BERLIN, Aug 9 (AFP) - Chandra Sturrup has beenknocking on the door at major championships throughouther career without taking gold at world championships orthe Olympics but the Bahamian is within three victoriesof enjoying her richest ever pay day.
The 31-year-old is just one of two athletes - MariaMutola being the other - still in line to share theGolden League bonus of a million dollars worth of goldbut the task is going to get harder and harder withMarion Jones set to return at the Brussels meet inSeptember.
Her immediate challenge, though, comes in the form ofworld champion Zhanna Block, who has returned this monthafter being out with a hip injury and showed well inthird place in London on Friday - though the Ukrainianwas not certain to take her place as she was innegotiations with the organisers over her fee.
If the 31-year-old Block does skip it Sturrup willstill have veteran Gail Devers to contend with as thetwo-time Olympic 100m champion takes time off from thehurdles to concentrate on the flat.
Mutola faces perennial rival Stephanie Graf in the800m and despite failing in her bid to break the 1000mworld record in Stockholm on Tuesday the Mozambiquegreat should stay on course for a hefty payday at theend of the season.
While Block has looked competitive since her return,the less said about Tim Montgomery’s efforts the betteras he struggled in sixth in Stockholm and failed to makethe farcical final at Crystal Palace on Friday.
The world 100m record holder gave a ramblingassessment of his form subsequently declaring virtuallyin the same breath that he was going in the rightdirection before casting doubt on his even going to theworld championships in Paris later this month.
However after clearly reflecting on his Londonperformance in the late hours the 28-year-old two-timeworld championship medallist is not even sure of takinghis place in the line-up here.
With the equally out of form Maurice Greene skippingthe individual race sometime stand up comedian BernardWilliams should have the class to prevail - but it ismore reflective of his other profession how the men’ssprint season is developing and it’s a pretty poor joke.