Marion
Jones runs 400m, as
Bell triples
17.63 triple and J.J. Johnson runs 9.95 100m, at Mt SAC surprises.
Ed Gordon for the IAAF
22 April 2002 – Walnut, USA - the 44th edition of the Mt SAC relays produced its
usual array of early-season surprises during a weekend, which saw eight
world-leading performances.
The meeting offered the likes of Marion Jones, Adam Nelson, and John Godina as recognizable marquee athletes, but Sunday's script was taken over by a pair of Texas-born competitors who stole much of the attention from the big names.
The final three attempts in the men's triple jump each produced a lead change, the final one coming on Kenta Bell's world-leading 17.63. The 25-year-old had entered the year with a personal best of 17.24.
"The surface was great, and everyone got behind me on my last jump," he said afterwards, praising the crowd and their rhythmic clapping.
Bell's performance, at least for the moment, lifted the sagging fortunes of US triple jumping, which had not seen a mark of this caliber since Kenny Harrison's series while winning the Atlanta Olympics.
Reached on Monday at his office at Northwestern Louisiana State University, Bell's coach, Dean Johnson, indicated that his protégé's victory in last year's Universiade was a pivotal factor in this latest success.
"That performance in Beijing boosted Kenta's confidence greatly. Until then, he wasn't 100% certain he wanted to devote himself fulltime to athletics. But Sunday's jump validated his claim as America's next great triple jumper."
At least, Bell will now have something to discuss with his training partner, current US champion LaMark Carter.
His next scheduled triple jump outing will be at the Grand Prix meeting in Rio de Janeiro on 5 May.
The triple jump competition also brought out the best in Julien Kapek of France, whose improvement this season has been even more auspicious than Bell's. Starting the year with an indoor/outdoor personal bests of 16.17 and 16.08, the 25-year-old University of Southern California student leaped 16.39 indoors in late February, and followed with 16.83 one week later as he moved his season outdoors. Sunday, he flirted with the seventeen-metre region with a final-round 16.98 which momentarily was sufficient to hold the lead.
American sprinter J.J. Johnson perhaps didn't get the respect he deserved after his stunning season-leading 19.88 Brussels win in the 200 metres late last year. But it is now clear, after his a blazing 9.95 clocking in the 100 metres on Sunday, that the 24-year-old will be a significant player in this year's sprinting events.
"A sub-ten time was in my mind today," he said, casually mentioning that an ankle injury sustained three weeks ago seemed not to be a problem.
The former basketball player turned to athletics fulltime last year, and memorably out-dipped a surprised Maurice Greene at the Texas Relays a few weeks back. He now trains in Gainesville, Florida, together with Bernard Williams under the guidance of Barcelona bronze medallist Dennis Mitchell.
The big question was whether Sunday's breakthrough in the 100 would shift his attention away from the longer sprint distance. "I really don't have a preference between the two," he answered. "I want to be good in both."
The usual strong winds down the sprint straightaway at the Mt SAC stadium were replaced by mild cross winds on Sunday, which permitted other wind-legal sprint performances. Taking advantage of this rare opportunity and posting world-leading times were Angela Williams (11.06) in the 100 metres and Miesha McKelvy (12.86) in the 100 hurdles.
Bell and Johnson were more than adequate supporting attractions for the main act of the day, Marion Jones, who chose the 400 metres for her annual return to her native southern California.
There was never a doubt that she would win the race, only whether she would surpass the brilliant 49.59-second lap she ran here two years ago.
Her 50.46 winning time was perhaps routine, but it was still more than a second ahead of Canada's LaDonna Antoine (51.65) and Latasha Colander-Richardson (51.72).
"I wanted something a little faster," she said, "in the 48's or 49's. But, like a typical day at Mt SAC, it was a little windy out there."
She admitted that her defeat in last year's world championships has given her more motivation than before. And the fact that the US has no important international event this year makes this a perfect season to experiment with the longer distance.
"I will run more 400 races this season, but I don't yet know where. But my real goals are to achieve times in the 10.7 range, and also under 22 seconds."
Jones was most likely not in the stadium on Saturday to see a young athlete whom many predict will follow in her footsteps. Allyson Felix, a 16-year-old from suburban Los Angeles, ran a wind-legal 23.05 to win the high school section of the 200 metres, and then returned to the track later in the day to contribute an electronically-timed 51.72 to her school's 4x400 relay.
The men's shot put was a close affair between two Sydney medallists, Adam Nelson and John Godina. Godina's leadoff 21.31 looked as though it would hold on throughout the six rounds to produce a win for the three-time world champion. But on his penultimate throw, Nelson produced a 21.41 which Godina could only answer with a 21.18.
The women's event was won by Teri Steers (18.62) over Lieja Koeman of the Netherlands (18.27), with Nigeria's Vivian Peters-Chukwuemeka in third with 17.29m.
Running under ideal weather conditions, Bernard Lagat led the headliners in Friday evening's distance races with a personal-best 13.19.14 in the 5000 metres. Right behind the Edmonton 1500 silver medallist were two of his Kenyan compatriots, David Kimani (13:20.65) and Leonard Mucheru (13:21.82), and a pair of US university students, Alistair Cragg of South Africa (13:22.07) and Michael Aish of New Zealand (13:22.64), as the British Commonwealth swept the first five places.
Chris Rawlinson of Great Britain capped off an obviously successful southern California training period with a powerful 48.49 to easily win the men's 400 hurdles.
After failing to make the Sydney Olympic team, high jumper Matt Hemingway competed several times in Europe during 2000 and then disappeared. Sunday, the 29-year-old American ended his hibernation with a surprising 2.30 win, as James Nieto and Canada's Michael Ponikvar took the next two places with 2.20 jumps.
Other performances of note came from Kelli White's wind-aided 22.66 in the women's 200, a runaway 2:01.33 by Slovenia's Brigita Langerholc to win the 800 by more than 3 1/2 seconds, and a world-leading 15:10.66 by Courtney Babcock of Canada in the 5000.
