The 12th IAAF World Championships in Athletics begins in less than a week and one cannot help but wonder about Jamaican-born American Sanya Richards’s chance of copping that individual 400m gold medal in Berlin. On the contrary, her prowess in the AF Golden League Jackpot competition is unquestionable and suggests that she’ll be the one atop the podium.
Richards running in April.With two events left, the remaining Jackpot (gold bar) contenders are Kerron Stewart (Jam), Kenenisa Bekele (Eth), Yelena Isinbayeva (Rus) and Sanya Richards (USA). All are all in fine form and all have achieved world-leading performances this season.
While Bekele and Isinbayeva already have won individual gold medals at the last two Olympics and World Championships, both Stewart and Richards have failed to achieve the ultimate prize at these events.
Stewart, a double medalist (silver and bronze) in Beijing, was somewhat satisfied with her performance at the Olympics but is hungry for more and has decided this season to concentrate only on the 100m. Her world-leading 10.75 sec in Rome makes her a strong favorite for the Berlin gold and the US$1m Jackpot.
The 2008 Beijing Olympics was an utter disappointment for Richards, who, despite winning gold in the 4×4 relay was obviously not pleased with her 3rd place finish in the flat 400m. However, she will be gunning for the elusive gold medal in the latter in Berlin and is poised to do so, based on her performances this season.
Richards has the most sub-50 performances (more than 35) in the women’s 400m, a season best 49.23 and a life-time best 48.70. She will, therefore, arrive in Berlin as the hot favorite to strike gold, after earning silver in 2005 and failing to make the USA 400m team in 2007.
To her credit, Richards shared in the US$1m Jackpot in 2006 and 2007, and is on track to do the same in 2009. But why sign up for the Jackpot this year when the ultimate prize is gold at the World Championships? Could Richards be using the Jackpot as an incentive to get herself in the best shape for Berlin?
Richards’s ultimate goal has to be gold in Berlin. Anything less than individual gold in Berlin, and her season could be considered a failure even if she wins the Jackpot. This season, Richards beat her nemesis and enigmatic rival Christine Ohuruogu (Gbr), the reigning Olympic and World Games 400m champion. Richards must therefore now use Berlin to re-establish herself as the premier 400m runner with the hardware to prove it.
To have the ultimate successful season, her primary objective should be to use the gold bar as a means to achieve World Championships gold, with the secondary objective of winning both.