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| August 6, 2005 | Saturday | Jumadi-us-Sani 29, 1426 |
Gatlin, Isinbayeva fancied for top billings
HELSINKI, Aug 5: The list of absentees might be growing by the day but in Justin Gatlin and Yelena Isinbayeva the world championships organisers will hope they rise to the challenge and add world gold to their Olympic titles in the 100 metres and pole vault respectively. Gatlin is the man to beat in the 100m after world record holder, Asafa Powell of Jamaica withdrew because of a groin injury which has dogged him since setting the new world mark of 9.77sec in June.
Gatlin has been the dominant sprinter as befits the Olympic champion and is set on emulating greats like Maurice Greene and Donovan Bailey in holding the two titles at the same time.
“To be set alongside such great athletes would be a privilege, but I am not going to anticipate my name being mentioned in the same breath until I do achieve that target,” said the 22-year-old, who was controversially reinstated into the 100m at the US trials after being disqualified in the heats.
If rivals like training partner and Olympic 200m champion Shawn Crawford think that the win in Athens last year has sated his appetite then they will be sorely disappointed. Gatlin is also intent on breaking Powell’s record and lay to rest any notion that just because the Jamaican is absent he won the title by default.
“World records are meant to be broken. I want to go out there and hopefully have that under my belt as well. 9.75sec is my goal and that’s what I am going for,” he said. A lot rests on Gatlin’s young shoulders to put up a scintillating performance as the list of absentees reads like a who’s who of the sport.
400m hurdles world champion Jana Pittman, dual Olympic heroine Kelly Holmes and Moroccan 1500m legend Hicham El Guerrouj are definitely out and there are doubts over men’s 400m hurdles Olympic champion Felix Sanchez — though he appears intent on running against his doctor’s advice.
Isinbayeva has already taken her event to new heights this season becoming the first woman to vault over the five metre mark at Crystal Palace on July 22.
“I think I can make 5.5 metres,” she said, though, the title will do for her this time round.
The men’s 1500m crown has belonged to El Guerrouj for the past four championships so the field will be open for the likes of Olympic bronze medallist Rui Silva or Ukraine’s Ivan Heshko to make a mark.
If there is to be a fresh world record set on the track then it may well come in the men’s 110m hurdles which has been the outstanding event of the season.
China’s Olympic champion Liu Xiang jointly holds the world record with Colin Jackson, who set the mark of 12.91sec in the 1993 world championships in Stuttgart, and has every chance of lowering it especially if he is pushed hard by 1996 Olympic champion and quadruple world titleholder Allen Johnson.
However, Liu - bronze medallist in the 2003 worlds - is not in a confident frame of mind, though, he may have developed a spot of kidology in his time on the European circuit.
And if some of the old greats haven’t been able to make it, as they wind down their careers, then in American duo Jeremy Wariner, the 400m Olympic champion, and 400m hurdles sensation Kerron Clement they have two of the stars of years to come.
Wariner does link the generations as he is coached by Michael Johnson’s coach Clyde Hart and the great man himself is his agent.—Agencies
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