¶'09 WC wDT: Dani Samuels (Australia) 214-8 (65.44)

[bhall]

THE FORMCHART
1. Stephanie Brown Trafton (USA) .....66.21 ...217-2 (’09)
2. Natalya Sadova (Russia) .................70.02 ....229-9 (’99)
3. Aimin Song (China) ..........................65.33 ....214-4 (’03)
4. Nicoleta Grasu (Romania) ...............68.80 ....225-9 (’99)
5. Xuejun Ma (China) ............................65.00 ....213-3 (’06)
6. Yania Ferrales (Cuba) .......................66.00 ....216-6 (’06)
7. Yarelis Barrios (Cuba) ......................66.13...216-11 (’08)
8. Yarisley Collado (Cuba) ...................64.10 ....210-4 (’09)
9. Melina Robert-Michon (France) .....65.78...215-10 (’02)
10. Irina Yatchenko (Belarus) ..............69.14...226-10 (’04)

[Marlow]

I'm still in shock that an American woman is the favorite! Go Steph!

[AS]

Where is Dani Samuels? Undefeated this season, with back-to-back wins over your #1...

[Terry Gibbs]

Where is Dani Samuels? Undefeated this season, with back-to-back wins over your #1...

Steph was in winter training, but the win in Melbourne was 62m beat Song as well, and it was cold, very cold (was around 7 C by the end of the comp).

Dani should do okay.

[Powell]

Xuejun Ma is the first automatic qualifier with 63.38 SB. The Chinese are doing really well in field event qualifyings here (but less so in the finals, judging by the achievements of the TJers).

Nadine Mueller also qualifies in round 1 with 61.63. Brown Trafton started with 60.15, and the other two Oly medalists, Barrios and Antonova, both started with fouls.

[Powell]

After two fouls, Barrios got an automatic qualifier in round 3. Antonova is out, and so is the 48-year old Ellina Zvereva. Croatian junior Sandra Perkovic is a surprising automatic Q.

Trafton improved to 61.23 in round 3, just down on the Q mark. She finished sixth in the first group, so she'll have to wait and see. It's not a safe position, but there's a good chance it will be enough.

[croflash]

Second foul for Dietzsch...

[nevetsllim]

Dietzsch 58.44m :cry:

[Powell]

Dietzsch out. Song, Samuels, Glanc, Sadova and Robert-Michon all qualify automatically.
Trafton is currently in 11th with most throwers in group B still having one attempt left.

[croflash]

That's it for Dietzsch, likely the last throw of her career after three world titles and one European title. As the room mate of Nerius, feelings couldn't be much more different than what those two experienced in Berlin.

[Powell]

True, but Dietzsch, unlike Nerius, has won her share of titles in the past.

Re yesterday's discussion about Nerius: Dietzsch is the one currently athlete who definitely represented the GDR, winning junior medals in the 1980s.

[Powell]

Trafton made it to the final in 11th place. Thurmond was 12th and last qualifier. In group B, those eliminated included Pospisilova, Collado (no. 5 in the world this year) and ex-world champ Yatchenko.

[AS]

Excluding Samuels from that list looks like an even bigger oversight now:

http://www.theage.com.au/news/sport/sam ... 17900.html

By the close of business she had the third-longest throw of the day. It was a first-up throw to make a statement - and the third-longest of her career. It would have been enough to capture the bronze medal at the Beijing Olympics.

Worth remembering we're talking about a 21 year old too!

[Marlow]

True, but Dietzsch, unlike Nerius, has won her share of titles in the past.
Re yesterday's discussion about Nerius: Dietzsch is the one currently athlete who definitely represented the GDR, winning junior medals in the 1980s.

Wow - end of an era, with no more DDR athletes. There's lots of bad blood due to PEDs allegations, but the DDR athletes also ushered in an era of better talent identification and training methods. They did indeed contribute a lot to the sport.

[Terry Gibbs]

AS - I was lucky enough to go to the John Landry luncheon in Sydney where I met Steph BT, and after congradulating her, she pointed at Danni, on the same table and said, "there is the future of womens discus throwing "