Top names dominate women’s 400m heats
Three different women have dominated the 400m over the last three seasons and all three sailed through this morning’s heats at Helsinki’s Olympic stadium. Mexico’s Ana Guevara, Tonique Williams-Darling of the Bahamas and Sanya Richards of the United States all made impressive starts to their World Championships campaigns, winning their heats and clocking the fourth, third and second fastest times of the day respectively.
Guevara was unbeatable two years ago and ended the 2003 season as a world champion with 29 successive wins behind her. She began her title defence this morning just as the overnight downpour cleared and Finnish-blue skies crept out from behind the clouds.
It may not have been Mexican weather but Guevara was hot enough. Running in the outside lane of the first heat, she cruised through her opening race in 51.14. In complete control, she had time to look around at her opponents 50 metres from the line and jog home.
Guevara was followed across the line by Christine Amertil, the world indoor silver medallist from Bahamas. But it was another Bahaman who replaced Guevara as world number one last year. Williams-Darling pipped the Mexican to the Olympic title and won all the IAAF’s Golden League meetings in 2004.
The Bahamas runner has been in great form again this season and won heat four this morning in 51.04. Williams-Darling ran conservatively over the first 300m, but changed up a gear in the home straight to pull well clear of the field, with Russia’s Olesya Zykina in second.
This year number one status has passed to Richards, a former Jamaican who has benefited from switching coaches last November to Clyde Hart, the man who guided Michael Johnson and now steers the career of Jeremy Wariner, the men’s Olympic Champion.
Having won world and Olympic relay golds while still a teenager, Richards has taken one-lap running by storm in her first year on the senior circuit, running the quickest time in the world, 49.28, more than four tenths of a second faster than her nearest rival.
She didn’t need that sort of speed here, and ran a relaxed race to win heat five in 51.00 ahead of the 2001 World Champion Amy Mbacke Thiam of Senegal. That was the second fastest time of the round and looked extremely easy.
The quickest was set by Svetlana Pospelova who also looked very strong. The Russian strode through to the next round without trouble, winning heat three in 50.80, a full second outside her best time of the year.
The European indoor champion, Pospelova has been undefeated in 2005, clocking a sub-50 second time for the first time in her life at the Russian Championships. She looks capable of doing so again whenever it’s needed.
Pospelova’s compatriot Natalya Antyukh won the final heat in 51.38, ahead of USA’s Monique Henderson. Henderson is one of the five women who have broken 50 seconds this year and another of those, fellow-American Dee Dee Trotter, won the second heat in 51.44.
A time of 52.20 was needed to qualify for Monday’s semi-finals.
