By Anthony Foster, Freelance Writer

THE 'BEST of the Best' athletes will be on show at this weekend's two-day International Amateur Athletics Federation (IAAF) World Athletics Final in Monaco and 14 Jamaicans are listed among those qualified to compete.

Olympic 200 metres champion Veronica Campbell and Jamaica's fastest man, Asafa Powell, head the list of Jamaicans set to line up among the best athletes worldwide for the second World Athletics Final on Saturday and Sunday.

The top seven athletes in each event (top 11 in distances of 1500m and over) are invited to take part in the competition, which features the best of the best.

Both Campbell and Powell are listed for the 100m and 200m sprints. However, while Campbell, seventh ranked in the 100m had automatically qualified for both sprints, No. 10 ranked Powell got into the 200m field because of the withdrawals of Olympics champions Shawn Crawford (200m) and Justin Gatlin (100m).

LEADS IN 200M

Campbell, who leads competitors in the 200m with 1,317 points, will be joined by fellow countrywoman and former Vere High School teammate Aleen Bailey in that event. They will face-off with Bahamian Debbie Ferguson, Cydonie Mothersill of the Cayman Islands, Kim Gevaert of Belgium and Ivet Lalova of Bulgaria.

In the 100m, Campbell, who secured bronze in the event in Athens, will again have Bailey, Lalova and Ferguson to contend with. Jamaica's second fastest woman this season, Sherone Simpson, will also line-up in the field, which includes Olympics silver medallist Lauryn Williams and U.S. champion LaTasha Colander.

Powell, who recently lowered his personal best and the national record for the 100m to 9.87, is the lone Jamaican qualifier for the 100m. He will face Olympic silver medallist Francis Obikwelu of Portugal, world champion Kim Collins of St. Kitts and Nevis and American John Capel, among others.

In the 200m, if Powell chooses to run, he will have last year's winner Joshua Johnson of the U.S., Namibian Frank Fredericks, American Bernard Williams, who was the 100m winner last season, Olympics finalist Stephan Buckland of Mauritius and Obikwelu to compete with.

Other Jamaicans who have qualified for the two-day event are No. 5 ranked Michael Blackwood (1,306) and Davian Clarke (1,308), who is listed at six, in the men's 400m.

National 400m champion Brandon Simpson (1,290 points), who is eighth ranked, also got in with the withdrawal of American and Olympic champion Jeremy Wariner.

The field will also include world champion Alleyne Francique of Grenada and Americans Derrick Brew and Otis Harris.

National 400m hurdles champion Danny McFarlane, who dropped one place to fourth with 1,342 points, and Kemel Thompson, who moved up one place to sixth with 1,325 points, are in the 400m hurdles. They will face Olympic bronze medallist Naman Keita of France, the United States' James Carter and Bayano Kamani of Panama.

Maurice Wignall is the lone Jamaican in the men's 110m hurdles and can anticipate a hard fight. Defending champion Allen Johnson of America and Terrence Trammell, the Olympics silver medallist, are also down to compete.

Delloreen Ennis-London (1324) and Lacena Golding-Clarke will carry Jamaica's flag in the women's sprint hurdles. However, things will be difficult for them as Olympic champion American Joanna Hayes, world champion and top hurdler Canadian Perdita Felicien, Spain's Glory Alozie and Melissa Morrison of the U.S. are listed in what must be the strongest field this weekend.

Long jumper James Beckford will be trying to improve on his Olympics fourth-place finish when he faces Americans Dwight Phillips and John Moffitt, who won gold and silver respectively. Triple jumper Trecia Smith, who finished fourth at the Olympics, will battle with all the medallists in Athens, champion Francoise Mbango Etone of Cameroon, silver medallist Hrysopiyi Devetzi of Greece and Russian Tatyana Lebedeva.

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