IAAF Continental Cup - Almost $3 Million Up for Grabs for the World's Best Athletes

The inaugural Continental Cup takes place Saturday and Sunday in Split, Croatia. If you follow track & field athletes on Twitter, you've probably seen some Twitpics (such as this one) of the beautiful hotel and surrounding area they are inhabiting while competing in the final meet of the 2010 season. Life is rough, eh?

Not only is the view pretty nice, so is the prize money. Almost $3 million will be awarded, with $30,000 going to the winner of each individual event, and money being given out down to the 8th place athlete.

On top of that, there is a team competition, as they've split the world up into four groups: the Americas, Africa, Asia/Pacific and Europe. The top two competitors from each team score.

As a result, we will see some good match-ups even though some big names have decided to call it a season before September 1st.

You can watch the meet live at UniversalSports.com starting at (tentatively) 11:30am Eastern Saturday and Sunday mornings. You can also follow me on Twitter for updates and conversation.

Here are the events I'm going to avoid bathroom and food runs during Saturday morning:

• 11:30am ET - Men's 400m Hurdles, aka the Batman Show (as in Bershawn Jackson). Look for Batman and Javier Culson to take 1st and 2nd place for Team Americas.

• 12:05pm ET - Men's 5,000m. I wish we could watch Chris Solinsky compete one more time this year, but Bernard Lagat exercised his right to enter two events, as he is the #1 ranked US runner in both the 5,000m and 3,000m, and the meet only allows one entrant per country. American distance running is having a good year when you can run 12:56 twice and set the 10K American Record and not be the best in the US. So Solinsky can take his end-of-the year break while we watch Lagat go head-to-head with the best in the world. I'm excited, as Lagat has never been fitter in the 5K or 3K than he is right now.

• 12:30pm ET - Women's 800m. Well who doesn't like watching the 800m? There's always some jostling and possibility for drama, and often you don't know who's going to win until the final 10 meters. USA's Alysia Johnson has struggled to win in her most recent races, so I'd love to see her end her excellent 2010 season with a bang. Watch out for Kenia Sinclair who seems to be coming on strong in the last few weeks.

• 1:35pm ET - Men's 1500m. I want to see Leo Manzano finally outkick everyone like he used to all the time in college. He's been really close recently.

• 1:40pm ET - Women's Javelin. I have to be honest, I didn't watch the javelin much until this year. I credit Women Talk Sports member Kara Patterson with making it exciting this year, at least for the Americans. She set the American Record in Eugene two months ago and has since consistently placed in the top three at the major meets. I'd love to see her win in Split!

• 1:50pm ET - Women's 3,000m. I'm a distance runner, so I want to see the 3K. Plus I think American Shannon Rowbury has a chance to contend with the leaders, as the 3K has been her best event this year, despite the fact her claim to fame is winning the bronze in the 1500m at the 2009 World Championships.

Check back Saturday night/Sunday morning for my recap of Saturday and my don't-miss events for Sunday!

Also, I will be on TrackFocus.com's weekly podcast next week recapping the weekend's events. Check them out!

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• IAAF Continental Cup