Posted: July 20, 2006

Athletics: With 11.45, Ottey Qualifies For European Championships

By Bob Ramsak
© 2006 TRACK PROFILE Report, all rights reserved

With her third place finish in the Maribor leg of the nine-meeting Slovenian Grand Prix, 46-year-old Merlene Ottey qualified for the European Championships in the 100 meters yesterday.

Clocking 11.45 (w +1.3), the Jamaican-born Slovenian easily dipped under the 11.60 standard to qualify for her first outdoor appearance at the European Championships.

"The first part of my season didn't go as I wanted it to," said Ottey, whose performance was yet another world age-group record. "It's not until now that that my form is getting better from race to race." Ottey said her season's first half was slowed by an Achilles tendon problem and allergies. "I have two weeks until the European championships and enough time in order to improve even more," Ottey added, indicating that she might make the trip to Gothenburg next month.

Bettina Weiss of Austria won the fiercely fought women's short dash, clocking 11.43, just ahead of Pia Tajnikar (11.44) and Ottey.

Ottey, who has amassed a phenomenal 34 medals at major international competitions for her native Jamaica in a career which spans more than two-and-a-half decades, has lived in the small central European nation since 1999 and has represented Slovenia since 2002.

For a complete report of the meeting, including a European record in the rarely-run 25,000 meters by Helena Javornik, please see my report for the Slovenian Athletics Federation (AZS) at www.atletska-zveza.si.

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