Felix Sanchez in action in the men's 400m Hurdles heats (© Getty Images)
The Stade de France has witnessed a mixed bag of fortunes for the athletics greats who have tried for multiple championships titles at the 9th IAAF World Championships in Athletics, Paris 2003 Saint-Denis.
For example the disappointments for Lars Riedel, the five time Discus champion, and Ivan Pedroso, the four time Long Jump champion who both failed to add to their gold medal collection.
These defeats were tempered by Hicham El Guerrouj with his fourth 1500m victory, and repeat Worlds wins for Tatjana Lebedeva in the women's Triple and Yipsi Moreno in the women's Hammer, and of course the greatest ever Race walker Robert Korzeniowski.
Also, we can still relish the prospect of El Guerrouj and Kenenisa Bekele’s attempts to win two gold medals in Paris when they contest the 5000m final on Sunday.
Zelezny
Today begins the campaign of another multiple champion, who is seeking his fourth World championship gold - Jan Zelezny the three time World and Olympic champion in the men’s Javelin. The throwing credentials of Matti Jarvinen of Finland from the 1930s and Latvian Janis Lusis in the 1960s and 70s might be illustrious but they don’t come close to the 37 year-old Czech, who is without dispute the greatest spearman of all-time.
Zelezny, the World record holder will be the first to throw in the second qualification group this evening. With a 89.06m winning throw in Paris Golden League he stands second on the world season’s list with only the Russian Sergey Makarov on 90.11m better.
Automatic qualification (81.00m) for Sunday’s final on the basis of those stats should be no problem for either man, but those who remember Tokyo 1991 will know that even the plans of the great Czech can sometimes go astray.
Lamela
As well as two Wheelchair events, there will be three other finals contested this evening – the men’s Long Jump, 200 metres and 400m Hurdles.
As well as the unexpected demise of injured defending champion Ivan Pedroso of Cuba, the men’s Long Jump Final is also missing America’s Savante Stringfellow who took the silver in Edmonton. Second on the world season’s list with 8.46m, his exit in qualification with a best of only 7.83m was a major shock.
The qualifying round was at a low level with the two pools being taken with leaps of 8.19 and 8.16m respectively by Spain’s Yago Lamela and Chris Tomlinson of Britain. Lamela, 1999 World silver medallist is the world season’s leader having jumped 8.53m on 18 August, and is the firm favourite for gold today.
Too close to call
Battling for medals around the curve in the men’s 200m will be Japan’s Shingo Suetsugu. The 23 year-olds 20.03 Area Record ealier this summer put him down as one of the pre-championships favourites, and Suetsugu has more than justified this status, having improved in the heats from 20.58 to 20.24 and then yesterday to 20.22 in the semi-final.
The 200 metres is wide open after the withdrawal earlier in the week of Greece’s World, Olympic and European champion Kostas Kenderis with a hamstring injury. Beside the three Americans Capel, Patton and Johnson, there is Britain’s Olympic silver medallist Darren Campbell, who took the bronze in the 100m here, and the veteran Frank Fredericks who was champion in 1993, Nigeria’s World Cup 100m winner Uchenna Emedolu, and Stéphane Buckland, the Mauritian who was sixth in Edmonton in 2001.
Sanchez
There is little to chose between all eight finalists, so get ready to throw a blanket over the finishers as this could be one of the tightest contests in 200m history.
Tonight will conclude on the track with the men’s 400m Hurdles, and you would hardly be putting your neck on the line to suggest that this is about just one athlete, the reigning World Champion and recently crowned Pan Am winner, Felix Sanchez of the Dominican Republic.
But where have you read that before! After last night’s turn of events in the women’s 400m Hurdles this writer is making no more predictions until the ink is dry on the winner’s certificate.
Little has been certain at these championships, and the Hurdles with Felicien’s defeat of Foster in the women's 100m event and Pittman’s demolition of Pechonkina have been at the forefront of this changing of the guard.
Principally attempting to pull off another ‘Pittman’ style shocker will be American Joey Woody who at the last IAAF Grand Prix (Helsinki) before Paris, audaciously suggested that Sanchez was not in the same form as he had been in 2001 and 2002. Jamaica’s Kemel Thompson, and the surprising Greek Iakovákis Periklís who set a 48.17 national record in the semi-final, will also be in with a shout of medals.
IAAF
