David Greene regards the Aviva Birmingham Grand Prix event as a ‘Mini Olympics’ – Athletics news
While the Aviva Birmingham Grand Prix ready to kick-off on Sunday, July 10, David Greene, the 400m Hurdles specialist from Great Britain regarded the meet as ‘sort of a mini Olympics’. On the outlook, though this statement looks rather animated, but a close
look over the number of disciplines that Birmingham has decided to hold, the proclamation aired by Greene looks rather justified.
With the commencement of this event, Birmingham will enter the series of 14 cities that have had the prestige of becoming a part of the Samsung Diamond League. Earlier, this event was hosted in Newcastle.
The formidable field that have been assembled for the event also presents a picture of a mini-Olympics. For instance, for the 100m run, nine athletes boast of a finishing time that is sub-ten seconds and with the Daegu IAAF World Championships just a few
days away, athletes like Asafa Powell would like to take the opportunity for marking their dominance over rivals.
The 28-year-old Jamaican sprinter, who boasts of bagging the IAAF World Athletics Final for a record five times, has emerged as the top athlete of the year for the given run amid his sustained efforts. Recently, about a week ago, appearing at the Lausanne
Samsung Diamond League, he clocked an emphatic 10.78 seconds and while appearing at the Birmingham track, he will definitely look forward to improve his time.
Looking over the record displayed by Powell at Britain grounds, it is pretty much visible that the land has always offered him some fast finish opportunities. It was Britain, where five years ago he had equalled his world record of 9.77 seconds. With Usain
Bolt constantly opting for switches between 100 and 200m runs, it will be Powell who will lead the field at Birmingham and will look forward to build on his winning streak.
However, well aware of the potential of his rivals to display an equally splendid performance, the Jamaican acknowledged the fact that despite of a great performance, he was definitely not going to take the contest for granted.
While speaking about his countrymen in this regard, he said, “I’m biased, but the Jamaican are the people to beat. Michael Frater is running very well and Nesta Carter is in good form. Anyone can be beaten.”
Powell is perhaps seeing his countrymen as his biggest rivals on the track, as following the tradition of raising the bar by Jamaican athletes, he has recently improved his personal best to 9.88 seconds.
Now, no matter who among these strenuous runners, manages to finish at the top of the podium, it is a given fact that the Aviva Grand Prix at Birmingham is going to offer a real feast to the athletics’ spectators this season.
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