Henriette Jaeger at the World Indoor Championships (© AFP / Getty Images)
Fifteen women in total are on the start lists bidding for 400m glory at the World Athletics Indoor Championships Nanjing 25.
Of that selection, three of them – Henriette Jaeger, Alexis Holmes and Amber Anning – are separated by just a tenth of a second in season’s bests.
Jaeger narrowly missed out on gold at the European Indoor Championships in Apeldoorn a few weeks ago to Lieke Klaver but the Dutch athlete has opted out of Nanjing.
Norwegian Jaeger will also have her own national record in her sights this weekend having just missed out on lowering that in the Netherlands.
The 21-year-old has long been earmarked for sporting superstardom back at home after finishing third at her national championships over 200m at the meagre age of 14.
She would later go on to break the world U18 heptathlon best before seemingly settling on the 400m as her preferred event, which paid off to good effect when she made the Olympic final last summer. Nanjing provides her with the opportunity of a first global gold title.
Holmes, who refers to herself as ‘Tiny’ or ‘The Barb’ on social media, will be among those hoping to deny that possibility for the United States.
Holmes has become something of a relay specialist at major championships after being part of the golden quartet at the Olympics last summer and at the World Championships the year before that in Budapest. Arguably more compelling was the manner in which she reeled in and then passed Femke Bol in the Hungarian capital when the Dutchwoman looked set for the gold herself.
But Holmes, a budding basketball and volleyball player in her youth, also reached the individual final in Paris where she ended up sixth overall, and has credited her Bol head-to-head for her rise up the ranks.
She said: “It taught me to always be prepared for anything and not to take anything for granted.”
For Anning, this week feels like a shot of redemption so soon after she was disqualified for a lane infringement at the European Indoors when she had looked so good and was many people’s pick to take home the continental gold.
The US-based Briton was a double relay bronze medallist at the Paris Olympics but came away thinking she could have done better. “I was a little disappointed because I knew the part of the race where I let it slip away,” she said of her individual run at the Games. “I wanted more. And I know what I need to change.”
Having endured a catalogue of big injuries earlier in her career, the 24-year-old, who hails from Brighton, appears to be heading towards her peak as an athlete.
Aside from the anticipated big three, there are others knocking on the door of a medal in the shape of Jamaica’s Leah Anderson, Justyna Swiety-Ersetic of Poland, USA’s Quanera Hayes and versatile Egyptian Bassant Hemida.
Matt Majendie for World Athletics
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