HURDLES PREVIEW – IAAF / VTB Bank World Athletics Final

The sixth edition of the IAAF / VTB Bank World Athletics Final takes place in Stuttgart, Germany, on Saturday 13 and Sunday 14 September. We continue our event category previews with the HURDLES.

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The entry list of the IAAF / VTB Bank World Athletics Final (WAF) is decided according to the IAAF World Athletics Tour (WAT) Standings.

After the conclusion of the last qualifying meeting before the World Athletics Final, the 7 Athletes having the highest number of points with their best 5 results (4 for throws) will qualify for each event of the World Athletics Final. For the races of 1500m and over, 11 athletes will be qualified. The Athletes for the 8th and 12th (1500m and over) position will be invited at the discretion of the IAAF.

It is a condition that athletes have scored points in at least 3 meetings, and in the case of a tie for the qualification for the World Athletics Final, the Athlete with the best seasonal performance will be qualified. The IAAF will extend invitations, at its discretion, upon receipt of refusals or cancellations.

All qualified athletes are contacted to ascertain that they are fit and willing to compete. Not until those answers are received, wild card entries are decided, and the usual technical meeting is held on the day before the World Athletics Final, can the final start list be made available. Consequently, our previews are as accurate as possible before that time.

Click here for the IAAF World Athletics Tour Standings

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110m Hurdles

Simply put, freshly-minted Olympic champion Dayron Robles has largely redefined the 110m Hurdles in 2008. Since breaking the World record with a run of 12.87 seconds at the Golden Spike in Ostrava, Czech Republic, in June, the Cuban has run under the 13 second barrier in six other races in 2008, a single season record. At just 21, Robles is fast approaching 1996 Olympic champion Allen Johnson’s mark of 11 career sub-13 performances.

His first venture into sub-13 territory came at the WAF one year ago, with a sensational 12.92. Illustrating just how much Robles seems to enjoy the track at the Gottlieb Daimler Stadium it should be noted that his then-career best a year ago supplanted his previous personal best of 13.00 set on the same track the year before. In all, he’s produced the year’s four fastest times, and eight of the best 11.

Robles has lost just twice in 13 races this season, both to American champion David Oliver. The 26-year-old has been dueling with the world’s best for a few seasons, but 2008 proved to be a phenomenal breakthrough. Oliver joined the exclusive sub-13 club with a 12.95 scorcher in Doha, and went on to strike Olympic bronze. Oliver was victorious in Lausanne, the pair’s last head-to-head, but the overall season edge goes to the Cuban, 3-2. This face-off, which concludes the two-day meet on Sunday, may prove to be the finest head-to-head of the weekend.

The best of the other likely starters include Americans Antwon Hicks (13.09 this season), Anwar Moore (13.15), and Aries Merritt (13.24).

400m Hurdles

One of the most memorable comebacks of 2008 came in the powerful frame of Angelo Taylor. Eight years after his Olympic triumph from lane 1 in Sydney, the American, now 29, powered to his second Olympic crown with a personal best 47.25 to climb into the No. 9 spot all-time.

Third at the U.S. trials, Taylor peaked perfectly for Beijing, and illustrating slid form, he followed up with a convincing 48.07 victory in Zurich and cruised to a 44.38 season’s best in the 400 in Lausanne behind Olympic champion LaShawn Merritt.

Taylor led a U.S. podium sweep in Beijing and his compatriots, 2007 World champion Kerron Clement, and Bershawn Jackson, the 2005 World champion, are expected to challenge him here as well.

Clement has been the most consistent of the trio, winning six of his nine finals and finishing second in the rest.  He’s dipped under 48 seconds twice and arrives in Stuttgart on the heels of a solid and confident victory in Brussels.

Jackson, the U.S. trials winner and bronze medallist in Beijing, produced his finest season since 2005. He’s won half of his 10 races, and has had only one subpar outing, a seventh place showing in Zurich. Most recently, he was second in Gateshead.

Notable too is that all three are among history’s ten fastest.

Keep an eye out for Poland’s Olympic finalist Marek Plawgo, who followed up his World championships bronze a year ago with a surprise victory in Stuttgart. Likewise, Jamaican Danny McFarlane, fourth in Beijing, and African champion L.J. van Zyl, fifth at the Olympics, could pull off a surprise.

WOMEN

100m Hurdles

If anyone needs to be reminded just how precarious being a hurdler can be, they need to look no further than the ninth hurdle of the women’s 100m final in Beijing. Carrying a substantial lead, pre-race favourite Lolo Jones clipped the hurdle, nearly lost her balance, and hobbled across the line finishing seventh. A string of nine victories in 12 races in her Beijing build-up meant little when the sport’s biggest prize was on the line.

It was her American teammate Dawn Harper who crossed the line first in Beijing. Third at the U.S. trials, the 24-year-old peaked perfectly in Beijing propelled by a career best 12.54.

Both have had mixed performances post-Olympics, each winning one of three races, Jones in Zurich and Harper in Dubnica, Slovakia, on Sunday. Both will be eager to stamp their authority on the event in the season finale.

The field is also likely to include Olympic silver and bronze medalists Sally McLellan of Australia and Canadian Priscilla Lopes-Schliep. The pair each produced the finest seasons of their young careers, McLellan lowering the Oceania record to 12.53, and the Canadian running just a tick shy of her 12.60 PB.

Olympic finalist Delloreen Ennis-London of Jamaica has the best momentum at the moment, with victories in Lausanne and Brussels.

400m Hurdles

Twice a medallist at the World Junior championships, it hasn’t taken Melaine Walker long to make this event her own. A sensational 52.64 Olympic record propelled the 25-year-old to the No. 4 position of all-time, making her the event’s clear No. 1 at the moment.

Walker has dominated the event in 2008, winning all but one of her 12 races. Her only loss was her first, back in February in Sydney. Beginning the season with a 54.14 best, she made two substantial leaps, first to 53.48 in Monaco and then again in Beijing. She will be the woman to beat in Stuttgart.

American Sheena Tosta had a solid follow-up to her 2004 Olympic season, improving on that fourth place finish with silver in Beijing with a season’s best 53.58. She hasn’t raced since, and should arrive fresh in Stuttgart.

Briton Tasha Danvers pulled off a solid performance in Beijing as well, improving her career best to 53.84, her first sub-54 performance, to take Olympic bronze. She has performed well since, finishing third at both Gateshead and Lausanne, and second in Rieti behind Walker.

Others likely to compete this weekend include Ukraine’s Anastasiya Rabchenyuk (PB 53.96 this year), Anna Jesien (54.29) of Poland, and American Tiffany Williams (53.54), fourth, fifth and eighth respectively, in Beijing.

Bob Ramsak for the IAAF