After a near-perfect day for the United States team at the World Athletics Championships, it’s little wonder Justin Gatlin and the sprinters are dreaming of a 1-2-3-4 sweep in Thursday’s 200m.
Gatlin wants to make sure his name comes up first, though. The 100m world champion is seeking the 200m gold as part of a triple that could be completed with the 400m relays on Saturday.
”It will be a historic night,” said Gatlin, who was upstaged by Tyson Gay in his semifinal heat. In the other, defending champion John Capel beat Wallace Spearmon, the season’s top performer, for a second one-two finish.
The toughest challenge to break the US string is expected to come from 18-year-old Jamaican Usain Bolt.
Despite having gone through four rounds of the 100m and three of the 200m since Saturday, Gatlin is convinced he can still make the difference.
”The Helsinki gods are on my side right now,” he said.
They certainly were on the side of US athletes for most of Wednesday.
Teenage long-jumper Tianna Madison came from nowhere to win her first major event when she set a personal best of 6,89m on her penultimate attempt, beating Russia’s Tatyana Kotova, by 10cm, and heptathlon silver medallist Eunice Barber of France.
What was a surprise to many was not to the precocious 19-year-old.
”I knew this was going to happen. I didn’t know what year,” Madison said.
In the decathlon, Bryan Clay added a world title to his Olympic silver, easily containing Olympic champion and world-record-holder Roman Sebrle through the closing 1 500m and clinching his first major title.
Even though the American finished last in the race, his overall total of 8 732 points — the season’s top performance — easily beat the Czech’s 8 521.
”It’s always great to beat the king,” Clay said.
The queen of the 400m also lost when defending champion Ana Guevara of Mexico could finish only third in the final. Olympic champion Tonique Williams-Darling of the Bahamas came from behind on the final straight to run down American Sanya Richards.
”It’s really a historical moment for me and the Bahamas,” Williams-Darling said. ”I feel really humbled and grateful and overjoyed right now.”
In the absence of four-time defending champion Hicham El Guerrouj, Moroccan-born Rashid Ramzi took gold for Bahrain in the 1 500m, beating Morocco’s Adil Kaouch.
Ethiopian 10 000m champion Tirunesh Dibaba took another step to her long-distance double, winning her heat of the 5 000m to qualify for Saturday’s final.
Andrus Varnik of Estonia added gold to his world silver of two years ago, winning the javelin. Finnish star Tero Pitkamaki finished fourth, behind both Olympic champion Andreas Thorkildsen of Norway and Russia’s Sergey Makarov.
The US team have six golds and a total of nine medals. Ethiopia have two golds and a total of five, with Sweden in third place with two golds and a bronze.
The men’s pole vault, triple jump and the women’s discus and 100m hurdles are the other finals scheduled for Thursday. — Sapa-AP