Angela Williams edges ahead of Jeanette Kwakye to win the IAAF World Indoor 60m title (© Getty Images)
With some strong momentum on their side, U.S. sprinter Angela Williams and Kim Collins from St. Kitts will be among the key attractions for 2nd Ponce Grand Prix in Ponce, Puerto Rico, on 17 May.
The Ponce Grand Prix is one of a select group of Area meetings at which points can be acquired by athletes to qualify for the IAAF / VTB Bank World Athletics Final, to be held on 13-14 September in Stuttgart.
Both Williams, 28, and Collins, 32, signaled strong comebacks at the World Indoor Championships last month with Williams taking the gold in the 60m and Collins the joint-silver in the equivalent men's dash.
Bouncing back from a long series of injury setbacks that nearly ended her career, Williams stormed to the global title, clocking a world leading 7.06 seconds, a personal best for the 28-year-old that finally eclipsed her previous best of 7.09 which propelled her to the silver medal at the 2001 World Indoor Championships.
"This is just confirmation, when you keep working hard, stuff comes back to you," Williams said after her victory in Valencia. "I just had to be patient. I knew my time would come."
A prodigy as a California high schooler, Williams set a US junior record of 11.04 in the 100m in 1999, and later went on to make history in 2002 when she became the first, and only woman, to win four consecutive NCAA 100m titles.
But her professional career has been marred by injury, including shin fractures and a torn hamstring. With victories in seven of her eight outings, the 2008 indoor season indicated a solid comeback. Her expectations for the Olympic Games?
"I expect to win."
Collins, the 2003 World 100m champion and bronze medallist in 2005, also produced a notable indoor campaign this season, his first in three years. Personal and physical setbacks stalled his career over the past few years, but the thought of calling it quits never crossed the sprinter's mind.
"Most people told me, 'You just have to quit and go home,'" Collins said. "But I'm not a quitter. This is what I love to do. For me to quit, I might as well be dead."
"I've been having a couple bad years, and people were saying, 'He's done, he's done.' But you can't give up."
A fierce competitor, Collins has his eyes firmly focused on Beijing where he expects to be a medal contender.
"I have one goal this year: To be on the podium again in Beijing. I don't care what colour it is, but I need to be on the podium."
"All of us are beatable," he said. "You just have to find out a way to get in their head. And some people always have bad days. So if you have a bad day on the final in Beijing, too bad for you."
The men's 100m field will also include Pan Am Games 200m gold medal and 100m bronze medal winner Brendan Christian from Antigua and World Junior silver medallist Keston Bledman from Trinidad.
In the women's 100m, Williams is set to face Bahamian veteran Chandra Sturrup.
Strong fields are also being assembled in the Long Jump. Olympic champion Dwight Phillips headlines the men's contest, where he'll face fellow American Brian Johnson, Commonealth Games bronze medalist Fabrice Lapierre of Australia and Triple Jump specialist Arik Wilson.
On the women's side, world Leader Funmi Jimoh (6.91) of the United States will be the headline the event. She'll be joined by Jamaican Elva Goulbourne, a former Commonwealth champion.
Bob Ramsak for the IAAF
