World indoor 60 metres hurdles champion Lolo Jones will compete for the United States at the Aviva International Match in Glasgow on Jan 31.
Jones has her eyes on next summer's World Championships in August where she is aiming to atone for the heartbreak of stumbling when leading in the Olympic 100m hurdles final and dropping to seventh place.
The 26-year-old's season began brilliantly when she claimed the world indoor title in Valencia, but it was marred in Beijing where she clipped the penultimate hurdle and lost the gold medal.
She will start her new campaign eager to better her previous two performances at the Kelvin Hall venue where she has finished runner-up on both occasions.
UK Athletics chief executive Niels de Vos welcomed Jones' return to Glasgow.
He said: "These meetings are all about giving our best British athletes the chance to compete against the best in the world and – despite her huge disappointment in Beijing – it is clear that Lolo Jones was the best female high hurdler over the course of last season."
De Vos revealed that Jones will also compete at the Aviva Grand Prix in Birmingham on Feb 21, and added: "Whoever lines up against her in Glasgow and Birmingham will get a perfect illustration of the level they need to be aiming for."
The format of the Aviva International Match sees elite athletes – more accustomed to competing for individual glory – having to earn points for their country.
Teams competing are Great Britain and Northern Ireland, USA, Germany, Sweden and a Commonwealth Select.
Source: Telegraph
13 September 2008 - 16:20Wind: 0.3 m/s
Position Lane Bib Athlete Country Mark . React
1 6 34 Josephine Onyia ESP 12.54 . 0.154
2 4 141 LoLo Jones USA 12.56 . 0.128
3 7 65 Delloreen Ennis-London JAM 12.56 . 0.148
4 8 134 Dawn Harper USA 12.67 . 0.182
5 3 66 Brigitte Foster-Hylton JAM 12.76 . 0.137
6 1 22 Priscilla Lopes-Schliep CAN 12.81 . 0.139
7 5 12 Sally McLellan AUS 12.82 . 0.137
8 2 135 Joanna Hayes USA 13.06 . 0.156
Lolo Jones of the US smiles during a press conference for the upcoming 6th World Athletics Final at the Mercedes-Benz Arena on September 12, 2008 in Stuttgart, Germany. The IAAF World Athletics Final take place on 13th and 14th September at the Mercedes-Benz Arena in Stuttgart.
United States' Lolo Jones, right, competes against Australia's Sally Mclellan during the 100 meter women's hurdle event at the Golden League athletic games in Brussels, Friday Sept. 5, 2008.
US LoLo Jones, right, and Spain's Josephine Onyia, left, run the women's 100 m hurdles race at the Athletissima athletics meeting in the Stade Olympique in Lausanne, Switzerland, Tuesday, Sept. 2, 2008.
Lolo Jones from the U.S. is seen, during a press conference, a day prior to the Athletissima meeting in Lausanne, Switzerland, Monday, Sept. 1,2008.
Official Results - Women - 100 Metres Hurdles - Wind : -0.2 m/s
Pos Athlete Nat Mark Pts
1 LoLo Jones USA 12.56 20
2 Josephine Onyia ESP 12.62 16
3 Sally McLellan AUS 12.63 14
4 Delloreen Ennis-London JAM 12.68 12
5 Susanna Kallur SWE 12.71 10
6 Dawn Harper USA 12.73 8
7 Priscilla Lopes-Schliep CAN 12.90 6
8 Brigitte Foster-Hylton JAM 13.17 4
9 Sarah Claxton
Lolo Jones, of the U.S., 100 meter hurdles athlete, talks, during a press conference ahead of the track and field meeting 'Weltklasse in Zuerich', in Zurich, Switzerland, Tuesday, Aug. 26, 2008.
Media Talk in Zürich (in Swiss dialect):
Valencia, Spain - Ask an athlete at which point tension feels the greatest and more often than not the answer is during the fifteen to twenty minutes spent in the call room, waiting to be led like gladiators into the arena.
American hurdler Lolo Jones confirmed that she had felt added pressure to perform after heavy favourite, world record holder, Susanna Kallur withdrew from the 60m hurdles competition on this the second day of the 12th IAAF World Indoor Championships citing a slight muscle tear. In the call room she wished American teammate Candice Davis good luck and then prepared herself for the battle.
“I wished Candice Davis good luck and then I was talking to myself more than anybody else,” she reveals with a long laugh. ”They probably thought I was loco!”
“Half of the time between the semi-final and final is spent on mental preparation. It’s telling yourself ‘you have done this all year, you can do it again.’ And you keep on telling yourself that. Because that’s where people lose the race it’s sitting in that call room for fifteen minutes.”
This indoor season has been a coming out party for the 25-year-old Baton Rouge, resident. She was the second fastest in the world with her time of 7.77 seconds. Only Kallur ran faster. Other than winning the 2007 US indoor championship the Louisiana State University graduate has been largely an also ran, not that a 6th place in last year’s World outdoor championships in Osaka is anything to be ashamed of.
But some things will change now.
“The only thing it’s going to help is when people announce my name at the beginning of a meet,” she concedes. “I mean, you know how they announce the athletes? it’s like "Michelle Perry - two time world champion’, It takes about five minutes to get through it and then it’s ‘Lolo jones lane 6.’ I will finally have something other than that.”
Clearly Jones possesses a self deprecating sense of humour which goes a long way in enhancing her popularity. From the dozens of Valencia school children whom she obliged with autographs and the volunteers with whom she happily posed for pictures following her race she was the model professional. When she finally made her way through the athlete/media 'Mixed Zone' to talk with the waiting press she was greeted by former World 100m champion Maurice Greene who gave her a hug. Waiting in the wings was her manager Mark Block.
She also received glowing praise from Susanna Kallur who sat in the athletes section during the hurdles final hoping her friend would emerge the victor.
“We were competing against each other in college,” Kallur said with a genuine smile. “ I went to the University of Illinois for three semesters and I competed against her in the nationals. So we have been seeing a lot of each other at the outdoor season and the previous indoor season. She is a great athlete. And we are good friends. Absolutely!”
The Swede’s withdrawal spoiled the victory somewhat for Jones’ and her outlook changed the moment she learned she was now the favourite. That moment came while giving a television interview following before the semi finals.
“You always expect to win,” Jones admits, “but then it’s a different ball game when you are running against the world record holder and she’s like a tenth of a second ahead of you.”
“I knew coming here I was going to run fast. This was when I though Susanna was running and that we would push each other to new national records so that’s what I was looking forward to, coming into the competition. Then when I found out she wasn’t running it was a whole different ball game because all the pressure that was on her was right on me.”
Jones refuses to be drawn into the theory that her Valencia victory will give her a psychological lift come the outdoor season. Quickly she points out 2007 World champion Michelle Perry was absent from these World championships and so to were others.
“I could name five people off the top of my head that didn’t run,” she declares, as if pleading to remain obscure. “Some of the girls who will be at the Olympics didn’t make (the final) like the Canadians. One girl got sick the night before (Angela Whyte), so she didn’t make it. Another one fell (Priscilla Lopes- Schliep). I will definitely take my medal. But............”
Then the girl who describes herself as a ‘house hermit” who watches television, plays video games and regularly goes to church rushes off to be taken to dinner by her shoe sponsors at Asics. But not without one final comment:
“My first medal is gold. How cool is that?”
Source: Paul Gains for the IAAF