Morning links for breakfast (August 17th)...

Ok, folks, here are the morning links!

First off is an interview with javelin thrower Kara Patterson in advance of Thursday's Samsung Diamond League stop in Zurich.

The Vancouver native, who attended Skyview High School, has a real shot at taking home the Diamond Race Trophy (left/photo courtesy IAAF) if she can pull off a victory at the Weltklasse meeting at Letzigrund Stadium. For her to claim the trophy, she will have to win and hope that Samsung Diamond League javelin leader Barbora Spotakova finishes out of the top three places.

Entering the Weltklasse meet, Spotakova leads the Diamond Race with 16 points, while Patterson has 10. If Patterson wins, and Spotakova finishes third (the Zurich meet, which is the final meet of the seven meets in the Samsung Diamond League that offers the women's javelin, and offers double points towards the Diamond Trophy), Spotakova holds the tiebreaker, and would claim the trophy and the $40000 prize as she has three wins this season in Diamond League meets--Rome, Monaco, and London.

Revisiting the Aviva London Grand Prix meet, in which Patterson fell nine centimeters short of victory, she told Joe Battaglia, "It was a little frustrating and I am beginning to expect more of myself than I ever have before in terms of winning those big meets. One of those training and competition goals I set with Dr. (Ross) Flowers (USOC sports psychologist and former Garfield HS and UCLA hurdler) earlier this year was to get Top 3 in all of the Diamond League meets that I entered, and so far I have done that. I don't know that at the beginning of the year when I set that goal that it was really realistic, but now that I'm there it's exciting to know that I still have an outside chance at winning the whole thing. In London, I was more frustrated by the fact that I couldn't pass Barbora Spotakova even though she took one throw and stopped. When the door is kind of wide open like that, it's really up to me to throw a little farther."

To read the entire interview, please click here…

Next up is an announcement that the 2011 USA Cross Country Championships will be held on February 5th in San Diego at Mission Bay Park.

“We’re happy to have the championships back here in San Diego,” said Thom Hunt (left, with Shalane Flanagan/photo by Paul Merca) who serves as event co-director along with Paul Greer. “Anybody you talk to who was here in 2008—whether it was an athlete or a spectator—will also be glad that we have it back. The running community of San Diego is looking forward to hosting this event again in 2011.”

You can read the release here…

Finally, if you missed Tuesday night's Shaq vs. Tyson Gay race, here's the link to watch it...enjoy!

A preview of Washington athletes, including Patterson, will be up later today.