Kaliese Spencer burst into the all-time top-10 with her sensation 52.79 in London (© Mark Shearman)
Since finishing fourth at the 2009 Championships, former World junior champion Kaliese Spencer has become the most potent force amongst what is a highly competitive bunch of top notch 400m hurdlers and must be fancied for the gold medal.
The 24-year-old Jamaican sent a clear message out to her rivals last year of her growing stature when not only winning the Samsung Diamond League overall title, she ended her season scoring six out of seven victories on a very competitive circuit which saw her conclude the campaign with six of the 10 fastest times in the World.
Spencer has began virtually where she left off this summer starting her SDL schedule in Shanghai with a victory against two other fiery gold medal favorites, the USA's Lashinda Demus and her own training partner Melaine Walker who will be defending her title in Daegu.
The next two fixtures saw Spencer fall to the sword of Demus who beat her in Eugene on 4 June with what remains a season's best of 53.31 while Zuzana Hejnova did likewise by 0.16 in Paris when lowering her Czech Republic record to 53.29, at that time the world lead.
Spencer, a convert from the 400 flat and 800m, nevertheless concluded the pre-World Championships when again beating reigning Olympic champion Walker in Stockholm then again in London scorching to a world lead and lifetime fastest of 52.79 to go equal eighth on the world all-time list.
That quality performance and the measure of the distance which separated her from her fellow countrywoman offers a very sound reason to support the Jamaican champion who has four of the fastest 10 times in the world this year progressing from her 2006 World Junior victory in Beijing five years ago to become senior title holder.
However both Walker and Demus are very experienced Championship performers and that was borne out in Berlin two years ago when the latter despite having been outshone by her American opponent all season, produced the best performance of her career to win with the world's second fastest ever and Championship record time of 52.42.
Now in her fourth appearance at the Worlds - the first was as a teenager in 2001 when eliminated in her heat - she will be relishing the challenge that another victory in Daegu will set her up nicely before defending her Olympic crown in London next year.
Demus has had a fairly quiet season where after beating Spencer and Walker in Eugene she returned to the USA's Track City later in the month to claim a fourth National title before rounding off her preparations with a sedentary 54.18 success in Lucerne on 24 July.
The former World junior record holder has a thirst for going off quickly and losing her stride pattern. If she can curb this trait the mother of twin sons might finally show them a gold rather than the two silver medals already in her possession. If winning she would also be only the second American champion since Kim Batten won with a world record time of 52.61 in Gothenburg 16 years ago.
Hejnova, fourth in last year's European Championships, given her SDL victories in Oslo and Paris cannot be discounted but it is more likely the threat from that Area will be led by Russia's Barcelona gold medallist Natalya Antyukh and Vanya Stambolova of Bulgaria who have recorded marks of 53.75 and 53.68 this year.
David Martin for the IAAF
