Familiar smile - Sanya Richards-Ross returns to sub-50 territory with big win in London (© Mark Shearman)
Talk about throwing a cat among the pigeons. Sanya Richards-Ross put aside months of struggle to run 49.66 to win at the London Samsung Diamond League meeting. In doing so, the defending champion added yet another element to what was already shaping as an intriguing World championships event.
Richards-Ross, who finally broke through for a global title in Berlin two years ago, had been out of sorts all season. She ran the 200m at the US championships, finished seventh, and ran just one round of the 400m before opting to use her champion’s ‘wild card’.
A wild card she may have had, but not until London did it appear Richards-Ross may also have an ace up her sleeve. Suddenly, the rhythm that had deserted her all year was back and with it a credible chance of retaining her World title in Daegu.
Behind Richards-Ross came a trio of Jamaican women also rounding into form for the world championships. Rosemarie Whyte broke 50 seconds for the first time in her career, running 49.84; Novlene Williams-Mills ran 50.46, her fastest since running 50.05 to win the Jamaican title at the end of June; and Berlin silver medallist Shericka Williams ran a season’s best 50.64.
Let’s not forget a couple of other contenders who did not race in London.
Amantle Montsho, already a ground-breaker for her country in so many ways, is looking to become the first Botswana athlete to win a gold medal at a World Championships.
Montsho, who finished eighth in both the Beijing Olympic and Berlin World Championships finals, has raced right through the Diamond League season. After losses to Allyson Felix in Doha and Rome, she has reeled off five straight wins (including over World indoor champion Debbie Dunn, Felix and Richards-Ross at Prefontaine), culminating in a personal best 49.71 in Monaco.
Allyson Felix, one of the finest half-lap sprinters ever, will finally test the water in a global championships 400m.
Felix is attempting both the 200 and 400 in Daegu. Since winning the US title in 50.40, she has focused on the half-lap, in which she will be seeking her fourth World title.
Sydney 2000 Olympic champion Cathy Freeman recently proclaimed Felix her favourite sprinter. “I love watching her run, it’s poetry in motion,” Freeman said. “She’s versatile, she’s got speed, endurance, she seems to have a good head on her shoulders.”
With Richards-Ross back in form, Francena McCorory and Jessica Beard, the US fields a strong line-up in Daegu.
Anastasiya Kapachinskaya won the Russian championships with a world lead and shapes as a credible contender for the gold medal.
Kapachinskaya won the 200 at the 2003 World championships after the original winner, Kelli White of the USA, was disqualified. She finished fifth in the Olympic 400m final and seventh in Berlin, but it was the national championships in Cheboksary which really made people sit up and take notice.
Kapachinskaya ran a world-leading 49.35 (a personal best by a whopping 0.62) to defeat Berlin bronze medallist Antonina Krivoshapka (49.71). This pair will give Russia a strong one-two in Daegu.
Interestingly, for all the historical strength of Russian women’s 400 running, Russia/USSR has taken only three of the 36 individual medals at World Championships – Mariya Pinigina (bronze in 1983), Olga Bryzgina (gold in 1987) and Krivoshapka (bronze in 2009).
Bryzgina also won the gold medal at the 1988 Seoul Olympics. Perhaps that is a good omen for Kapachinskaya and Krivoshapka as they prepare for Daegu 23 years later.
Len Johnson for the IAAF
