Jelimo hits jackpot, Bolt wins in Brussels

Barely two weeks after winning her first major global race at the Beijing Olympics, Pamela Jelimo will be out again to prove her prowess in the 800m in the penultimate race towards the Sh67 million jackpot at the Zurich Golden League on Friday night.Also on parade will be Usain Bolt, the Jamaican who dominated the sprints on the super-fast track of the Bird's Nest Stadium in Bejing, winning three Olympic gold medals and setting fabulous World records in the 100m, 200m and 4x100m relay.

The Zurich meeting has gathered 38 Olympic medallists, among them 14 winners and 50 finalists from Bejing Games, for what meeting director Patrick Magyar calls "the Olympic Games in one night".

The six meeting quest to claim the $1 million jackpot reaches its penultimate fixture tonight and only two athletes remain in the hunt for the perfect series of six victories, which is required to at least have a share of the prize. Jelimo, 18 and Croatian high jumper Blanka Vlasic, 24 are the only candidates still in the chase.

While Jelimo remained strong to win the gold in Beijing in her seventh race in the two lap event, Vlasic was not lucky enough as she had to settle for silver.

Lucrative league

Tia Hellebaut of Belgium edged her out jumping 2.05m. Though both had the same jump, Vlasic struggled and her statistics were weak on the count back.

The world famous Zurich Golden League, is the first of two remaining events which follow the conclusion of the athletics events of the Olympics Games. The other four meetings were held in Berlin, Oslo, Rome and Paris.

Jelimo surprised the world when she ran a fast race in Hengole Grand Prix a week before the start of the Golden League in Berlin.

This prompted the organisers to give her a wild berth to compete in the lucrative League and she has not disappointed.

She ran a record 1:54.99 which was then a World Junior record a week later she clocked 1:55.41 in Oslo, was unstoppable in Rome as she registered a time of 1:55.69 and lowered her personal best in Paris to 1:54.87 before heading to Beijing.

In winning the gold, Jelimo clocked 1:54.87 ahead of World champion Janeth Jepkosgei who took silver in 1:56.07.

On the other hand, Vlasic jumped 2:03m in Berlin; 2.04m in Oslo and 2.00m in Rome.