Tyson Gay of USA in action in the 200m Semi-Finals (© Getty Images)
The premiere event on the Day Six programme at Nagai Stadium has to be the men’s 200-metre final, where Tyson Gay will try to match the 100-200 double previously achieved by two other Americans, Maurice Greene (1999) and Justin Gatlin (2005). But that’s just one of four finals scheduled on the day.
Eighth race in six days for Gay
It won’t be easy, though, because for Gay it will be the eighth tension-packed race in six days in Osaka’s energy-sapping heat and humidity. Long-striding Usain Bolt of Jamaica, by contrast, skipped the 100m to concentrate on the 200, as did Gay’s training partner, Wallace Spearmon, who would love to improve on the silver medal he won in 2005 in Helsinki.
Gay acknowledged the pressure of the rounds after winning his quarter-final in a quick 20.08. “I am gritting my teeth. It is hard with all these rounds.”
Wednesday’s semi-finals, the first won by Bolt in 20.03 with Spearmon close behind at 20.05 and the second won by Gay in 20.00 with Marvin Anderson of Jamaica close with a 20.06 PB, can’t be much of an indicator, as all four were easing up at the finish line. Given the PBs of the top three – Gay at 19.62, Spearmon at 19.65 and Bolt at
19.75 – the outcome will probably be in doubt until the last 15 or 20 metres. It’s one of those races that brought us here…
Rawlinson v. Pechonkina in 400m Hurdles?
The women’s 400m Hurdles shapes up as a shootout between the last two World champions – Australia’s 2003 winner Jana Rawlinson (then Pittman) and 2005 gold medalist Yuliya Pechonkina of Russia. In the heats, each won her first-round and semi-final heats with ease, and both looked ready to run under 53 seconds in the final, an area where none of the other finalists appears ready to venture. Right now, Pechonkina has a big edge in career bests, with 52.34 to Rawlinson’s 53.22, but she is rapidly improving. Call her the stranger who just came to town and Pechonkina the Sheriff. The time is…High Noon!
Is Saladino ready for the big stage?
The men’s Long Jump is interesting. In Wednesday’s qualifying round, only five jumpers made the automatic standard of 8.15m – and one of them wasn’t the world’s Numero Uno long jumper, Irving Saladino of Panama.
Saladino had only one fair jump in his three qualifying attempts, but his 8.13m was good enough to make the final. Still, he has to be the favourite, since he has won 15 out of 17 competitions in 2006 and seven out of seven this year, with five jumps of 8.38m or better. No one else in the competition has jumped that far.
But like defending champion Dwight Phillips (USA), he has a tendency to foul a lot, and like Phillips, he relies on one big pop to win.
But one big pop is all it takes, and Saladino and Phillips are most likely to produce one. Among those who might challenge them are Jamaican James Beckford, silver medalist behind Phillips in 2005, and the American-born European champion for Italy, Andrew Howe, a fast-improving 22-year-old.
Wide open contest in women’s Hammer Throw
The day’s fourth final is the women’s Hammer Throw, where Yipsi Moreno of Cuba won the gold medal in Paris in 2003 and the silver in Helsinki in 2005.
Moreno is here, coming off a victory at the Pan-American Games, and she is not seeking a bronze World Championships medal to complete her set. Although defending champion Olga Kuzenkova (RUS) failed to qualify here, her teammates, Russian champion Yelena Koneftseva and Gulfiya Khanafeyeva, whose 77.36m this May puts her second on the all-time list, did make the final.
The three top qualifiers were Croatian Ivana Brkljacic, with 74.69; Moreno, with 72.87; and Betty Heidler of Germany, at 72.27. An interesting contender is Ireland’s Eileen O’Keeffe, a 26-year-old nurse and full-time amateur who decided to take a year off to see what she could do if she worked seriously at the hammer. And here she is - the fifth-best qualifier at 71.07m!
Semi-final and qualifying action
The semi-finals in the 110m Hurdles should help define the field, as China’s strong duo of World record holder and Olympic champion Xiang Liu and Dongpeng Shi confront defending champion Ladji Doucoure of France, Cuba’s Pan-American Games champion Dayron Robles, and Americans Terrence Trammell, Olympic silver medalist in 2000 and 2004, and David Payne.
Payne’s story here is amazing. He was advanced from alternate when Dominique Arnold withdrew from the U.S. team because of injury. Only one problem: Payne wasn’t in Japan, but in Hampton, Virginia. So he arrived late in the evening of August 28, and ran his first-round heat just after noon on the 29th. His time – 13.27, finishing second to Dongpeng Shi – must be a world jet-lag record!
There are also semi-finals in the women’s 200m, where Veronica Campbell hopes to move a step closer to doubling up on her 100m victory, along with qualifying rounds in the men’s 800 and 5000m and the Pole Vault.
James Dunaway for the IAAF
