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News from the Caribbean as of
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Ottey to run in Celtic Cup as she looks to Euro Championships
Friday, July 21, 2006
by Gary Smith
Caribbean Net News Sports Correspondent
Email: gary@caribbeannetnews.com
FALKIRK, Scotland: One of the world's greatest ever sprinters, Merlene Ottey, a former Jamaican and Caribbean sprint-queen, has confirmed that she will compete in next month's Celtic Cup at the Grangemouth Stadium in Falkirk, Scotland.
Ottey, who on Wednesday qualified for the European Championships over 100-metres when clocked 11.45 seconds to place third in the Maribor leg of the nine-meeting Slovenian Grand Prix, will be one of several international guest athletes competing in the match up between Scotland, Wales, Ireland and a Bank of Scotland Development Team.
The meeting is set for Thursday 17 August and if her late form this season is any indication of what is there to come, Ottey, a legendary of 34 global championships medals, including eight Olympic and fourteen World Championship medals, will definitely be a strong threat to her competitors.
"The first part of my season didn't go as I wanted it to," said Ottey, who is hoping to continue to be fruitful as the season progresses. "It's not until now that that my form is getting better from race to race."
The 46-year-old Jamaican-born sprint legend who is now a citizen in Slovenia, easily produced the required 11.60 seconds qualifying time for the straight away dash when she finished behind Bettina Weiss of Austria -11.43 - and Pia Tajnikar - 11.44 - in a closely contested race in Maribor, and improvement is now her main priority.
"I have two weeks until the European championships and enough time in order to improve even more," said Ottey, whose time removed the previous world record mark for her age group.
She said her preparation has picked up significantly since getting over some early setbacks caused by an Achilles tendon problem and allergies.
To continue her preparation for possibly running at the European Championships in Gothenburg, Sweden, next month, Ottey also said she will compete at a meeting in Glasgow the weekend after the Celtic Cup.
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