Posted: June 1, 2005

Athletics: Jones (And Others) Headline Wednesday's Milano Gp II

By Bob Ramsak, Track Profile

© 2005 Track Profile all rights reserved TrackProfile.com

Marion Jones, who has been shadowed by not-so-hushed doping allegations for the past year despite never failing a drugs test, will compete in Europe for the second time in three days despite a supposed "ban" by an association of European meet organizers at Wednesday's Grand Prix II meet in Milan.

On Sunday in Hengelo, Netherlands, Jones finished a distant second in the 100 meters clocking 11.29, and will again face Bahamian Chandra Sturrup, the Hengelo winner. Manuela Levorato, the double sprint bronze medallist from the 2002 European championships, is the top Italian hope in the field.

In the men's 100, Britain's Olympic sprint relay gold medallists Darren Campbell and Mark Lewis-Francis make their second starts of the outdoor season. Dwight Phillips, the world and Olympic long jump champion, will start in the short dash as well. Phillips clocked a personal best 10.14 in Fort-de-France, Martinique last month.

Qatari Daham Bashir, the former Kenyan David Nyaga, and Ethiopian Mulugeta Wendimo are the key entrants in the 1500. Bashir clocked a personal best 3:31.04 at the Doha, Qatar Grand Prix in mid-May, while Wendimu has a 3:31.13 to his credit from last year, a national record. The women's 1500 field includes Briton Hayley Tullet, Alesia Turova of Belarus and Anna Jakubczak of Poland.

Milan organizers have put the rarely-run women's 2000 meter steeplechase on the program, and have gathered a field that will make an attempt on the event's world record, Russian Marina Pluzhnikova's 6:11.84 set in 1994. Ugandan Dorcus Inzikuru, the African record holder (9:28.50), and Justyna Bak of Poland who set a world record here in 2002 (9:22.29), lead the field.

South Africans Llewellyn Herbert and Ockert Cilliers lead the field in the 400 meter hurdles while two-time Kenyan Olympian Joseph Mutua (1:43.33 - 2002) is the class of the field in the 800.

US champion and Olympic finalist Jamie Nieto leads the high jump field, which also includes Jamaican record holder Germaine Mason, on the comeback from an injury last year.

The Italian fans will be looking for a good outing from Guiseppe Gibilisco, the reigning world champion and Olympic bronze medallist in the pole vault. Still on the mend from injury, the 26-year-old Gibilisco hasn't competed since his injury-shortened competition at the Pole Vault Stars meet in Donetsk, Ukraine in February. Fiona May, the 2001 world long jump champion, headlines the field in her specialty.

[NOTE: The Milano GP II kicks off TPR's exclusive summer on-site coverage from at least 18 major competitions, including all six IAAF TDK Golden League competitions, the 10th World Championships from Helsinki, and the season-capping World Athletics Final from Monaco.]

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