Commanding victory for Sanya Richards in Eugene (© Getty Images)
Sanya Richards has dominated the 400m event since 2006 and starts a worthy favourite as she seeks to become the first US athlete to take the title since Valerie Brisco-Hooks 24 years ago.
Richards missed out on competing in her specialist event at last year’s World Championships as she was hampered by an illness at the US Trials but despite enjoying an unbeaten season over 400m in 2008 she has yet to produce her absolute best form this year.
The 2007 Golden League Jackpot winner has posted two sub-50 second times – a best of 49.86 coming in Athens – but she is still more than a second shy of her lifetime best. For all that she will be still be the woman to beat in China.
Reigning World champion Christine Ohuruogu has also so far struggled to recapture the form which took her to gold in an exhilarating final in Osaka.
The Brit has opted to concentrate on sharpening her speed over 200m and although she is unbeaten in her four outings over one lap she admitted she was disappointed with her season’s best time of 50.80 in her last post-Beijing race in London.
Ohuruogu’s British team-mate and 2007 World Championship silver medallist, Nicola Sanders, has been similarly frustrated. Hampered by a series of niggling injuries she has been restricted to just three 400m races this season. She recorded a season’s best of 50.88 in Milan but she failed to impress in London as she trailed home second in 51.27.
The world lists are surprisingly headed by Botswana’s Amantle Montsho who snared the African title in an impressive 49.83 back in May. That performance, however, was at altitude and she has subsequently yet to dip below 51 seconds.
Russia has given warning of their potential threat with a series of impressive domestic performances. Their fastest time this year belongs to 2003 World Championships 200m gold medallist Anastasiya Kapachinskaya who has impressed in the one lap event this year. She recorded a personal best of 50.02 in Moscow and later booked her ticket for Beijing by finishing second in her National Championships in Kazan. Gold in that event went to another former 200m specialist Yulia Guschina, who served notice of her potential running a PB of 50.12. The third string Russian, Tatyana Firova, posted 50.25 for third in her national championships, although the Russian trio have primarily preferred to concentrate on domestic competition so far this season.
The 2007 World championship bronze medallist Novlene Williams-Mills is another short of her best so far this season. The Jamaican athlete was surprisingly beaten at her national trials by Rosemarie Whyte and has also yet to dip below 50 seconds this season but remains a threat at her best.
Whyte, a former heptathlete, ran 50.05 to beat Williams-Mills at the national championships but did not impress in her two subsequent races on the European circuit.
Other names worth a mention include the two other US 400m runners - Mary Wineberg (50.85) DeeDee Trotter (50.88) and the third string Jamaican Shericka Williams (50.33).
Steve Landells for the IAAF
