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Athletics - 20. June 2007.

Superstar athletes look to Osaka at AT&T USA Outdoor Champs


INDIANAPOLIS - The top three finishers in each event who have met IAAF qualifying standards will be selected for the Team USA roster for the IAAF World Outdoor Track & Field Championships, which will take place August 25-September 2 in Osaka, Japan.

The fifth and final event of USA Track & Field's 2007 Outdoor Visa Championship Series, the AT&T USA Outdoor Championships will be televised live on ESPN2 from 8-9 p.m. on Friday, June 22, and tape-delayed from 7-8 p.m. Saturday, June 23. The meet will air live on NBC from 2-3 p.m. Saturday, June 23, and from 1-3 p.m. on Sunday, June 24. All times are Eastern.

In addition to previously announced standouts in the women's hurdles and 400 meters, major headliners at the Championships include Allyson Felix, Lauryn Williams, Jenn Stuczynski, Deena Kastor and Tianna Madison.


Despite her automatic bye on to the Team USA World Championships roster as the reigning women's 200m world champion, Allyson Felix is slated to attempt a 100/200 double at Indy. Felix, who owns the fastest 200m time in the world this year (22.18 seconds) will face a strong field in the 100 meters from reigning World Outdoor champion Lauryn Williams and 2003 World 100m champion Torri Edwards, who posted the fastest time in the world this year with her May 20 win at the adidas Track Classic in 10.90 seconds. In the 200, her competition includes World Outdoor Championships silver medalist and defending U.S. champion Rachelle Boone-Smith and IAAF World Athlete of the Year Sanya Richards, who won the 200 at the 2006 IAAF World Cup in Athletics.

Jenn Stuczynski has breathed new life into American women's pole vaulting by becoming the nation's dominant competitor in that event in a relative short time. A standout basketball player who first tried the pole vault two years ago, Stuczynski became only the third woman in history - and the first American - to clear the 16-foot barrier on June 2, 2007, with her American record winning clearance of 4.88 meters/16 feet at the Reebok Grand Prix in New York City. It was her second American record of the outdoor season and is the top vault in the world so far in 2007.

More top athletes

2004 Olympic women's marathon bronze medalist and American 10,000m record holder Deena Kastor will be gunning for her fifth title in that event Thursday night. Kastor, who last year became the first American woman to run under 2 hours 20 minutes in winning the 2006 Flora London Marathon in 2:19:36, has already won national titles this year in cross country, the marathon and 15 km road race. In the women's 5,000 meters, look for Shalane Flanagan, who in 2007 has set American records indoors in the 3,000m (8:33.25) and outdoors in the 5,000 (14:44.80)

Additional athletes to watch include 2005 World Outdoor women's long jump champion Tianna Madison. Other American record holders competing in the championships include women's javelin thrower Kim Kreiner, women's discus thrower Suzy Powell, women's hammer thrower Erin Gilreath.

Ticket information is available at www.indianasportscorp.com and (800) HI-FIVES. Tickets can also be purchased through all Ticketmaster outlets, Ticketmaster charge-by-phone numbers and www.ticketmaster.com. All ticket purchases include free parking. USATF welcomes you to pay with your Visa.

For more information on the 2007 AT&T USA Outdoor Championships and USATF's Visa Championship Series, visit www.usatf.org and www.visachampionshipseries.com.

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