Media Room
Press ReleasesMay 30, 2006
High Jump And Hurdles Key Events At 2006 Jerome Meet
The 2006 Pacific World Cup could well be decided by leaps and bounds.
The men's high jump and the track hurdle events look to be among the best events on the card of the June 8 Vancouver Sun Harry Jerome International Track Classic - featuring the Pacific World Cup dual meet of the People's Republic of China versus Canada.
The men's high jump will be one of the most interesting contests on the meet card at Burnaby's Swangard Stadium. Canada is sending veteran Kwaku Boateng and 2004 world junior champion Mike Mason of Nanoose Bay, B.C. to the bar. China is responding with a pair of promising 21-year-old athletes - Zhang Shufeng and Wang Hao.
Zhang, bronze medallist at the 2005 Asian championships, comes in with a 2.27-metre best earned at the 2005 Chinese national championships. Wang recently equaled his best of 2.24 metres at an outdoor meet in Chongqing after first making the height in winning a 2005 Asian Grand Prix event.
Montreal's Boateng, silver medallist at the 2005 Francophone Games, brings a 2.34-metre best to the bar. He recently outperformed world No.2-ranked Victor Moya with a 2.21 effort to finish second at an outdoor meet in Cuba.
Mason comes to Swangard Stadium off an outstanding personal best effort at the recent National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics Association championships in Fresno, Calif. The University of B.C. sophomore leaped a personal best 2.22 metres, rewriting the NAIA record to win the event gold medal. The effort was 19-year-old Mason's best since he won the 2004 world junior championship with a 2.21-metre jump and he is now eager to see how high he can go this season.
"It's what I needed, especially at this point in the season," said Mason of his record leap in Fresno. "This is a PB I have been waiting for, and working for, over the last two years. Last year in more than one competition I attempted 2.22 and I was very close a couple of times. That was just how the season went, I was close but I never actually got it. But it's still early in the season and I don't want this to be the peak, I want to go higher."
On the track, the men's 110-metre hurdles features a rematch of 2005 Pacific World Cup rivals Karl Jennings of Brampton, Ont., and China's Liu Lilu. Last year Jennings outfinished Liu to win the event by two-hundredths of a second. Winnipeg's Jared MacLeod, third in 2005, also returns to the Jerome meet start line.
But perhaps the most interesting character in the 110 hurdles fray is Liu's compatriot, 22-year-old Shi Dongpeng - who looks to be his country's next great hurdler after 2004 Olympic champion Liu Xiang. Shi was a silver medallist behind Liu at the 2005 Asian championships and was again runner-up to the Olympic gold medallist at the 2005 Chinese National Games. Shi was a silver medallist at the 2002 world junior track and field championships.
Edmonton's Angela Whyte, silver medallist at the March Commonwealth Games in Melbourne and recent fifth-place finisher (12.92) at the Prefontaine Classic, was third in the Jerome meet women's 100-metre hurdles a year ago. She returns this year, joined by China's Zhang Rong, who finished fourth at the 2005 meet.
Meantime, the women's 400-metre hurdles features a pair of outstanding Chinese competitors in 23-year-old Huang Xiaoxiao and 19-year-old Wang Xing.
Huang is the Asian record holder with a PB of 54.18 seconds and she finished fifth in the final at the 2005 world track and field championships in Helsinki. Wang is the reigning world junior record holder in the 400 hurdles with her PB of 54.40 seconds. Wang also defeated Huang at the 2005 Chinese national championships.
Reigning Canadian champion Tawa Dortch, a semi-finalist at the 2005 world championships, returns to run the Jerome meet 400 hurdles after finishing fourth in 2005. She is joined by promising young competitor Corri Fell, the outstanding female athlete of the 2005 B.C. high school championships and double bronze medallist from the 2005 Pan-American junior championships.
The 2006 Vancouver Sun Harry Jerome International Track Classic, featuring the Pacific World Cup, is part of the PacifiCanada Track and Field Series. Other meets in the series: Abbotsford (June 4), Richmond (June 6) and Victoria (June 11).
For media inquiries contact:
Diane Clement
(604) 261-6220 / dclement00@hotmail.com
For athlete information contact:
Marek Jedrzejek
(604) 822-6259 / marekj@interchange.ubc.ca
or
Doug Clement
dclement00@hotmail.com
