Liu Xiang en route to his first world title (© Getty Images)
MonteCarloThe Hurdling highlights of 2007. Renowned statisticians A. Lennart Julin and Mirko Jalava continue their end of season event category reviews - Part Four of eight installments - the HURDLES.
MEN - Hurdles
110m Hurdles
That one nation dominates an event like the USA does in the 110m Hurdles - seven of the top-9 on the World list - is of course extraordinary but not unique. But that the two positions such a dominating nation are missing happen to be No 1 and 2 could very well be something truly unique.
The current USA depth is absolutely amazing but at the same time it seems that – judging from the win-loss records – this group consists of runners that all could beat all the others on a given day. But at the same time they appeared almost incapable of defeating both China's Liu Xiang or Cuba's Dayron Robles.
Liu Xiang dominated the season up to and including the World Championships dipping under 13.00 both in New York in early June and in the Osaka final in late August as well as winning convincingly the most prestigious race on the Grand Prix circuit – Lausanne – in 13.01 in freezing cold.
Robles didn't find his top form until after Osaka (4th with more than a metre up to the bronze position) but then in the last part of season he was extremely impressive: Winning all six meets including 13.05 in torrential downpour in Linz, 12.92 in the World Athletic Final and 13.01 on Liu Xiang's home-turf in Shanghai.
Both runners are extraordinary technicians in their best races very seldom even touching any hurdle, Robles having his strength over the hurdles while Liu Xiang's "secret weapon" is his absolutely outstanding run-in from the tenth hurdle. If they manage to stay healthy everything points to them having an absolutely enthralling duel for the Olympic gold in 2008.
But of course injuries can always make all such forecasts moot. Remember that just two years ago it was France's Ladji Doucouré that appeared to have taking hold of the event running sub-13 and winning the world title. But since then injuries have made him fight so far unsuccessfully to reclaim that 2005 form. But still only 24 he could very well recapture his former capacity and if he does that for 2008 he must also be considered as legitimate Olympic champion prospect.
The Olympics lure also has a tradition of rejuvenating US athletes and although they will turn 35 and 37 respectively in 2008 one would be very unwise to completely write off the two fastest Americans of all-time Dominique Arnold (12.90 in 2006) and Allen Johnson (12.92 in 1996 and 12.96 in 2006). (Note: Roger Kingdom has also run 12.92 but at age 45 he is retired.)
In general depth 2007 was a very good year historically with for the first time ever ten runners dipping under 13.20 in the same year and with marks at 25th (13.36), 50th (13.55) and 100th (13.71) position also at – or very close to – all-time highs.
110m Hurdles - 2007 World List
400m Hurdles
This is an event which appears to have stagnated in recent years with some 20-25 runners sub-49 each year but just a few (or even a couple) of times sub-48. Not since Felix Sanchez in the period 2001-2004 has there been a runner showing the capacity to dip under 48 "whenever needed".
Neither 2005 World champion Bershawn Jackson nor 2007 World champion Kerron Clement have yet acquired the necessary consistency and reliability. The physical potential is certainly there but at the same time one can't avoid the feeling that it is only in every other race they manage to avoid serious technical errors (stumbling/falling).
The consistent US runner is James Carter that in 2007 put together no less than eight races at 48.22-48.40. But the 47.72 when winning the US Trials (ahead of Clement) was the only time he managed to break out of that "box", and in Osaka Carter had to settle for 4th place behind Clement, a resurging Felix Sanchez and Marek Plawgo of Poland.
Both Sanchez and Plawgo had been struggling with injuries in recent years but managed this year to perfectly time their peak form in Osaka: Sanchez coming there with a 48.86 best for 2007 run faster than that in all three rounds including a 48.01 in the final and Plawgo went from 48.88 to 48.18/48.12 in Osaka. After that Sanchez never got under 49 again while Plawgo – a master of timing his efforts perfectly – added a 48.35 win over Clement (also 48.35) at the World Athletic Final.
The year brought no real new revelation: All the 14 dipping under 48.50 this summer had previous PB's of 48.77 or better. But at the same time history has taught us that this is an event where sudden emergences are not uncommon, especially not in Olympic years. The most famous example being Edwin Moses in 1976 (from "nowhere" to Olympic Gold and new WR of 47.64) and one recent Danny McFarlane in 2003 (48.30 and 4th in World Championships at age 31 in his first year ever at the event).
400m Hurdles - 2007 World List
WOMEN - Hurdles
USA commanded the women’s hurdling events on paper occupying first two spots on the world the list in both 100m and 400m Hurdles, but in real life the matter was not as black and white. 28-year-old American Michelle Perry who moved to hurdles only in 2005 having been a heptathlete before that, was able to defend her 2005 World title from Helsinki fighting a strong resistance from Swede Susanna Kallur.
In the 400m hurdles Americans Tiffany Williams and Sheena Johnson posted the two fastest times of the season in June, but both faded badly in Osaka. Jana Rawlinson, back in competition after the birth of her first child in December 2006, had a very convincing season winning 9/11 competitions including the Osaka final.
100m Hurdles
Michelle Perry could not have made a better choice than to restrict her competitions to the 100m hurdles at the start of the 2005 season. Since her first outdoor competition on May 7th 2005, the double World Champion has won 34 out of 48 finals in the event to make her by far the best hurdler for the last three years.
Although Perry had some difficult moments during the 2007 season, she kept her composure well and won the Osaka final in a fast time 12.46s following some slower races prior to the World Champs. 26-year-old Susanna Kallur emerged as the main rival during the late season and Perry could only outscore the Swede 6-4 in the ten meetings of the summer 2007.
In Osaka Kallur lead the race for the first eight hurdles, but then lost her rhythm in the end and dropped to a disappointing fourth place. But she did bounce back big time in the next meets to win Zürich, Brussels and Berlin Golden League meetings before being disqualified at the World Athletics Final. The surprise winner of the 2003 World Championships in Paris, Perdita Felicien (CAN), also stepped up a gear in 2007 and got back to the medal contention. She hurdled to a season’s best time 12.49s and finished only 0.03s behind Perry to grab the silver at the World Championships.
USA is far ahead of others in depth with 32 athletes on the world top 100 list. Russia and Jamaica are tied for second with eight.
100m Hurdles - 2007 World List
400m Hurdles
25-year-old Australian Jana Rawlinson made an extremely successful return just six months after the birth of her son. She only lost two out of 11 finals hitting top form at the exactly right time. In her last competition prior to Osaka, Rawlinson hurdled a season’s best 53.46 time in Monaco and then went on to comfortably win her second World title with the first one coming in Paris 2003.
American favourites Tiffany Williams and Sheena Johnson apparently used up most of their ammunition at the US Championships, because they were immediately far from their world leading form in the international competitions in Europe prior to Osaka. World leader Williams, with 53.28 personal best in Indianapolis in June, did not win any competitions in Europe after the US Champs and could only finish in seventh place in Osaka. Fellow American, Sheena Johnson, had same kind of problems. Johnson was out of form in the two competitions in Europe after Indianapolis and although she did win the Pan American Games in July, she could not get even close to qualifying for the final in Osaka semifinal.
Defending champion from Helsinki, World record holder Yuliya Pechonkina (RUS), did not a very convincing early season, but did find her stride in Osaka to get the silver medal behind Rawlinson. Anna Jesien (POL) set a national record 53.86s in the Osaka semifinal and got a surprise bronze in the final.
USA has the best depth with 19 athletes on the world top 100 list. Russia is second with 14 and Jamaica third with eight.
400m Hurdles - 2007 World List
IAAF