GREENENEW YORK (AP):
A REVITALISED track and field venue has a star-studded cast ready to unveil it on the world-class level today in the Reebok Grand Prix.
Olympic champions Shawn Crawford, Maurice Greene, Veronica Campbell, Stacy Dragila, Liu Xiang, Allen Johnson, Joanna Hayes and Meseret Defar headline the one-day event at Icahn Stadium on Randall's Island.
Also entered are Olympic silver medalist John Godina, and eight-time world cross country championship medallist Werknesh Kidane.
The best match-ups could be in the sprints, with China's Liu, the gold medallist in Athens, facing American Johnson, the seven-time world champion and 1996 Olympic winner in the 110 hurdles. They were supposed to race last weekend at the Prefontaine Classic, but Johnson was disqualified for false starts, and Liu went on to win.
BREAKOUT PERFORMANCE
The men's 100 features Greene, the 2000 gold medalist at the Sydney Games, and Crawford, who won the 200 in Athens. Greene, a three-time world champion with three of the four fastest times at 100 metres, has not excelled this season, but believes a breakout performance could be close. He even predicted a time of less than 10 seconds.
"This year doesn't prove anything," he said. "I feel I'm getting back to what I used to be doing, not what I've been doing. I'm more patient with my races."
In the women's 100-metre hurdles, 2004 Olympic champion Hayes will be tested by two-time Olympic bronze medallist Melissa Morrison-Howard and 2001 world champion Anjanette Kirkland.
Another woman who will get lots of attention is Dragila, the 34-year-old pole-vaulting dynamo who has missed most of the season with an Achilles' tendon injury. If she hopes to make the U.S. team for this summer's world championships, Dragila needs to get back in form quickly.
Godina, a four-time shot put world champion who owns two Olympic medals, goes against two-time Olympic silver medalist Adam Nelson. Godina is looking for a 22.5-metre throw.
"Hopefully this week," he said. "I just need to be relaxed and be rested and do what I have been doing all year. I have hit (22.5) every year, just not in the actual meets. There's no reason to think it won't happen in a meet if I am relaxed."
Any record performances would be an added boost for the new facility. For years, the stadium at Randall's Island was a rundown place, hardly a venue to showcase some of the world's best track talent.
That's changed with the construction of the $42 million Icahn Stadium.
