Chance for Revenge in MacFarlane’s Race
20 Feb 2008
In Osaka last year, Donna MacFarlane was tromped on, 10 metres into her heat of the 3000m Steeplechase. It resulted in her losing her shoe and retiring from the race.
On that particular occasion, it was China’s Zhenzhu Li who caused the catastrophe, which left the Tasmanian star on crutches for days after the event. Tomorrow night, they meet again.
The scene will be slightly different tomorrow, as MacFarlane makes her 2008 debut over her pet event, the 3000m Steeplechase at the Melbourne Athletics Grand Prix. This time there will be 6 competitors, in Osaka there were 18 in that heat, so any chance of a fall or contact has to be drastically reduced.
While little can be gained from beating up on the little Chinese athlete, MacFarlane will be buoyed by the opportunity and is likely to relish in the uniqueness of the situation. The TIS athlete has dominated the domestic scene in the past two years and last month broke the Australian 2000m Steeplechase record, proving she is in the form necessary to defend her Australian Title at next weeks Australian Track & Field Championships. If she does, it will tick the final box required to guarantee selection for her first Olympic team, as she already has the 2 A-qualifying performances also required.
Tomorrow night’s race at Olympic Park in Melbourne, will also feature Victoria Mitchell, who finished one place behind MacFarlane at the 2006 Commonwealth Games and was also a member of the Australian team in Osaka.
A strong contingent of Tasmanians are attending the biggest one day meet in Australia, which also kicks off the IAAF World Athletics Tour for 2008.
Grant Page – Men’s 1500m Hamish Peacock – Men’s Javelin Melissa Kay – Women’s 100m Todd Hodgetts – Men’s Shot Put Tristan Thomas – Men’s 400m Hurdles100m World Record holder Asafa Powell of Jamaica rates himself a 90% chance of competing, after a training session to test his cut knee yesterday. The worlds fastest man and his posse of Jamaican’s has been in Australia since last week.
A definite starter in the Men’s 400m will be Olympic and dual World Champion Jeremy Wariner. The American will be out to open his Olympic campaign and break the Olympic Park all comers record of 44.98sec, set by Robert Stone in 1988. It will be a testing, yet realistic goal, given he opened the 2006 and 2007 seasons with a sub 45sec lap.
It promises to be a ripper of a night, with Australian superstars Craig Mottram, Steve Hooker, Tamsyn Lewis and Scott Martin among the many stars also on show.
Event: World Athletics Tour - Melbourne
Day: Thursday, 21 February 2008
Time: Action kicks off at 7:30pm
Where: Melbourne Olympic Park, Olympic Boulevard