Hurdling duel takes Paris limelight
(Agencies)
Updated: 2005-07-01 10:11

Liu Xiang and Allen Johnson's duel will be the focus of attention as the Golden League season begins in Paris on Friday. With the world's top men shunning the 100m, the Chinese Olympic champion Xiang and four-time world gold medallist Johnson go head-to-head over 110m hurdles in the top event.

Olympic 110-meter hurdles champion Liu Xiang of China sits at the Stade de France stadium outside Paris, Tuesday June 28, 2005. Liu will train before Friday's Golden League track meet at Stade de France and will then remain to prepare for the World Championships in Helsinki, Finland, in August.[AP]

The inclusion of France's European indoor 60 metres hurdles gold medallist Ladji Doucoure adds a third element in an attractive equation at the Stade de France.

However, both Olympic 100 metres champion Justin Gatlin and the new world record holder Asafa Powell have rejected the opportunity to compete for a million dollar jackpot at the first of the season's six Golden League meetings.

The 100 and 110 hurdles are two of the seven men's events in which athletes who win at each Golden League competition will earn at least a share of the jackpot. Five women's events are eligible.

Powell, who reduced the world record to 9.77 seconds earlier this month, will not run in Paris after financial negotiations broke down while Gatlin will start his European campaign at the Lausanne grand prix next Tuesday.

GREENE PULLS OUT

Former Olympic and world champion Maurice Greene pulled out of the meeting on Thursday having failed to recover from a hamstring injury picked up in the US world championship trials.

Ethiopian Kenenisa Bekele has asked for fast intermediate times in the men's 5,000 metres, suggesting he may attempt to better his own world record of 12 minutes 37.35 set in the Dutch town of Hengelo last year.

Bekele, who won the world long and short course cross country titles for the fourth successive time, was thwarted by the wind when he made an attempt on his world 10,000 record at this year's Hengelo meeting.

The remaining Golden League meetings are in Rome, Oslo, Zurich, Brussels and Berlin.

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