JJ Johnson in the 200m heats (© Getty Images)
By any measure, it hasn't been a good week for the USA men's sprint corps. With former World Champion Maurice Greene injured, Jon Drummond's withdrawal from competition, Tim Montgomery's quick disappearance from Paris, and being shut out of the 100m medals for only the second time at a World Championships, one might think that that Team USA's dash troops might be feeling a bit demoralised.
But according to the 200m trio of John Capel, Darvis Patton, and J.J. Johnson, nothing could be further from the truth.
We're all ready," said Capel after his relaxed 20.30 win in his quarter-final race yesterday. "The US guys are ready and focused. I think we're stronger as a team now than we were when we got here. Because we've been through the problems, and we've been through the tears, and we've seen the falls. We're closer now. We're not individual people going out in their own directions."
"Last night, I couldn't believe it when Chryste Gaines made everybody shut up so the 200 guys could get some sleep," said Capel, a 200m finalist in the Sydney Olympics, whose 19.85 PB run that year ranks him among the 10 fastest ever in the half lap. "That's what team sports is about. When everybody else is looking at you saying, we need you to compete. We're a stronger American team than we've ever been."
Darvis Patton, this year's national champion who lowered his PB to 20.14 in Lausanne in July, echoed Capel's sentiments.
"Oh yeah, we got a couple [sprinters] left," Patton said, after his easy 20.40 win in his quarter-final. Patton's 20.27 was the fastest time in the morning's opening round. Patton also ran a PB 10.00 in Zurich 13 days ago, and said he's well-prepared not only for today's semi-final and tomorrow's final, but for the weekend's relay as well.
"I don't get worn out," he said.
J.J. Johnson, who finished comfortably in his quarter-final in 20.22, had a take similar to Patton's.
"The 100 metres guys aren't the only fast guys in the world," said Johnson, who has clocked 10.05 and 20.05 this season and has a 19.88 PB from 2001.
But at the same time, they're not being boastful.
"This race is wide open. Anyone can win it, Johnson added.
"Not only wide open, but exciting as well," said Capel, who joined the sub-10 club after his 9.97 in Zurich.
"Did you see those times they were posting?," he said after the quarter-finals. "That makes your adrenaline get going. It's making for a wild world championships. They said this was going to be a boring world championships. Boy were they wrong."
