If one had to go for a safe medal bet in the 110m Hurdles it would have to be Allen Johnson.
The American 33-year-old four-time World champion and 1996 Olympic gold medallist doesn’t just have experience on his side but also the best record this year with nine performances under 13.15 including the World’s fastest time of the year in 13.05.
In fourteen competitions this summer Johnson scored 10 wins but his last loss at the US Trials in Sacramento almost cost him his third Olympic Games appearance.
While Johnson admits he was ready to give up his Olympic dream while waiting for the photo-finish to be analysed in Sacramento – a great relief when the score board showed him in third - he also knows the US Trials were the ideal wake up call heading towards Athens.
However, despite Johnson saying he is in the “best shape of [his] life”, never has the American been more challenged than this summer.
Credit for this has to be given to 21-year-old World Junior record holder Xiang Liu of China who defeated Johnson in their first outdoor head to head of the year in Osaka (13.06 to 13.13) back in May, and then pushed Johnson right to the tape (with a photo-finish win going to the American) both men being awarded the same 13.11 at the Rome Golden League.
Xiang recently equalled his Asian record 13.06 on home soil in Tainjin thus confirming his position as major contender for the Olympic title in Athens.
The only other man who has dipped under 13.10 this year is Sydney Olympic silver medallist Terrence Trammell who improved his personal best to 13.09 when winning the US Trials in Sacramento.
Trammell has already proved he can also be highly competitive in global Championships as very few expected him on the podium in Sydney, and then again at the Paris World Championships where he won yet another silver medal.
Other contenders include European silver medallist Stanislavs Olijars of Latvia (season’s best 13.21), World Indoor bronze medallist Maurice Wignall of Jamaica (13.30) and US Trials runner up Duane Ross (13.21). The American number three who has had his own share of misfortunes this year, as he broke his wrist at the World Indoor Championships in Budapest, broke his little finger at the Erfurt meeting, and then twisted his ankle at the Rome Golden League meeting.
The number one outsider will be Cuba’s Anier Garcia, the defending Olympic champion who is gradually returning to his best form (13.34 in Zurich) following five injuries - in the same (lead) leg - in 2003. Garcia, just like in Sydney, admits being in his favourite position where “no one expects him!”
All competitors agree in saying that the Athens Olympic Games will prove to be a great challenge. The timetable means they must handle four rounds in four days, which is perhaps the toughest hurdle to clear to get on to the podium.
LA
