hammer throw. Trindon Holliday also returns for the Tigers. Holliday was the runner-up in the 60-meter dash in 2008.

Louisville (No. 9) and BYU (No. 10) complete the men's top ten. Louisville is led by jumpers Tone Belt, Andre Black, and Rudon Bastian. Both Belt (long jump) and Black (triple jump) each won indoor national titles in 2007.

The 2009 USTFCCCA Division I Rankings will be released on Wednesdays during the indoor track and field season.  Rankings are compiled by Tom Lewis.

The 2009 NCAA Division I Indoor Track and Field Championships will be held March 13-14 in College Station, Texas.

USTFCCCA Division I men's indoor track and field preseason rankings
January 7, 2009

Christian Smith leaves OTC Elite

Dibaba & Defar to race at 3,000m on Feb. 7, but an ocean apart

by Bob Ramsak
(c) 2009 Race Results Weekly, all rights reserved

Ethiopian superstars Tirunesh Dibaba, the 2008 Race Results Weekly Runner of the Year, and Meseret Defar will both race over 3000m on Saturday, Feb. 7, but their efforts will take place an ocean apart.

Dibaba, who last August became the first woman to win both the 5000 and 10,000m Olympic titles, will headline the event at the 14th Reebok Boston Indoor Games. Defar, whom Dibaba succeeded as Olympic champion in the 5000m, will compete over the same distance at the 23rd Sparkassen Cup in Stuttgart, Germany, earlier on the same evening.

The 23 year-old Dibaba returns to the Reggie Lewis Center in Boston's Roxbury section on the heels of a stellar season in which she also collected her fifth individual world cross country title, and set her first outdoor world record with a 14:11.15 run in the 5000m at the ExxonMobil Bislett Games in Oslo last June. Dibaba has twice set world indoor 5000m records in Boston, most recently in 2007, running 14:27.42. She ran the Boston 3000m at the meeting in 2008, winning in a personal best 8:33.37 over older sister Ejegayehu.

Last year Defar defended her world indoor 3000m title in Valencia in March, and took the bronze in a tactical Olympic 5000m final, nearly three seconds behind Dibaba. After losing the world 5000m record to her rival, she tried to wrestle it back six weeks later in Stockholm, but came up just short in a largely solo run, clocking 14:12.88, the second fastest performance in history.

Defar set the world indoor record in the 3000m on the same Stuttgart track in 2007, clocking 8:23.72, a performance superior to her outdoor best over the distance. An assault on that record in Stuttgart last year came up short, but her 8:27.93 run was nonetheless the fourth fastest in history.

Outside of major championships, meetings between the pair have become exceedingly rare. Their last indoor face-off came in Birmingham, England, on Feb. 20, 2004, where Defar took a narrow 3000m victory, 8:33.44 to 8:33.56. In one of the sport's fiercest rivalries, Defar holds a 17-11 edge in their track meetings, dating back to the 2002 IAAF World Junior Championships.

Also announced for the Stuttgart meet, annually Europe's finest single-day indoor competition, is an assault on Wilson Kipketer's 1000m world indoor mark of 2:14.96 by world indoor 800m champion Abubaker Kaki. Last winter at just 18, the Sudanese star clocked 2:15.77 to become the fourth fastest ever over the rarely-run distance.

In Boston, New Zealander Nick Willis, the Olympic 1500m bronze medallist, will headline the mile.

PreRaceJitters’ Track & Field Radio Show - Episode 2

In this latest episode hosts Jay Hicks and John W. Davis introduce “9 Seconds,” a segment running down the hottest stories in track and field during the week.

- Listen to the Podcast

Dayron Robles targets perfect indoor season, wants world record too

SANTA CLARA, Cuba: Cuba’s Olympic 110m hurdles champion and world record holder Dayron Robles says he will be targeting a perfect 2009 indoor season, as he bids to break the 60m hurdles world record.

The 21-year-old had a remarkable 2008 indoor season, collecting nine of the 11 fastest times before his only glitch came at the World Indoors where a mix up at the start saw him failing to challenge for the gold medal.

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Source: Caribbean Net News

Angelo Taylor helps lead goodwill tour throughout Kuwait and Iraq

NEW YORK (AP) -Olympic track champion Angelo Taylor is leading a delegation of athletes on a goodwill tour of military bases throughout Kuwait and Iraq.

The reigning 400-meter hurdles and 4x400-meter relay gold medalist plans to discuss his experience at the Beijing Olympics, visit hospitals and view parts of the war-torn countries that aren't often seen in the media.

"I have always felt a phenomenal respect for our troops,'' Taylor said. "Each day, they risk their lives so that others may be free. While I represent our country in the arena of track and field, they represent in the arena of freedom.''

Joining the track star are seven-time gymnastics medalist Shannon Miller, speed skating champion Joey Cheek and diving champion Laura Wilkinson.

The delegation arrives in Kuwait on Jan. 15, will spend a week touring bases in Iraq, and returns to the United States on Jan. 25.

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© 2009 by STATS LLC.

Any commercial use or distribution without the express written consent of STATS LLC is strictly prohibited.

Florida aims to show Oklahoma in BCS title game that speed kills

MIAMI — To give you an idea of how fast Florida is, freshman Jeffrey Demps tied the fastest junior 100-meter time in world history with a sizzling 10.01 at last summer's Olympic trials.

But Demps isn't even the fastest Gator on the team.

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Source: Statesman.com

How Abakumova’s energetic feeling helped her premonition come true

Mariya Abakumova was very much the surprise package of the Beijing Olympic women’s Javelin Throw final. The Russian let fly a short-lived European record of 70.78 metres in the fourth round, which was only pipped for gold by Czech Barbora Spotakova’s last round 71.42 release which further improved the continental mark.

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Source: IAAF

Proposed U.S. Pole Vault Tour creates quite the buzz in Reno

RENO, Nev. – There was a story behind the story at last weekend’s 19th annual UCS Spirit Pole Vault Summit, the world’s largest three-day event of its kind, which annually attracts about 1,000 jumpers and almost 2,000 spectators.

Even after Darren Niedermeyer captured the open men’s competition with a career-best jump of 18-4 and Chelsea Johnson bounced back from a rough 2008 campaign to win the open women’s class at 14-5, there was still a buzz in the air.

The concept of a U.S. Pole Vault Tour was proposed during a closed-door meeting with 25 of the nation’s elite pole-vaulters and embraced by the likes of 2008 Olympic gold medalist Stacy Dragila, 2004 Olympic silver medalist Toby Stevenson and 2007 World Outdoor champ Brad Walker.

Tour co-founder Tye Harvey, the 2001 World Indoor silver medallist, and Jeff Hartwig, a two-time Olympian and four-time USA Outdoor champ, delivered an in depth 60-minute tour proposal.

“I’ve been a proponent of this for a while now,” Walker said. “We’ve talked about doing something like this for years. So, the opportunity to hear the whole plan was very cool.”

The U.S. Pole Vault Tour – proposed as multi-sponsored, nationally televised two-day events – is scheduled to debut in May or June in Sacramento.

“I’ve always thought, why can’t pole vaulting do something like what the pro bull riders did when they broke off on their own from rodeo,” said Dragila, a two-time world champion. “This is a great opportunity to get ourselves out there and show people that our sport is cool and fun to watch. I’m all for it.”

Dragila, who was heavily involved in rodeo as a youngster growing up in Auburn, Calif., paralleled the proposed USPV Tour to a similar situation in pro rodeo when in 1994 a separate organization was formed for bull riding alone.

Since the inception of Professional Bull Riding, the sport’s popularity has grown to a lofty position as the seventh most watched televised sport in the nation.

“I’d love to be a part of the tour. I’m in 100 percent,” Stevenson said. “It’s about time for something like this for pole vaulting. Either you reinvent yourself for today’s audience or you don’t exist. And that’s what pole vaulting is doing with the tour.”

The proposed USPV seven-city tour will conclude with a Tour Championship.

Albuquerque Convention Center ready to host indoor track again

Four years ago, the city purchased the track for $500,000 after the Staples Center in Los Angeles rejected it because of sponsorship issues.

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Source: KOB.com

Eugene might be considered for IAAF Golden League meet

The Golden League series of international track and field meets is looking to expand, and Eugene is on its short list of possible sites.

The league currently operates six meets in Europe (Berlin, Brussels, Oslo, Paris, Rome and Zurich) and is considering doubling the series to 12, starting in 2010.

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Source: StatesmanJournal.com

Olympics behind him, Lopez Lomong still dreaming big

CHICAGO -- Watching a young Sudanese girl arrive at her new school this fall, Lopez Lomong felt the same kind of pride he did when he led the U.S. team into the opening ceremony at the Beijing Olympics.

Running saved him when his native country was being ripped apart by civil war. Educating the next generation of Sudan will help ensure it never happens again.

"A long time ago, when I was there, we didn't have schools," Lomong said. "And to be able to see that young girl coming into school in the morning, it's just my dream come true."

The runner has many more dreams -- for both his countries.

After opening a primary school during a trip to Sudan after the Olympics, only the second time the 24-year-old had returned since fleeing as a child, Lomong was scheduled to leave Tuesday for another visit. This time he will collect his two younger brothers, 12-year-old Peter and 11-year-old Alex, who are coming to the United States for school.

When he returns home, he will continue the training he hopes will someday bring world and Olympic medals for his adopted country.

"I'm hungry for more -- for more Olympics, to be able to go and bring the silverware back home," Lomong said Sunday. "It's a way of saying thanks to the country that took me in."

Lomong may not have won any medals in Beijing -- he didn't get past the semifinals in the 1,500 meters -- but he was one of the most inspiring and heartwarming stories of the games.

Abducted by Sudanese rebels when he was 6, he managed to escape and make his way with other boys to a refuge camp in Kenya, where he spent the next decade. Separated from his family, he raised himself, getting by on meager food rations and school lessons with even less substance.

He came to the United States in 2001 as one of the Lost Boys of Sudan, and soon emerged as one of the best young middle-distance runners in his new country. The 2007 NCAA champion in the 1,500 meters, he earned a spot on the U.S. Olympic team with a third-place finish in that race on July 6 -- exactly one year after he became a U.S. citizen.

In August, the boy who was once lost found himself carrying the Stars and Stripes into the Bird's Nest, smiling widely as he posed for pictures with President George W. Bush.

"The whole thing just changes" your life, Lomong said. "I'm there, being able to do something that I love to do and being able to also represent my community back in New York, back in high school, at Northern Arizona and also my country, Sudan.

"Also, having my parents back in Africa watching me, following me."

Though Lomong is fiercely proud to be an American, he will always be Sudanese and his native land's continuing problems are never far from his heart. He is a member of Team Darfur, a coalition of athletes dedicated to ending the crisis in Sudan's war-torn western province that has claimed an estimated 300,000 lives and displaced 2.7 million others.

The primary school he opened in his village of Kimotong will increase access to education, something sorely lacking in Sudan. Only 2,500 children in the country of more than 7 million people complete primary school each year, according to the New Sudan Education Initiative. Of that number, only 500 are girls.

"To be able to see a young girl showing up in the morning to go to school, that just opened my heart," Lomong said. "I'd like to be able to do more things and be able to get my people, my fellow Americans, to get involved."

And when Chicago Bulls forward and fellow Sudan native Luol Deng asked him to come to Chicago for the annual party he throws to celebrate the Lost Boys' birthdays, Lomong didn't hesitate.

He arrived well before the event began Sunday afternoon, grinning broadly and exchanging hugs as he met fellow Lost Boys. He sampled the buffet of traditional Sudanese food, and inched forward in his front-row seat to snap pictures when traditional dances were performed.

"When I heard about this, I said, 'I can't miss it. I missed last year, I have to be part of it and be able to share with everybody and share with Luol," Lomong said. "It's a great opportunity for me to be part of this, the Lost Boys of Sudan."

After all, it was his "birthday," too.

Though Lomong has learned his actual birthdate is Jan. 5, he still lists it as Jan. 1, the date given to all Lost Boys when they arrived in the United States without paperwork. Or parents.

"I'd rather take January 1st. That's where the great happiness is," Lomong said. "The opening of the whole new year and the fireworks, the ball dropping from Times Square, that's just awesome."

Despite his busy schedule, Lomong hasn't lost sight of what got him here. He has been doing altitude training in Flagstaff, Ariz., and Colorado Springs, Colo. When he returns from the Sudan, he will go to Austin, Texas, where his coach at Northern Arizona, John Hayes, is now an assistant with the Longhorns.

Lomong's results in Beijing may not have been impressive -- he finished last in his semifinal heat -- but the experience was invaluable. Because he's been a U.S. citizen for only 18 months, he'd run in just two international meets before Beijing.

"That's going to challenge me to be able to prepare myself fully before I show up at the starting line," he said. "I have to be very aware of what's going on when I'm racing. The whole of my training is a little different because I experienced it, I know how it is and how to prepare for it."

He has put more focus on endurance runs the last few months instead of the track workouts that were his staple last year. He plans to continue racing the 1,500 meters, and said he will likely add the 5,000 at some point. The 800 meters, which he ran at the Olympic trials last year, will probably be added to the mix again, too.

"I'm thinking 2012, 2016 and 2020," he said. "Those are my games right there."

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© 2009 by STATS LLC.

Any commercial use or distribution without the express written consent of STATS LLC is strictly prohibited.

Catching up with Jackie Joyner-Kersee

JACKIE JOYNER-KERSEE, now 46, is is still the heptathlon World Record holder with 7291 points, a score she notched up more than two decades ago when winning the ’88 Olympic gold in Seoul. JJK, as she is usually known, has the top six multi scores of all-time with Sweden's Carolina Klüft a distant second-best with 7032.

JJK also won '92 Olympic heptathlon title and old medals at the 1987 and 1993 Word Champs, and was also a super-accomplished long jumper and hurdler. Her achievements meant she was 3 times voted the T&FN World Athlete of the Year ('86, '87 and '94) and 5 times the top American ('86, '87, '91, '92 and '94).

T&FN correspondent Phil Minshull recently caught up with her for a brief chat.

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Source: Track & Field News

Gebrselassie in record condition again for next week’s Dubai Marathon?

Haile Gebrselassie doesn’t need to make a New Year’s resolution, in order to break another World record. For a start, the Ethiopian New Year begins on September 11, “so we don’t celebrate the European New Year,” said the man himself yesterday, by phone from his home in Addis Ababa.

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Source: IAAF

Dana Pounds ready for another season in the javelin

HILL AIR FORCE BASE -- Second Lt. Dana Pounds has a cannon, but she doesn't use it on the battlefield.

The 24-year-old Kentucky native is only 5 feet 2 inches tall and weighs 140 pounds, but her "cannon" of an arm allows her to throw a javelin about two-thirds the length of a football field, a talent she never knew she had until 2003.

The Hill Air Force Base airman and world-class javelin thrower was recently named the 2008 Air Force Female Athlete of the Year.

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Source: StandardNet

Fast Gators trace path of Hurricanes

Texas A&M opens 2009 indoor season with a new home

- Photo gallery

COLLEGE STATION -- An Aggie indoor season that will include the first-ever home meets for the Texas A&M track and field program begins on the road this Friday with an Arkansas Quad meet featuring the host Razorbacks along with Mississippi and Oklahoma.

Five meets comprise the inaugural home indoor schedule for the Aggies in the recently completed Gilliam Indoor Track Stadium at the McFerrin Athletic Center near Kyle Field. The five A&M home meets include three regular season competitions as well as the Big 12 Championships in February and the NCAA Indoor Championships in March.

“Home becomes an important aspect to this whole thing,” Texas A&M head coach Pat Henry said. “This is the first time we’ve been able to run at home. We just had a senior class finish without having an opportunity to compete in a home meet.

“This is the first time now that we get to compete on campus. Our athletes get to compete in front of their peers. So, there is a lot of excitement around here.”

Individual tickets for Texas A&M home meets, including the Big 12 Conference and NCAA Indoor Championships, go on sale Tuesday, January 6. Information regarding available seats and ticket prices is available at 888-99AGGIE (888-992-4443) or via the www.12thmanfoundation.com/tickets web site.

Season ticket options for all five meets remain, but the Gold section has sold out and there is a limited availability in the Silver section. Even seats in the Bronze section may be limited once individual tickets are on sale.

“We’re fortunate that we probably have the finest facility in the country now indoors,” Henry added. “All of a sudden Texas A&M becomes a spotlight with indoor track and field.

“One of our goals is to have a couple of track meets where fans can come in, watch and spend a few hours just like any other athletic contest and not spend an entire day there.”

The Aggies host a pair of meets in January that feature a three-hour time schedule. Action at the Gilliam Indoor starts with the Texas A&M – UT dual meet on January 24. The Aggie men will dual Texas as the A&M women dual Tennessee. The last dual meet between Texas A&M and Texas occurred during an outdoor meet in March of 1997.

“We’re looking forward to that competition,” Henry noted. “I think it will be a great one for our fans to open the facility. We likely will have some dignitaries to start the first races. So, we look forward to a lot of excitement in the building in addition to opening a brand new facility.”

The following weekend, Jan. 30-31, will feature the Texas A&M Showdown between the Big 12 and SEC. The Aggies will join Texas and Missouri as they square off against an SEC trio that includes Florida, LSU and Mississippi.

“If you look at the Big 12 and the SEC, they’re two of the strongest conferences. The Pac-10 will work in there with Arizona State, USC and Oregon, but when you start looking at the conferences it’s the SEC and the Big 12 who have extremely strong presence at the NCAA Championships.

“So to get two other Big 12 schools in here and three good SEC schools I think it brings another element in. It will be scored as the Big 12 versus the SEC and that will be fun.”

A road trip to New York City will have the Aggies competing in the New Balance Collegiate Invitational at the Armory on February 6-7. The field of schools competing at this Invitational is one of the largest in the country for an indoor meet and provides NCAA Championship level competition in various events.

Returning home the Aggies will host the Texas A&M Invitational on February 13-14 as a majority of Division I programs from Texas meet in College Station along with a couple of schools from Louisiana. Also scheduled to compete are Arizona State and Miami.

“We wanted to get as many Texas schools into the new building at one time as we could accommodate,” said Henry. “In the future I think we will likely have small meets and run schedules that are fan friendly. Our sport needs to be fan friendly, not just athlete friendly.”

The postseason will feature a pair of entertaining weekends at the Gilliam Indoor Track Stadium. First there is possibly the finest conference meet in the Big 12 Championships scheduled for February 27-28. Then the highlight of the collegiate indoor season, the NCAA Championships, is set for March 13-14.

The NCAA Indoor Championships, now in its 45th year, leaves Fayetteville for College Station this season as Arkansas plays host to the NCAA Outdoor Championships in June. It will mark the first time the State of Texas has hosted the NCAA Division I Indoors.

Texas A&M women will seek a third consecutive indoor team title at the Big 12 meet while the men challenge for their first conference title since 1980 after placing fourth last year. Both squads return eight All-Americans from a successful campaign in 2008.

The Aggies placed among the top 10 in last year’s NCAA Indoor meet with the A&M women finishing a best-ever seventh while the men tied for 10th to produce its best finish since 1990. Outdoors, the Aggies made big strides as the women placed third, it best effort in the history of the program, and the men finished fifth at the NCAA Championships, its best result in 20 years.

“To have the Big 12 here in the first year of the building opening and then to run the NCAA meet a couple of weeks later will be a unique experience ,” Henry noted. “It’s a tremendous challenge for us as a staff, and a great opportunity for our team to run at home in an exciting environment. I think people in this community will love to see great track and field contests, which has been void for a long time here.

“It’s a tremendous challenge hosting the conference and national meets. We’re in the process of formulating our officials association. We’ve had good participation already from people, so I’m extremely pleased with that. Not only from our own community, but people from all over the state and country will come in to help put on our home meets.”

London and Lausanne set to be added to expanded Golden League

A group including Sebastian Coe, the two-time Olympic 1500 metres champion and now the chairman of London 2012, is due to meet in the first week of next month to discuss a feasbility report on the new circuit they hope to launch next year.

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Source: Inside the Games