Nutrilite-sponsored athlete and World and Olympic 110-meter hurdles champion Liu Xiang of China is one of three finalists in the running for the International Association of Athletics Federation (IAAF) Male Athlete of the Year award.
Liu, who holds the world record in the 110-meter hurdles, is up against 100-meter and 200-meter world sprinting champion Tyson Gay of the US and Ethiopian marathon-runner Haile Gebrselassie.
Liu has gained more and more popularity since becoming China's first male track world champion.
The winners of the 2007 World Athlete of the Year Awards will be announced live during the 2007 World Athletics Gala, which will take place in Monaco, on November 25.
For more information on the World Athlete of the Year Awards, go to http://www.iaaf.org/
So, I started off my morning by flipping through the September 2007 issue of Track & Field News magazine. I was pleasantly surprised to find that all four of our Nutrilite-sponsored athletes are featured with photographs in this month's issue!
A little tour of the publication:
pg. 37 – Jenn Stuczynski, American-Record Holder Pole Vault. Jenn's shown in the recap from the US Track & Field Championships, where she was "the very model of efficiency, needing only a single attempt to win."
pg. 41 – Liu Xiang, World-Record Holder 110-meter Hurdles. There's a full-page photo of Liu as a part of the article "Who's Going to Osaka?"
pg. 43 – Sanya Richards, American-Record Holder 400-meter sprint. This article, "Richards Bounces Back," recaps Sanya's performance at the Paris Golden League.
pg. 44 - Liu. A really cool picture of Liu as the crowd is cheering for him at the Lausanne Grand Prix.
pg. 45 – Asafa Powell, World-Record Holder 100-meter Sprint. This article, "Powell Back on Track," recaps Asafa's gold medal performance at the Rom Golden League.
I love this mag. Especially seeings how our Nutrilite athletes are consistently featured in it.
If you don't already get it, you may want to check out www.trackandfieldnews.com. The magazine is published 12 times a year, including an "Annual Edition," which wraps up the whole year in one spot with World Rankings and Top 40 Lists. One of the sweet perks to having a subscription is the free eTrack service you also get. It includes an eTrack Newsletter, an extensive results publication which is produced more than 40 times a year (weekly during the peak season) and sends all the latest results directly to your e-mail address. During the Olympics and World Championships, special daily reports are issued. (Something worth keeping in mind as the '08 Olympics near.)
If you haven't already picked up a copy, you may want to check out today's issue of USA Today.
Asafa is featured in Section C on page 17!
There's a great picture of his world-record run, with the caption "Run of his life."
Asafa, who just broke the world-record in the 100-meter sprint with a time of 9.74 seconds, says in the article that he thinks he can run faster than 9.70 seconds.
Looks like we have a great Asafa vs. Tyson Gay rivalry building up for the 2008 Summer Olympics! The world-record holder vs. the world champion! It's going to be an exciting season next year!
So, this is by far the biggest news I’ve been able to blog about since the Team Nutrilite blog launched. Today, Nutrilite-sponsored athlete Asafa Powell smashed his world record in the 100-meter sprint, running it in 9.74 seconds at the Rieti Grand Prix!
He lowered his current world record by 0.03 seconds, having run the 100-meter sprint in 9.77 seconds three times before. (He set the world record of 9.77 seconds in June 2005 in Athens, Greece. In June 2006, he again ran 9.77, and then did it a third time in August 2006.)
Although there was a strong tail wind, it was below the maximum allowed by track and field's governing body, making the record valid.
He broke the world record in the second heat of competition at the Rieti Grand Prix, which allowed him to qualify for the final. He won gold in the final with a time of 9.78 seconds.
Asafa had a disappointing 3rd place finish at the world championships in Osaka, Japan, and he came to this meet with the mission of bouncing back from that disappointing performance. That he did!
Here’s a cool quote from Asafa that’s in the media right now:
"It's a very fast track. I love this track. It's very bouncy," said Asafa, who trains in Italy three months of the year. "Italy is a good place for me. It's my second home."
