Double World champion Justin Gatlin of the US (© Getty Images)
MonteCarloThe third edition of the IAAF World Athletics Final takes place in Monaco on Friday 9 and Saturday 10 September, while due to technical constraints within the Stade Louis II, the Hammer Throw competitions are today being contested in Szombathely, Hungary (Sat 3). In our final event category preview, we now focus on the SPRINTS.
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The start-list of the World Athletics Final is decided according to the IAAF World Rankings, with athletes who are in the top 7 positions (11 positions for the races of 1500m and over) in each event automatically qualifying.
The date upon which the IAAF Rankings are calculated with respect to the World Athletics Final, is after the final TDK Golden League meeting of the season in Berlin on Sunday 4 September.
Consequently, our previews are as accurate as possible given that no one can predict the results which might occur during the course of this week or if an athlete will be available or fit enough to compete.
Click here for the current IAAF World Rankings
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SPRINTS
Men’s 100m
A year ago, Justin Gatlin fulfilled the potential he showed in recent years when he won the finest Olympic 100 metre final ever. It was the only race he would win in 2004, a season dominated by Jamaican Asafa Powell. This year, the American reversed the tide completely, winning ten of his 12 races, usually in dominating fashion, including the World title with the largest victory margin ever. In Monaco, Gatlin will once again be the hunted.
After his early-season displays of phenomenal speed, Powell seemed to be heading towards the dominance that Gatlin has exhibited. After Powell’s stunning 9.77 World record in Athens, showdowns between the pair were the most anticipated races of the summer. Unfortunately, a groin injury knocked Powell out of several races, including the World Championships, and ultimately, ended his season prematurely. With his injury still not fully healed, Powell wisely decided to hang up his spikes for the year, and won’t be in Monaco to defend his double win from last year, leaving the door wide open for others to throw the best they have at Gatlin,
In the shadows behind the event’s big two was Ghanaian Aziz Zakari who pieced together his finest overall season. With a pair of personal best 9.99 clockings and wins in the Paris and Oslo legs of the TDK Golden League, Zakari emerged as a solid force this year.
Jamaican Michael Frater filled in for compatriot Powell admirably after dashing to a surprise silver medal finish in Helsinki. Prior to the World Championships, the former Texas Christian University star improved his personal best to 10.03, and followed up his Helsinki breakout with a fourth place finish in Zurich and a third place finish in Sheffield.
Kim Collins (SKN), the 2003 World champion, briefly departed from the radar screen prior to Helsinki only to respond with a solid bronze medal performance to show that he is still very much a big race threat.
Olympic silver medallist Francis Obikwelu (POR) couldn’t match his Athens finish in Helsinki - he was fourth - but has performed well this year and could be a threat to perhaps equal his runner-up finish from last year.
Men’s 200m
In Zurich, Gatlin hinted that he probably would not contest the 200m in Monaco, but if this remains the case his absence will not leave the event bereft of speed. In Helsinki, Gatlin led a 1-2-3-4 American sweep of the half lap, and those who chased him should all be present.
Helsinki silver medallist Wallace Spearmon was by far the fastest of the chasing pack, turning in three sub-20 second performances, including his world-leading 19.89 personal best in London, his last warm-up prior to the World Championships.
His former teammate at the University of Arkansas, Tyson Gay, assembled a solid season of his own, and will also be a threat. His 19.93 personal best from the semi-final of the NCAA championships was the second fastest dash of the year, a performance Gay backed up with a 19.99 in London three weeks before his fourth place finish in Helsinki.
After a few modest seasons, John Capel showed he wasn’t finished after his bronze medal run in Helsinki. Germany’s Tobias Unger is the European hope to break the American stranglehold on the event this year. After his 20.20 national record, Unger showed that on a good day, he could challenge the Americans for a podium spot in Monaco.
With the deepest pool of talent in the world, it was hardly surprising that American sprinters dominated the full lap as well this season, and several key players will cap their seasons in Monaco.
Men’s 400m
Jeremy Wariner followed up last year’s Olympic triumph admirably with his 43.93 win at the World Championships which despite the chilly and rainy conditions, was his first foray into sub-44 second territory. After a pair of minor early-season losses to training partner Darold Williamson, Wariner won all but one of his other ten competitions and will arrive on the Riviera as the solid favourite.
Another young sprinter to emerge this season was Canadian Tyler Christopher. Still just 21, Christopher lowered the national record on three occasions this year, his last, 44.44, coming in the Helsinki final where he finished third. With his Golden League win in Paris and runner-up finish in Zurich, Christopher proved himself to be a major power in the event.
While he has yet to claim a victory this season, 23-year-old Andrew Rock proved a strong competitor in virtually each of his outings this season, culminating in a silver medal in Helsinki with a personal best 44.35.
Also bringing solid 2005 credentials to Monaco is Bahamian Chris Brown, who finished fourth in Helsinki with a personal best 44.48 and a strong third place finish in Zurich.
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Women's 100m
Last year, Veronica Campbell sealed her coming out campaign with a double sprint win at the World Athletics Final, capping a season where the triple Olympic medallist emerged as the world’s premiere all-around sprinter. The young Jamaican has been nearly as good this season; but so has her primary competition, rendering her double defence an extremely difficult task.
Campbell won all but one of her seven contests in the 100, topped with her 10.85 personal best in Zürich where she narrowly defeated American Lauryn Williams. Her lone loss was at the hands of Williams in the Helsinki final, where yet again, the American finished a notch ahead of Campbell in the year’s main competition. But with a recent wind-assisted 10.89 win in Sheffield, Campbell may have momentum on her side. Last year, her 10.91 personal best came in her Monaco victory, a testament to her strong late-season form.
Unlike Campbell, Williams had an admittedly inconsistent pre-Helsinki campaign, but followed up her 10.93 Helsinki clocking with a 10.88 personal best in Zürich, also suggesting strong late-season preparedness.
But showing the young generation that the event isn’t quite their yet was European record holder Christine Arron of France and Bahamian Chandra Sturrup. In 11 finals, Arron dipped under 11 seconds five times, claimed victories in the first three TDK Golden League races, and took another win in her last outing in Brussels. Competing close to home, Arron will provide a serious challenge to both Campbell and Williams.
Despite finishing out of the medals in Helsinki, Sturrup has assembled a solid campaign, topped by her world-leading 10.84 national record in Lausanne. She’ll also have winning momentum on her side after her 11.01 win in Linz.
Women’s 200m
Campbell’s title defence will be perhaps an even more difficult task in the 200m. In Athens last year, the Jamaican beat American teenager Allyson Felix into second place. This season, Felix, still a teenager, ended Campbell’s win streak in the event in London just a few weeks before storming to the World title. Undefeated in eight competitions and the world leader after her 22.13 at the U.S. Championships, Felix will clearly be the woman to beat in Monaco.
Campbell couldn’t match her undefeated 2004 campaign in the 200m this season, and was a disappointing fourth in Helsinki. But she still showed consistency, and will be a fierce competitor in Monaco.
American Rachelle Boone-Smith pulled of a big surprise in Helsinki, where she finished second in 22.31. But that was not a one-off effort. At the U.S. championships, the former Indiana University star clocked a personal best 22.22 to finish runner-up to Felix.
As in the short dash, Christine Arron was a solid force in the 200m this year as well. Missing the Helsinki podium in the 100m, Arron bounced back in the 200m where she finished third with a season’s best 22.31. LaTasha Colander, third at the U.S championships after a personal best 22.34, reached the Helsinki final, where she finished fifth.
Women’s 400m
Another key face-to-face battle in Monaco will come in the 400m, where Bahamian Tonique Williams-Darling, the reigning Olympic champion, and rising American star Sanya Richards will go head to head for the sixth time this year. The young American won three of the five meetings, but lost the one that mattered most: Helsinki.
But Richards bounced back with a vengeance in Zürich with her 48.92 win, one that propelled the 20-year-old into the event’s all-time top-ten list. In the Swiss race, she won by a massive 38 one-hundredths of a second; two days later, she again defeated Williams-Darling with her eighth sub-50 second run of the year, this time by 28 one-hundredths. Like her occasional training partner Jeremy Wariner in the men’s race, Richards looks to be the favourite.
But Williams-Darling, who ended Mexican Ana Guevara’s reign in the event last season, will not let the American end hers that easily. The Bahamian has six sub-50 clockings to her credit and did show her ability to win when it mattered most.
Guevara showed that she’s not quite ready to exit the event’s top end after saving her best for Helsinki, where she finished third.
Others battling for podium finishes will include Americans DeeDee Trotter and Monique Hennagan, as well as Russians Svetlana Pospelova and Olesya Zykina.
Bob Ramsak for the IAAF
