2002 – Hurdles Review

Renowned track and field statisticians, A. Lennart Julin and Mirko Jalava continue their end of season review, with the 2002 competitive highlights of the hurdling disciplines.

MEN – Hurdles

110m Hurdles
In the 110m Hurdles the ”old guard” of Anier Garcia (CUB), Allen Johnson (USA) and Colin Jackson (GBR) maintained their grip. Jackson made what reportedly would be the very last outdoor campaign of an brilliant international career, which had begun in the mid-1980’s. His 35 years only showed up in a slight lack of consistency - in his best meets Jackson looked almost as good as ever, e.g. when running 13.11 in the not very favourable Munich weather, to clinch his fourth straight European title.

Johnson started off his year looking set for the sub-13 territory during the peak of the summer, but instead his form fell off toward the end: Seven sub-13.20 clockings until mid-July, none thereafter. So Garcia winning 15 out of 19 meets and amassing five marks below 13.15, turned out to be the most consistent force.

The main challenges to the top-3 came from athletes who were far from being newcomers themselves in the high hurdles elite: American’s Larry Wade and Terrence Trammell and Latvia’s Stanislav Olijar have all been around for a few years. Actually there is a conspicuous shortage of fresh new names: Only one of the 24 runners below 13.45 was under 23-years-old.

However, that exception - China’s Liu Xiang - was just 19 and his 13.12 in Lausanne surpassed by a considerable margin the world junior record of 13.23, set five years before Liu was born, by USA’s Renaldo Nehemiah. Liu didn’t have any more races on quite a similar level but a handful of contests around 13.30 is still quite impressive, and signals that already next year, he ought to be a force to be reckoned with at the World Championships.

110m Hurdles - IAAF WORLD RANKINGS - as of 17 Dec 2002
Position - Name - DOB - Country - Points 

1. Anier GARCIA 76 CUB 1401
2. Allen JOHNSON 71 USA 1368
3. Colin JACKSON 67 GBR 1353
4. Larry WADE 74 USA 1348
5. Stanislavs OLIJARS 79 LAT 1326
6. Terrance TRAMMELL 78 USA 1325
7. Xiang LIU 83 CHN 1306
8. Shaun BOWNES 70 RSA 1304
9. Duane ROSS 72 USA 1271
9. Dawane WALLACE 76 USA 1271
 

400m Hurdles
Félix Sanchez (DOM) had nine meets, nine victories and a 47.94 average, a seasonal record that few runners have been able to match or surpass in the history of 400m Hurdles. Behind the undisputed No. 1, France’s Stéphane Diagana and America’s James Carter dipped down to one 47.5-time each to separate themselves from the twelve runners tightly bunched in the low 48’s.

Rickey Harris, who restricted himself to competing against - and dominating - the collegiate opposition, appears to be the best USA prospect for the near future together with Carter, in an event where the Americans seem to have, at least temporarily lost their traditional leading position. A brilliant World Juniors final seemed to confirm this: Despite running 49.38, the 18-years-old American, Kenneth Ferguson lost by half a second to the one year younger South African, Louis Van Zyl! 

400m Hurdles - IAAF WORLD RANKINGS - as of 17 Dec 2002
Position - Name - DOB - Country - Points 

1. Felix SÁNCHEZ 77 DOM 1414
2. Stéphane DIAGANA 69 FRA 1375
3. James CARTER 78 USA 1365
4. Hadi Soua'an AL SOMALIY 76 KSA 1340
5. Joey WOODY 73 USA 1327
6. Fabrizio MORI 69 ITA 1326
7. Eric THOMAS 73 USA 1323
8. Christopher RAWLINSON 72 GBR 1316
9. Jiøí MUŽIK 76 CZE 1297
10. Mubarak Faraj AL NUBI 77 QAT 1295

WOMEN - Hurdles

100m Hurdles
This season produced another series of fine performances for the USA’s Gail Devers. The 35-year-old Devers, even bettered her personal best by running 12.29 at Eugene in May, but the wind from behind was too strong at +2.7 m/s. The American veteran suffered three losses during the season, including two in the Golden League, but she was still in very good form. Devers’ 10th best wind legal performance was 12.56 and the average of those 12.491 – was exactly the same mark with Brigitte Foster’s second place on the world lists.

The Women’s 100m hurdles was one of the events most affected by the lack of a major global championship this season. Although some fast times were made in Grand Prix meets, there was no real competition in those. Also, despite the fact that many Europeans can be found at the top of the world lists, the European Championships themselves offered nothing special by way of times.

However, for the first time in years, the World Junior record was in jeopardy, as Anay Tejeda (CUB) had a great season. Tejeda went six times under 13 seconds, and not even the World Junior record holder, (former Cuban) Aliuska López of Spain was able to match this achievement.

Overall, the depth was better than last year, with 40 women going under 13 seconds, as opposed to only 34 in 2001 – of course the Olympic year of 2000 was better (as most Olympic years are) with 47 athletes under 13.00.

100m Hurdles - IAAF WORLD RANKINGS - as of 17 Dec 2002
Position - Name - DOB - Country - Points 

1. Gail DEVERS 66 USA 1400
2. Brigitte Ann FOSTER 74 JAM 1364
3. Glory ALOZIE 77 ESP 1355
4. Anjanette KIRKLAND 74 USA 1354
5. Jenny ADAMS 78 USA 1308
6. Miesha MCKELVY 76 USA 1304
7. Lacena GOLDING-CLARKE 75 JAM 1302
8. Patricia GIRARD 68 FRA 1293
9. Olena KRASOVSKA 76 UKR 1291
10. Melissa MORRISON 71 USA 1286 
 
400m Hurdles
The one lap event suffered even more than the sprint hurdles from the lack of worldwide championships. Yuliya Pechonkina (RUS) was the clear number one in the world lists, but she only competed four times in June and then once in September at the IAAF World Cup and so missed the European Championships in Munich.

As evidence that 2002 was an extremely low standard season, Pechonkina was the only person who could manage a sub-54 second time, where as last year there were six women under this limit.

Most promising in 400m hurdles was Australia’s former World Junior record holder Jana Pittman. She bettered her personal best with a good run in the Commonwealth Games heats at Manchester, with her time of 54.14 good enough for second spot in 2002 world lists.

The World Junior record was broken for the second year in a row. Lashinda Demus (USA), a freshmen from University of South Carolina, first won the NCAA Championships in a new record of 54.85, and then bettered her own mark when winning the World Junior gold in Kingston with 54.70.

The overall depth of the event declined, as 56.00 seconds was achieved by only 26 athletes. In 2001, there were 33 and in 2000, 43 athletes who made this level of performance.

400m Hurdles - IAAF WORLD RANKINGS - as of 17 Dec 2002
Position - Name - DOB - Country - Points 

1. Yulia NOSOVA-PECHONKINA 78 RUS 1329
2. Sandra CUMMINGS-GLOVER 68 USA 1298
3. Jana PITTMAN 82 AUS 1295
4. Ionela ŢIRLEA 76 ROM 1288
5. Natalya TORSHINA 68 KAZ 1269
5. Debbie-Ann PARRIS 73 JAM 1269
7. Daimi PERNIA 76 CUB 1268
8. Deon HEMMINGS 68 JAM 1266
9. Tetyana TERESHCHUK-ANTIPOVA 69 UKR 1250
10. Anna OLICHWIERCZUK 78 POL 1236