Preview of Shanghai Golden Grand Prix

Thursday 27 September 2007Shanghai, China - The Shanghai stop on the IAAF's annual Asian tour has become a fully world-class event. On Friday (28) evening the event will have its third annual meeting and Liu Xiang, China's native son and the hope of all of China for 2008 gold, will be there. He'll be joined by an impressive group of World champions and World record holders in a total of fourteen events in the biggest international track meet to be held in China ahead of next year's Olympic Games. This third edition has been designated as a qualifying event for the IAAF / VTB Bank World Athletics Final 2008, with athletes competing at the meet able to get a head start on qualifying for next year’s final, to be held September 13-14.

400m: World champion Jeremy Wariner, undefeated in 2007, is the headliner and heavy favourite here, but world bronze medalist Angelo Taylor, Osaka sixth-place finisher Tyler Christopher, and World Athletics Final fourth place finisher Gary Kikaya will do their best to derail Wariner, whose personal best run of 43.45 in Osaka bodes well for his next goal: Michael Johnson's eight-year-old world record. Darold Williamson, Kerron Clement and Sanjay Ayre round out the field, along with Chinese entrants Wang Xiaoxu and Liu Xiaosheng.