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Olympic champion Cathy FREEMAN is having a year off and so too, apparently, is Marie Jose PEREC of France, the 1996 Olympic 200m and 400m champion who departed from Sydney last year without running a step.
Injuries have forced U.S. champion LaTasha COLANDER-RICHARDSON and the world leader Katharine MERRY of Britain (49.59), the Olympic bronze medallist, out of the championships exposing the event to its lack of depth this season.
The German champion Grit BREUER (49.78) a World Championship silver medalist way back in 1991 would seem a good bet for a medal in Edmonton simply because there is an absence of sub 50 second runners. BREUER was unable to compete at the Sydney Olympics due to a back injury that required surgery. She will be a formidable opponent thanks in great part to her tremendous experience. Indeed, at the age of 16 she won a bronze medal on Germany's 4 x 400m relay team at the 1988 Olympics in Seoul. At the 1996 Olympics she ran a brilliant anchor leg of 48.63 to seal Germany's bronze medal.
Among those who can be counted among the medal candidates is the 20 year old Russian champion Olesya ZYKINA who was third at the 2001 World Indoor Championships and who won the European championships two years ago. Her best time is 50.15 which she recorded in winning her first senior national title.
Monique HENNAGAN (USA), Ana GUEVERA of Mexico (5th in the Olympics) and 32 year-old Sandie RICHARDS (JAM), who has won medals at the world championships in the past (bronze in 1993 and silver in 1997), and Heide SEYERLING (RSA) should not be discounted. The South African was second to MERRY in Athens. This is just her second year running the 400m.
GUEVERA’S 50.11 seconds time from winning in Stellenbosch, South Africa looks quite good but that was in March. A series of sub 51 second clockings followed and then she also beat RICHARDS to win in Nice on 9 July before capping off the European campaign with a clocking of 50.84 to beat the Jamaican once again.
