A WEEK IN ATHLETICS SEPTEMBER 2013/1

In a weekly round-up, European Athletics looks at a big issue in the sport, sets the scene for the week ahead and reviews the past few days.

Europe could be sprinting into a golden age

It almost did not matter what happened in Zurich on Thursday when the gun fired for the 100m because a glance along the start-line said everything about European sprinting.

The nine men were announced for the showpiece race of the night and among them was a runner from France and a runner from Great Britain.

Not just there to make up the numbers, but there on the merit of the best summers they have known in the sport.

No wonder Jimmy Vicaut and Adam Gemili smiled as their names were called out. They could be excused for pinching themselves.

What was probably not going through their minds, though it is likely to do so soon, is that next summer they will be back on the same start line at the Letzigrund Stadium, the iconic venue which is staging the European Athletics Championships.

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THE WEEK JUST GONE

It was another glorious, golden night for European athletics at the Weltklasse in Zurich, including Bohdan Bondarenko, of Ukraine, attempting to break the high jump world record while Russia's Mariya Abakumova maintained her fine, end of season form with another win in the javelin. But what a moment for Estonia's Gerd Kanter who turned the men's discus around to be crowned Diamond Race winner.

THE WEEK AHEAD

The IAAF Diamond League ends in Brussels on Friday night and, as per normal, a crowd of around 60,000 will be there for the grand finale. And it means they will see one of the best European runners of 2013, the brilliant Swedish star Abeba Aregawi, on the major stage for perhaps the last time this summer.

EUROPEAN LEADERS - 100m

Men
1. James Dasaolu (GBR), 9.91 Birmingham
2. Jimmy Vicaut (FRA), 9.95 Paris
3. Christophe Lemaitre (FRA), 10.00 Moscow

Women
1. Verena Sailer (GER), 11.02 Weinheim
2. Ivet Lalova (BUL), 11.04 Oslo
3. Mariya Ryemyen (UKR), 11.06 Yalta

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It's time for Sunday Long run....!!! #FontRomeu

COMING NEXT

Sep 3 - 49th Palio Citta della Quercia (Rovereto)
Sep 3 - IAAF World Challenge (Zagreb)
Sep 6 - Belgacom Memorial Van Damme/Diamond League (Brussels)
Sept 7 - Metro 10km (Prague)
Sept 8 - World Mountain Running Championships (Krynica-Zdroj)
Sept 8 - Rieti Meeting (Rieti)

IN BRIEF
- Arthur Abele, with 8251 points in the decathlon, and Carolin Schafer, with 5804 points in the heptathlon, are the German Combined Events champions after their wins in Lage.
- Still going strong at the age of 43, Romania's 2008 Olympic marathon champion Constantina Dita-Tomescu was seventh in the 10,000m at the national championships in 36:06.12 in Bucharest.
- Valentin Balakhnichev, President of the Russian Federation President, confirmed that th