Allen Johnson - 12.96 at the 2006 World Cup in Athens (© Getty Images)
Allen Johnson, the 1996 Olympic Champion and U.S. record holder Dominique Arnold will lead a top-flight 110m Hurdles field at the adidas Track Classic on 20 May 2007, in Carson.
The NACAC Area Permit meeting in Carson is one of a select group of Area Permit meetings at which points can be earned for qualification to the IAAF / VTB Bank World Athletics Final.
At 36, Johnson is considered the elder statesman of his event, but his age has certainly not slowed him down. Johnson capped a short but significant 2006 campaign with a sizzling 12.96 victory at the IAAF World Cup in Athens last September, solidly defeating the event's new generation, Olympic champion and World record holder Liu Xiang and Cuban Dayron Robles. With four World titles outdoors and three indoors, Johnson still remains one of the strongest forces in the event.
Arnold, a lifelong resident of the Los Angeles area, enjoyed the best season of his career in 2006, when he won a bronze medal at the World Indoor Championships and followed that up by breaking Roger Kingdom’s American Record of 12.92, set in 1989, when he ran 12.90 in Lausanne, Switzerland, on 11 July. Born in Compton, Arnold competed for Woodrow Wilson High School in Long Beach and then Long Beach City College. He now lives in Diamond Bar.
Headlining the women’s 100m Hurdles will be Olympic gold medalist Joanna Hayes and reigning World champion Michelle Perry. Both are well known in the Los Angeles area: Hayes, whose winning time of 12.37 is an Olympic record, lives in L.A. and is a product of John W. North High School in Riverside; Perry, a four-time All-American while at UCLA, lives in Palmdale and attended Quartz Hill High School there.
Previously announced were Allyson Felix, the reigning 200m World Champion; Jeremy Wariner, the 2004 Olympic gold medalist at 400m; Tyson Gay, the fastest 100m-200m combo sprinter in history; Ana Guevara, the 2003 World Champion at 400m and Mexican hero; and Meseret Defar, the 5000m Olympic gold medalist and World Record-holder who has her eye on the 2-Mile World best.
Barbara Huebner for the IAAF