Stars shine at Athletissima

Gail Devers powers towards a stadium record in the 100-metre hurdles Keystone

Lausanne's prestigious Athletissima meeting saw another strong showing by athletic's biggest stars on Tuesday but there was little cheer for the Swiss athletes taking part.

Popular victories for American superstars Marion Jones and Gail Devers along with a clutch of year’s best performances throughout the night helped pay a fitting tribute to the Swiss event as it celebrated its 25th anniversary.

With Swiss world champion Andre Bucher still recovering from a foot fracture and his lesser-known compatriots struggling to qualify for this summer’s European championships, it was fortunate that the international stars were ready to shine.

Devers delights

Approaching her 36th birthday, Devers showed that she for one has no intention of slowing up just yet – the American veteran comfortably winning the 100-metre hurdles in a year’s best time of 12.41 seconds, setting a new stadium record in the process.

There was no big surprise in the women’s 100 metres with Jones tearing away from her pursuers but missing out on her own year’s best time by 15 hundredths of a second.

Obikwelu springs sprint surprise

In the men’s showcase event, Francis Obikwelu caused an unexpected stir, the unheralded Portuguese sprinter taking advantage of Maurice Greene’s last-minute withdrawal to win the 100 metres in 10.09 seconds, ahead of Greene’s American team-mate Tim Montgomery.

Less than an hour later, Obikwelu completed the sprint double by comfortably winning the men’s 200 metres in 20.27 seconds.

Along with Devers, a further seven athletes recorded year’s best performances, five of them being recorded on Lausanne’s famously fast track with a further two (by Cuban javelin thrower Osleidys Menendez and Swedish high jumper Kasja Berqvist) coming in the field.

Little Swiss cheer

Tuesday’s meeting was less exciting from a ‘local’ perspective with many of Switzerland’s homegrown stars either missing due to injury or struggling for form.

World champion Andre Bucher and fellow 800 metres runner Anita Brägger were the biggest absentees with both athletes still nursing injuries that are likely to keep them out of action until mid-July.

Following the late withdrawal of steeple-chase runner Christian Belz, who decided to continue his European Championship preparations at altitude in St Moritz, the Lausanne organisers then faced an even later, though unintentional, pull-out from 1,500 metres runner Sabine Fischer.

The Sydney Olympic finalist had been hoping to make the qualifying limit for the European Championships but was forced to forgo Tuesday’s race after failing to recover from a thigh injury.

The Swiss who did make it into action had little to cheer in Lausanne with the main contenders for a ticket to Munich all coming up short.

Philipp disappointed

Peter Philipp was unable to take advantage of a fast field in the men’s 1,500 metres – the Swiss runner finishing in 13th place and missing the European qualifying limit by almost three-quarters of a second.

“The conditions were ideal,” Philipp admitted afterwards. “There is no excuse for not making it.”

Swiss hurdler Marcel Schelbert meanwhile appeared to lose further ground in his bid for a European place after finishing the 400-metre hurdles in a relatively slow 50.63 seconds.

Schelbert said he was unable to explain a performance that saw him miss the qualifying limit by more than seven-tenths of a second.

“I haven’t got a clue (what happened),” Schelbert said. “I actually had a good feeling but near the end of the race I just lost power.”

Schelbert, Philipp and the rest of the Swiss athletes still hoping to reach Munich will now have to make the most of their final opportunity at this weekend’s Swiss championships in Colombier.

swissinfo with agencies