By Kang Seung-woo
Staff Reporter
A truckload of athletic superstars will compete in the Daegu Athletics Meeting, which will be held Wednesday at the Daegu World Cup Stadium.
According to the city, Osaka World Championship gold medallists Tyson Gay of the United States and Russian long jumper Tatyana Lebedeva will show off their world top-level prowess before Daegu citizens unfamiliar with their superior skills.
The 25-year-old American picked up three gold medals in Osaka, Japan, while the Russian topped the women's long jump with a 7.03-meter leap.
In addition, China's gold medal hurdler Liu Xiang and Russian star pole vaulter Yelena Isinbayeva will add excitement to a place that will host the 2011 World Championships.
World Championships 200-meter bronze medallist Wallace Spearmon and 100 silver medal winner Lauryn Williams will not forget to race in Daegu for the second straight meet.
The Daegu Meeting, an annual competition established in 2005, will feature 16 events _ eight for men and women alike _ 50 athletes ranked in the top 30, and 50 who are in the top 50 in the International Associations of Athletics Federations (IAAF) standings.
It is Gay that stands out among participants.
He hit the sprint treble by capturing 100 and 200 gold medals along with one in the 400 relay to become the first sprinter to reach that feat at a world championship meet since compatriot Maurice Greene achieved it in 1999.
His winning times in Osaka of 9.85 seconds in the 100 and 19.76 in the 200 are comparable to those of legend Carl Lewis, who also completed the treble through the 1983 and 1987 championships. Lewis' personal bests are 9.86 in the 100 and 19.75 in the 200.
What's attracting fans is seeing whether Gay will finish the 100 in less than 10 seconds. Since the Seoul Olympics in 1988 when Lewis won a gold medal with the record of 9.92 seconds, no one has recorded a 9-second dash in Korea.