A look ahead to this weekend’s IAAF Continental Cup action in Marrakech

Many athletes might have already ended their seasons but for others there is an important weekend of track and field action to be had as the IAAF Continental Cup returns and athletes from four teams - Americas, Africa, Asia-Pacific and Europe – battle it out in Marrakech, Morocco.

As well as victory, athletes will be competing for a share of the US$2,900,000 prize money up for grabs (a breakdown for which can be found here).

The Americas team will be defending the title it won in Split, Croatia, four years ago*, while each team features its fair share of world-class athletes.

A total of 30 recently-crowned European champions are set to compete, with the European Championships in Zurich having been used as the basis for team selection.

Among them are Sandra Perkovic in the discus, Renaud Lavillenie in the pole vault, Bohdan Bonzarenko in the high jump and David Storl in the shot put, while Christophe Lemaitre is the only European athlete defending his title from Split as he goes in the 100m.

European champion James Dasaolu will line up in the 100m alongside Lemaitre, the Frenchman also doubling up to take on the 200m, with Dasaolu one of seven British athletes filling individual spots on the team.

The others are Martyn Rooney in the 400m, Lynsey Sharp in the 800m, Jo Pavey in the 5000m, Will Sharman and Tiffany Porter in the sprint hurdles and Eilidh Child in the 400m hurdles, while Conrad Williams joins Rooney, Jakub Krzewina and Donald Sanford on the 4x400m team.

The British quartet that combined to break the national 4x100m record in Zurich at the end of August – Asha Philip, Ashleigh Nelson, Anyika Onuora and Desiree Henry will come together once again, while an all-British team featuring James Ellington, Richard Kilty, Harry Aikines-Aryeetey and Danny Talbot will also contest the men s event.

For the Americas, 39-year-old Bernard Lagat will go in the 3000m as he tries to maintain his unbeaten record in the competition. He won the 3000m and 5000m in Split and the 1500m in the 2002 World Cup, the predecessor of this event. He will be joined by the likes of world triple jump champion Caterine Ibarguen and Olympic javelin champion Keshorn Walcott.

Nijel Amos and Mohammed Aman will star in the 800m for the Africa team, while world 5000m No.1 Caleb Ndiku and Genzebe Dibaba go in the 3000m events. Commonwealth champions Ese Brume and Julius Yego will contest the women’s long jump and men’s javelin respectively.

The Asia-Pacific team will be spearheaded by defending shot put champion Valerie Adams, while Mutaz Essa Barshim will be hoping for full points in a top-class high jump. Commonwealth javelin champion Kim Mickle is also in action, as is Commonwealth 5000m bronze medallist Zane Robertson.

Links to team lists, as published on the IAAF website, can be found here.

*Europe were initially declared winners in Split, but subsequent drugs disqualifications for Andrei Mikhnevich and Alemitu Bekele led to a revised score and an Americas win by 5.5 points.

See the September 11 edition of Athletics Weekly magazine for a more in-depth preview together with team lists

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