The 13th World Championships begins in Daegu, South Korea, two weeks from today and the world’s greatest track stars are busy completing their proverbial dress rehearsal.
As with any major championships, there will be dramatic victories. New stars will be born and established veterans will receive greater accolades, thus enhancing their already vaunted status. Some may even become legends. Still a few of track’s royalty will take a backseat; it usually happens. The following is a look at who could be the biggest losers in Daegu.
Dwight Thomas
Jamaican sprint hurdler Dwight Thomas has literally given up a golden opportunity at sprint relay gold. Thomas had a very successful hurdling career through college before switching to the 100m and 200m, in which he posted best times of 10.00secs and 20.29secs, respectively. He is a sprint relay gold medalist from the 2008 Beijing Olympics. He will make the sprint hurdles final in Daegu, but will not medal. He faces a tough field which includes world record holder and co-favorites Dayron Robles from Cuba and Asian champion Liu Xiang, along with the surprising American Jason Richardson, who has a big personal record of 13.08 recorded at the London Grand Prix. Richardson’s fellow American, David Oliver, has lost his form and may not recover in time. If Thomas had continued to pursue the 100m, he might have stood the chance of being added to the sprint relay team, favored for the gold medal. He goes home empty handed.
Christine Ohuruogu
Defending 400m Olympic champion, Britain’s Christine Ohuruogu loses even bigger. She has a slight injury, and is also feeling the pressure as the London Olympics nears. Ohuruogu’s proverbial fly in the ointment may be Sanya Richards-Ross who is back from injuries, and catapulted herself into medal contention, with a season best of 49.66 in London. Botswana’s Amantle Montsho is another medal favorite, but nothing is guaranteed, and no one should be counted out. Jamaica’s trio of former national champion Rosemarie Whyte, Olympic and Worlds silver medalist Shericka Williams, and current champion Novlene Williams-Mills will all be in for the kill. I see no clear favorite here, performance credentials notwithstanding.
Brigitte Foster-Hylton
Also on the losing end is defending 100m hurdler Brigitte Foster-Hylton of Jamaica. She snatched gold in Berlin in 2009 in a very dramatic finish. However, she has not been active this year and finished last in her last race in 13.86secs, a pedestrian time, no matter the circumstance. She failed to start at the Adidas Grand Prix in New York, and surprisingly missed the Jamaican trials. Foster-Hylton, along with compatriots Delloreen Ennis-London and Vonette Dixon, has been among the best in the world for approximately 10 years. This is the end of an era, a changing of the guard, so to speak. I do not expect Foster-Hylton to come close to making the finals on current form.
Allyson Felix
The great American sprinter Allyson Felix receives the dubious honor of biggest loser. Felix hopes to win the big 200m–400m double this time around. Perhaps bored from winning the last three 200m finals at the Worlds, she is set on conquering new horizons. This will be Veronica Campbell-Brown’s golden opportunity to finally topple the American sprint wonder on this, her stage. Campbell-Brown, the two-time Olympic 200m champion, may score a win here but American in-form runner Carmelita Jeter will make this race worth waiting for; it could go either way.
Felix will make a bold bid in the 400m also, but Montsho, whom she defeated earlier this season, along with Richards-Ross and the plethora of Jamaicans named will be too hot to handle. She leaves Daegu with no individual gold medal. Her long-time coach, the redoubtable Bobby Kersee may find some magic, a la Valerie Brisco-Hooks at the Los Angeles Olympics in 1984, when she took the double. Nothing should be ruled out for Felix, except a gold medal, or two.