Lolo Jones (l) edges a diving Sally McLellan in London (© Getty Images)
When Lolo Jones won the 60m Hurdles World Indoor title in Valencia back in March some onlookers hinted that the American wouldn’t have managed to grab her first international title had the World Indoor record holder Susanna Kallur not sustained a hamstring injury while warming up for the semi-final and therefore withdrawn from the event.
To prove her win was no fluke Jones has since put together some of the finest hurdling including a 12.45 personal best and world leading time and a windy 12.29 to win the highly rated US Olympic Trials. To add to her Olympic build-up Jones has amassed convincing victories in Barcelona, Stockholm and London. After her sixth place finish at the Osaka World Championships, she is in the best possible state of mind to take on the challenge of competing in her first Olympic Games.
In total contrast, Kallur, who could not advance past the semi-finals four years ago in Athens, is heading towards Beijing with only two races under her belt and the added pressure of a recurrent injury. The Swedish hurdler was in the shape of her life earlier this year as she improved the 60m Hurdles World Indoor record by 1 hundredth of a second but has been struggling since with her hamstring. She did manage to clock 12.54 for second in Berlin and 12.71 for third in Oslo but unfortunately she hasn’t been able to race since. Her performance in the first round heats in Beijing will determine whether or not she can be considered a real medal contender.
The list of highly rated athletes who will not be present in Beijing reads as a who’s who of women’s sprint hurdlers and certainly it will add to the interest of the event. Defending Olympic champion Joanna Hayes who was running with a knee injury could only finish seventh at the US Trials and will therefore not defend her title; double World champion Michelle Perry had an even poorer national championships, failing to make it to the final; 2003 World champion Perdita Felicien who was also runner-up in Osaka last year is also struggling with injury.
One will therefore have to look at veterans Brigitte Foster-Hylton and Delloreen Ennis-London, both Jamaicans customary figures of major championships finals and podiums. Foster-Hylton is returning from a 2007 off-year and has scored a major win at her final meeting pre-Beijing winning in a season’s best 12.49 in Monaco. The 33-year-old will be making her third appearance at the Olympic Games and certainly experience will be on her side. It will also be the third Games for compatriot Ennis-London whose season’s best 12.54 also feature in the top six on the Beijing entries.
In contrast to the Jamaicans’ experience, a pair of new girls on the blocks will be highly rated should they make it to the final albeit they will both tackle their first Olympics. 22-year-old Josephine Onyia of Spain proved she is capable of beating the best hurdlers in the world with her convincing wins in Berlin and Oslo capped by a 12.50 national record which sees her stand as the fourth fastest this year.
Also a national record breaker this year, 21-year-old Sally McLellan has run consistently on the circuit and has ended her pre-Olympic campaign with a new personal best 12.53.
Not to be discarded as potential medallists will be the American duo of Damu Cherry and Dawn Harper who together with Jones survived the US Olympic Trials. Cherry who is currently second on the world’s season list at 12.47 has not competed on the European circuit this year and as such it is yet to see what she is capable of against the best in the world.
Only two other athletes have run under 12.70 this summer, former World Junior champion Anay Tejada of Cuba and France’s Reina-Flor Okori.
Laura Arcoleo for the IAAF
