US star Felix has another special day in Qatar

By N.D. Prashant/Doha

Felix: great preparation for the Olympics

US sprint ace Allyson Felix gave enough evidence that she is ready for a sprint double at the London Olympics by shocking reigning world 200m champion Veronica Campbell-Brown and Beijing Olympics 100m winner Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce in the women’s 100m sprint at the Samsung Diamond League meet in Doha yesterday.Felix, a Doha veteran, clocked a meet record of 10.92sec, and said it was always special to win here. “It is always good coming here. I have been coming here since I was 19 and winning here again is really cool. I love it here,” said a beaming Felix, adding that, it was special to get the better of Campbell-Brown especially in the 100m. “It was very good to get one over Campbell, it’s pretty cool. Jamaica have some really good racers and I think the rivalry is good. I’m heading to London, it will be cooler there, but we cannot complain about the conditions; we all have to race in them. “We will see about gold in the 100m there. This was my personal best and I’m very happy,” said Felix, who has won here five times.Double world champion, Vivian Cheruiyot once again got the better off her arch Ethiopian rival and former world title holder Meseret Defar in women 3,000m in an impressive 8:46.44 world-leading time this year. Cheruiyot’s compatriot, Jebiwot Sylvia Kibet, came third. Despite a second place finish, Defar was pretty pleased with her showing saying, “Today was a great race here in Doha. I came in 2001 for the first time and I’m happy every time I come here. It was really a great race, until the last metres. I will be back and I will do my best,” said Defar, who holds 13 world records, and 16 global titles.  Olympic champion Melaine Walker won the women’s 400-metre hurdles in a world-leading 54.62 seconds. Diamond League champion Kaliese Spencer finished second in 54.99, while Briton Perri Shakes-Drayton stood third with 55.25. “I feel I’m in control and I hope I can keep up this form up until the Olympics. I want to win every race especially this year. I do not want to lose even one race. “There might be some disappointments but that my aim is to keep winning. This is one of the best countries I have been and feel at home here and cannot complain,” said a pumped up Walker was also successful on the weekend at the JN International Invitational Meet in Kingston.European champion Nadezhda Ostapchuk of Belarus won the women’s shot put with ease setting a new meet record of 20.23 in her first attempt. USA’s world bronze medallist Jillian Camarena-Williams clinched the silver with a season’s best of 19.81 on her last attempt, while the bronze went to 2004 Olympic silver medallist Germany’s Nadine Kleinert with a season’s best of 19.67.Ostapchuk, who was thrilled by her win, was of the view that a similar result in London would be enough for her to clinch gold. “I managed to set a personal best and a meeting record although I felt very tired after the second throw, I expected a big throw here. If I can throw a personal best in London, I will surely win the Olympic gold. It seems that one year I’m the best in the World and the other is Valerie Adams (reigning Olympic champion) I believe now it is my turn to win,” said Ostapchuk, a bronze medallist at the 2008 Beijing Olympics.