John Mackinnon, The Edmonton Journal
Published: Monday, May 19
Carson, Calif. / Distance runner Megan Metcalfe won the 3,000 metres, while sprinter Tyler Christopher made a competitive statement on Sunday in finishing a close second to 400-metre world and Olympic champion Jeremy Wariner at the Adidas Track Classic in Carson, Calif.
Uncharacteristically, Christopher just couldn’t talk about it afterwards.
Not right away, at any rate, mostly because the Edmonton-based sprinter temporarily, but somewhat acutely, had trouble breathing after running his speciality in 44.71 seconds.
Christopher appeared to be reeling in the American champion down the stretch, but Wariner won in 44.42, the second fastest outdoor 400-metre time this year.
Chris Brown of the Bahamas was third in 44.94.
Metcalfe, an Edmontonian now training and living in West Virgina, withstood temperatures above 30 C to win the 3,000-metre distance in eight minutes 51.97 seconds ahead of Genzebe Dibaba of Ethiopia and Jen Rhines of the United States.
For Christopher, who pushed Wariner right to the finish line, the temperature was less bothersome than airborne particles not unknown to Southern California.
“(Christopher) had restricted breathing, he had a little trouble catching his breath after the race,” said Kevin Tyler, Christopher’s coach. “It seems like allergies because when we were in Modesto (Calif.) last week, he felt it a little bit.”
The time of 44.71 was a good opener for Christopher, who won the World Indoor championship in his speciality in March in Valencia, Spain, but was competing in his first outdoor event of this all-important Olympic year.
As a precaution, Christopher was taken to hospital after the race, although Tyler said he did not believe the bout of breathlessness was anything serious.
“He was fine all week and then again here after the race,” Tyler said in a telephone interview while en route to the hospital.
"It’s not what you want to see after a race.
“But we just wanted to get him checked out and make sure that he’s OK.”
Assuming the spasm of restricted breathing was a passing thing, Sunday’s race was encouraging for Christopher, the bronze medallist at the 2005 World Championship in Athletics and silver medallist at the 2007 Pan American Games in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
Christopher was sixth at the World Championship race in Osaka, Japan last August, a race won by Wariner.
With a personal best of 43.45, Wariner is, literally, the gold standard in the 400 metres, currently. But Christopher’s season-opening time wasn’t far off his own Canadian record of 44.44 and was easily below Athletics Canada’s A-plus Olympic qualifying standard of 45.29 seconds.
Not that Christopher was in any danger of not qualifying for Beijing.
All he requires at this point, is a top-four finish, regardless of time, at the Canadian Olympic Trials in Windsor, Ont., July 3-6.
Anyway, the fast, early-season time and the way he ran the race clearly gave Christopher a sense of where he is compared to Wariner just 74 days from the opening of the Games in Beijing in August.
It was the same time Christopher ran in finishing sixth at the World Championship in August in Osaka.
“It was a good opener,” Tyler said.
"He went out really well to about 150 (metres).
But when they were coming into the 200-metre mark, he just kind of relaxed a little bit too much because he was closing down on Kerron Clement, the world champion in the 400-metre hurdles.
"I guess he probably figured he was going too quick, (because) he just eased off a bit and that’s where Wariner went by him on the corner. They came off the (turn) and Tyler started to close down on Wariner again.
"He had too much left in the end, it looked like he was going to catch Wa riner.
“It was a lot closer than the time indicates. So, anyways, that was a good start.”
Christopher’s time was the fourth-fastest outdoor time in the world this year, said Tyler, who will oversee a three-week training block for Christopher here in Edmonton before his next competition, the Prefontaine Classic in Eugene, Ore., on June 8.
Things went rather less well on Sunday for 400-metre hurdler Adam Kunkel, the Paisley, Ont. native, who now trains in Edmonton with Christopher. Kunkel finished seventh in his event in 50.64, well off his Canadian record of 48.24. Bershawn Jackson of the United States won the race in 48.94.
jmackinnon@thejournal.canwest.com
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