Angelo Taylor after his victory in Dakar (© Mark Ouma)
Continuing his notable comeback, 2000 Olympic 400m Hurdles champion Angelo Taylor produced a sizzling 44.35 victory in the 400m at the Georgia Tech Invitational on Saturday (12) in Atlanta, USA.
Despite rainy conditions that delayed much of the competition, the 28-year-old nonetheless smashed his previous career best of 44.68 set in 2001, and it was his first sub-45 performance since 2002. At the moment, Taylor trails only Jeremy Wariner's 44.02 from Osaka on the early-season world list.
Since his near-legendary 47.50 victory in the 2000 Olympic Games in Sydney from the narrow confines of lane one, Taylor has taken a back seat in the 400m Hurdles event to two-time World champion Felix Sanchez, who succeeded him as the Olympic champion, and a slew of young American challengers, including 2005 World champion Bershawn Jackson. After finishing second at the 2004 U.S. Olympic Trials, Taylor failed to reach the final in Athens, and hasn't been considered a major force in the event since.
But after abbreviated 2005 and 2006 seasons, Taylor has come back with a pair of wins this spring in his specialty, winning both at the Mt. Sac Relays and at the Dakar Grand Prix. Including the two victories in his specialty, Taylor is thus far undefeated in seven races outdoors.
In Atlanta, he was pushed to the finish by Florida State's Ricardo Chambers who also produced a personal best of 44.62. Chambers, the reigning Jamaican champion over the distance, had a previous best of 44.71 set at last year's NCAA Championships where he finished second to Xavier Carter.
Dix – 20.13 PB
Other notable performances at the Georgia Tech Invitational included Walter Dix's personal best 20.13, currently the second fastest in the world behind Tyson Gay's 19.97 from Kingston. In March, the 21-year-old won the NCAA indoor title in 20.32, the year's fastest mark indoors. Finishing a well-beaten second and third were Jordan Vaden (20.55) and Dwight Thomas (20.64).
Two-time World championships 400m Hurdles medallist Sandra Glover, now 38, has shown no signs of slowing down. She made her season's debut a notable one with her 54.70 victory, the season's first sub-55 second performance.
Elsewhere, Briton Tom Lancashire won the 1500m in 3:43.39 on Friday (11), Treniere Clement took the 800m (2:01.50) and Kieth Moffatt, last year's surprise runner-up at the U.S. Championships, took the High Jump with a 2.25 clearance.
Bob Ramsak for the IAAF
