With just less than a week to go to the IAAF/VTB Bank Continental Cup the track world is ready to tackle a brand new challenge in this newly revamped team competition which takes over from the late IAAF World Cup.

This time around only four teams – Africa, Americas, Asia/Pacific and Europe – will field two scoring men and two women* in each event on the two-day programme to win the overall Continental Cup Trophy.

Let’s take a look at the women’s events…
 
Sprints and hurdles

It is probably safe to say that the championship records carried over from the IAAF World Cup in the flat sprint events (10.65, 21.62, 47.60) will remain unchallenged this weekend, but there should at least be some very competitive races. In the 100m Trinidad’s national record-holder Kelly-Ann Baptiste will clash with African champion Blessing Okagbare, who will by vying for Africa’s first ever 100m victory at this event, while the top two from the European Championships – Verena Sailer and Veronique Mang – will find strong opposition in the form of Shalonda Solomon and Ruddy Zang Milama.

The in-form athletes in the 200m are Russian Champion Aleksandra Fedoriva and Central American and Caribbean Games Champion Cydonie Mothersill, but European silver medallist Yelizaveta Bryzgina and US champion Connie Moore will both pose a strong threat.

A high-quality women’s 400m sees Olympic silver medallist Shericka Williams face off with European champion Tatyana Firova, World Indoor Champion Debbie Dunn and African champion Amantle Montsho. All are sub-50 athletes at best and with so few 49-second clockings this season, can this event round out the season on a high?

The 100m Hurdles is also a top-notch event with Olympic silver medallist Sally Pearson of Australia taking on the top two from the European Championships – Nevin Yanit and Derval O’Rourke – as well as the top two from the World Indoor Championships – Lolo Jones and Perdita Felicien. With such talent, the Championship Record of 12.60 looks to be in serious threat.

In the 400m Hurdles European Champion Natalya Antyukh will renew her rivalry with European silver medallist Vania Stambolova.
Meanwhile Nigeria’s Adjoke Odumosu will be looking to prove that her finish ahead of Antyukh in Zurich was no fluke, and at the same time will try to get one up on Morocco’s Hayat Lambarki, the surprise winner at the African Championships.