Rachelle Boone-Smith burst onto the national scene with her impressive showing at the U.S. national championships last June, it wasn’t until her strong come-from-behind World silver medal winning dash in the 200m in Helsinki last summer that she finally exploded onto the international scene.

World Silver on first attempt

“It was my first outdoor World Championships,” said the 24-year-old Virginia native, who was a semi-finalist in the event at the 2004 World Indoor Championships. “I just wanted to go in and perform well. I was nervous on the last day, but I ended up running good. I was pleased with the results.”

The result was a 22.31 performance, a notable effort in the cool conditions that defined last summer’s World Championships. She finished second to compatriot Allyson Felix, but propelled by her strong closing surge she edged Christine Arron for silver, who was credited with the same time.

“Yeah, it was actually faster than I thought it was going to be,” Boone-Smith recalls. “The weather was cool, and for the final we were lucky that it didn’t rain. But after awhile we got used to it.”

Now, Boone-Smith, who is the IAAF World Ranked number two athlete for the event hopes that we’ll get used to seeing her as a podium contender in major competitions.

Youngest of ten children

A standout on the collegiate scene while at Indiana University, Boone-Smith was already making headlines locally in Norfolk as a bright-eyed 15-year-old just a few months after putting on spikes for the first time. The youngest of ten children, she was the only member of her family to pursue sport.

While at Norfolk’s Washington High School, she earned All-America honours in the 100m and 200m as a sophomore, and finished runner-up in both sprints as a senior. Her impact was immediate at Indiana. In 2000, she was runner-up in both dashes at the Big-10 Conference championships, and improved her bests to 11.39 and 23.37. Steady improvement followed the following year when she claimed the sprint double at the Big-10 and improved to 11.33 and 23.29.

While her performances stagnated slightly in 2002, she reached the 200m final at the U.S. Championships, finishing fifth. 2003 saw her continue to chip away at her personal bests, clocking 11.22 and 22.87, and finishing fourth in both dashes at the NCAA championships, her final year among the collegiate ranks.

Short term upset

There was never any doubt that she would continue her athletic career after finishing up at Indiana, and there was little doubt in her mind that an Olympic spot for the Athens squad could be hers.

“I knew I was going to continue to run,” she said, “and my goal was to make the team in the 200.” She finished fifth in Sacramento, again lowering her personal best to 22.69, and says her disappointment didn’t last too long.

“Looking back, that’s the way it was supposed to be,” she said. “At the time I was disappointed, but it was a good experience.”

Coach-husband

Along with husband and coach Quez, “It’s been fine,” she says, with a slight chuckle, describing their mentor-pupil relationship, the Smiths modified their off-season regimen in the build-up to 2005, an alteration that paid significant dividends.

“We did a lot more mileage during the off-season, something we look forward to doing again this year. And my lifting has changed this year. We don’t lift as much as in the past.”

The improvement on the track came swiftly, with a pair of personal bests before the end of May. In the 200, she lowered her best to 22.53 in just her fourth half-lap race of the year, while at the same time nabbing her first international win at the Banamex meeting in Hermosillo, Mexico, where she also won the short dash in 11.31. Two weeks earlier, she improved her personal best in the 100 to 11.21.

Her speed work continued with a pair of 100m races, an 11.23 at the Jordan invitational and an 11.32 in Villeneuve d'Ascq, where she finished runner-up in both.

Nearly took 100m Helsinki team spot too

She didn’t race again until the national championships in Carson, where, still a relative newcomer, she nearly left with a pair of U.S team berths.

In the 100m, admittedly her weaker event –“The 100 is just a little too short for me sometimes,” she says - she coasted to a wind-assisted 11.02 win in the semi-finals. While the wind – a barely illegal +2.1 - obviously helped, Boone-Smith showed that she arrived very well prepared. She came up just inches short in the final, where she finished fourth, only .02 behind eventual World champion Lauryn Williams.

In the 200m, she equalled her 22.53 in the first round and improved to 22.41 in the second before blasting to a 22.22 in the final, finishing second to Felix. Suddenly, she was the second fastest woman in the world that season.

“After looking at the rounds,” she said, “we decided to change some things for the final. I think the time might have been faster had I been in better position coming in off the curve. But we only had the time to try it once. We changed the style of the race. Coming in off the curve I was I think in fourth or fifth, and I made my move in the last 50. That was something we talked about, and I think I didn’t execute like I wanted to.”

Quickly adapted to international scene

Later, at Rome’s Golden Gala, she lowered her 100 PB to 11.17, and had one last pre-Helsinki tune-up at Oslo’s Bislett Games, where she finished fourth in 11.23.

Adjusting to her first international season wasn’t nearly as difficult as she expected, Boone-Smith said.

“It was easier than I heard it was going to be. It was a lot of traveling during June and July, but I don’t think it affected my running at all.”

For success in the 200m, Smith believes a strong balance is crucial, and for the moment, sees no need to focus on any particular part of her race.

“I think to run and win and run fast times you have to be strong on both the curve and the straights. And I think my strengths are split fairly evenly.”

Her 2006 plans have yet to be ironed out, but she does hope to run at least “a couple of meets” indoors. With her main event no longer on the World championship timetable, the more difficult 60m remains her only option, one she’s not immediately discounting.

Looking further ahead, are there any particular time goals on the Smiths’ chalkboard for 2006?

“Nothing specific,” she said. “Just faster than last year.”

Bob Ramsak for the IAAF