Unstoppable Bolt and Isinbayeva Snag Top Award

Jamaican sprinter Usain Bolt of Jamaica and Russian pole vaulter Yelena Isinbayeva won the IAAF World Athlete of the Year awards on Sunday.

Bolt set world records in the 100 and 200 metres at the Beijing Games in August. His third gold medal came in Jamaica's 400 relay, also a world record.

Isinbayeva successfully defended her Olympic title and remained undefeated in outdoor competitions in 2008. The Russian pole vault queen cleared 5.05 metres in Beijing to set her 24th career world record and retain the Olympic title.

Both athletes take home $100,000 for winning award.

The entire field were Olympic champions and achieved incredible feats. Cuban hurdler Dayron Robles and Ethiopian long-distance runner Kenenisa Bekele were the other contenders in the men's category. Tirunesh Dibaba of Ethiopia and Kenyan Pamela Jelimo were in the running on the women's side.

By Jay Hicks for Prerace Jitters.

X Factor In Women's Debate

Looking back at the 20007-08 season, the MVP race is heating up as there are a number of worthy candidates which makes the debate both difficult and exciting.

Typically people compare times, wins, and overrall performances like clutch races or relative ability to deliver for their respective countries at the Beijing Games. The measuring stick this time around may be who made the largest impact on track and field.

In the running for the 2008 World Athletes of the Year are Ethopia's Tirunesh Dibaba, Yelena Isinbayeva of Russia, and Kenya's Pamela Jelimo. The winners will be announced live, on stage, during the 2008 World Athletics Gala, which will take place in Monaco, on 23 November 2008.

Isinbayeva raised the bar during the season. While also raising questions about whether she is the great female competitor of a generation as she again increased her world record in winning her second Olympic gold medal. At season's end the Russian pole vault record stands at 16 feet, 6.8 inches.

In the process of putting up the fastest time the event has seen in 10 years, Olympic champion (1:54.01) Pamela Jelimo completed one of the best season an 800-meter has ever seen. The 18 year-old is the first Kenyan woman to win an Olympic gold medal and also the first Kenyan to win the Golden League Jackpot. Jelimo collected a $1 million jackpot by winning all her event in all six of the IAAF Golden League meets.

Who has accomplished more in a season? Ethopia's Tirunesh Dibaba trademark is a hammering last lap in the 5,000 and 10,000-meters. She broke the 5,000-meter world record by over five minutes in June and swept the 5,000 and 10,000-meters in Beijing.

Jay Hicks for Prerace Jitters.

Isinbeyeva Raises the Roof In Beijing

Russian pole vaulter breaks her own world record and Stucynski grabs silver.

-Beijing—The women’s pole vault unfolded with an air of predictability at the Birdnest. The venerable Yelena Isinbayeva of Russia jumped and produced yet another world record of 16 feet, 6.75 inches. This is her third time this season to improve on her world record.

If it is any indication, nearly half of the field was out of the competition before Isinbayeva took her first jump.

Jennifer Stucynski (15 feet, 9 inches) of the U.S. did everything she needed in order to earn a well-deserved silver medal. Afterword she said, "I couldn't ask for anything more than to come to my first Olympics and get a medal, a silver no less. It's beyond words to have people in there cheering for you. I made a lot of jumps and I'm feeling it right now."

The clearance by Isinbayeva was so large it leads me to think that will be raise her record again before the end of this outdoor season.

By Jay Hicks.

Instant Analysis – Monaco Super Grand Prix!

Isinbayeva Raises the Pole Vault World Record.

-Monaco-Can anyone touch Yelena Isinbayeva? She cleared 16 feet, 6 1/2 inches setting a new record for the second time this season. The stakes have been raised another notch and Yelena goes into Beijing as the clear favorite to win gold.

It’s about staying calm under the pressure. I think David Oliver (13.11) hit nearly every hurdle in the race and still managed to run down Anwar Moore for the win. That’s when you know your race is on.

It was just another day in the office for Asafa Powell. Today the Jamaican commonly referred to as the world’s second fastest man clocked 9.82 in the 100-meters. Darvis “The Veteran” Patton (9.98) of the U.S. was runner up with a solid performance.

More than almost anyone else Jamaica's Kerron Stewart is establishing herself as the runner to beat. Today she posted 10.94 over Sherone Simpson (10.95) of Jamaica, and Torri Edwards (11.02) of the U.S. in a hotly contested 100-meter race.

The 800 left me thinking that the U.S. athletes can not expect to be competitive if they sit in the back for most of the race and then try to pour on a huge kick down the home stretch. It isn't going to happen. Yuriy Borzakovskiy and Yusuf Saad Kamel put down a ridiculous 1:42.79. They ran every step of the race today.

By Jay Hicks.

Monaco IAAF Super Grand Prix--Preview

Catch all of the action live on WCSN.com and Universal Sports TV.

-Monte Carlo - Don't miss the last major action before the Olympic Games at the historic Monaco Super GP. How fast can David Oliver fly over the hurdles? The U.S. Olympic Trials champion headlines the 110-meter hurdles along with Americans Anwar Moore and Antwon Hicks.

Asafa Powell will take his last run prior to Beijing Olympic Games. Can anyone touch Yelena Isinbayeva? The Russian pole vaulter will take a stab at the world record.

The women will continue to duke it out on the 100-meter international scene. Torri Edwards (10.79) will take on Jamaica's Kerron Stewart (10.80) along with compatriots Shelly Ann Fraser (10.85), Sherone Simpson (10.87), and USA’s Marshevet Hooker (10.93) in what is a class field. Kim Gevaert of Belgium, the European champion, makes another outing in her recovery from recent injury niggles.

IAAF Herculis Super Grand Prix on WCSN.com and Universal Sports TV.

Tuesday, July 29^th

Monaco, Monte Carlo

2:00-5:00p EDT- LIVE

By Jay Hicks.

DN Galan in Stockholm, Sweden--Preview

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How many world records will drop?

The DN Galan, a Super Grand Prix status meet on the 2008 IAAF World Athletics Tour, takes place on Tuesday.

Breaking the world record is a culmination of timing and destiny. The DN Galan takes places in venerable old Stockholm Stadium, which was built in connection with the 1912 Olympics. Through the years, no fewer than 83 world records have taken place at this venue, more than at any other stadium in the world.

There will not be a Jeremy Wariner match up against LaShawn Merritt, but Wariner will face David Neville, who finished third at the U.S. Olympic Trials.

Will the 100-meters world record get lowered on Tuesday for the second time this season?

The world will be watching the 100-meter match up between Usain Bolt and Asafa Powell. The race is almost guaranteed to produce some sparks. Powell is running in his first race since experiencing a groin injury earlier this month in Rome.

Earlier in the season, it was Bolt who brought the world's attention to the 100-meters as he set the new World Record at 9.72 seconds, breaking Powell's world record. The favorite going into the meet is Usain Bolt, and since he has a flair for the dramatic, don't be surprised to see a new world record at the end of the race.

Get Russian pole vaulter Yelena Isinbayeva angry, and anything can happen. After watching Jennifer Stuczynski lower her own American record at the U.S. Olympic Trials, Isinbayeva was so angry that she broke her World Record in her first competition of the outdoor season. Look for sparks to fly tomorrow when the two meet head-to-head. Right now, Isinbayeva is riding the hot hand and is the favorite going into the meet, although this competition will be fierce.

Just call it the calm before the storm. There is a looming clash in the 110-meter hurdles between World Record holder Dayron Robles of Cuba and David Oliver, the U.S. Olympic Trials champion. Dayron's precision is nearly flawless, and Oliver is precise and physical at this point in the season. This race is simply too close to call, but we can expect the winning time to hover around 12.88 or so, which is .01 off the current world record.

By Jay Hicks.

Newly Launched Spikes Magazine is Good Luck

It’s all a matter of perspective, but gracing the cover of Spikes magazine has the opposite affect of the “Madden Cover Curse.” Whether you think it's a silly urban legend or an undeniable truth, the Madden Cover Curse has become an entrenched part of football lore.

Yelena Isinbayeva was featured on the first copy of the edgy new British track and field magazine, officially launched June 3, 2008.

On Friday, Yelena upped her own World Record in the pole vault to 16 feet, 6 inches and again comes into Beijing as the favorite. Michael Vick and Donovan McNabb could only be so lucky. Yelena got a bounce from appearing on the cover, and hopefully, the sport will also.

The IAAF, in partnership with UK Athletics, launched a major drive to promote athletics globally with a new cutting edge magazine and interactive global website - SPIKES.

Is Spikes magazine the new hero of the sport? Without a doubt, it is a witty and humorous new jaunt.

Spikes magazine and Spikesmag.com couldn’t come at a better time. They will help promote the sport at a time when there is a great deal of competition for young people’s attention. The organization’s mission is to bring the world of track and field to life and help put it back where it belongs: on top of the world.

Enough said.

By Jay Hicks.