WAS SANYA SICK, OR JUST THAT DUMB?
By Bob Baum
ASSOCIATED PRESS
2:46 p.m. June 23, 2007
INDIANAPOLIS – Sanya Richards failed to make the U.S. 400-meter team for the world championships on Saturday, finishing fourth in the event on a damp track at the U.S. track and field championships.
The loss broke a string of 18 consecutive outdoor victories in the 400 for Richards since her runner-up finish at the 2005 world championships.
The two-time defending champion had the five fastest times in the world, capped by an American record, a year ago, but she was dogged by a flulike illness that kept her out of her first four meets this season.
Dee Dee Trotter won her first U.S. outdoor title in a lifetime best 49.64 seconds. South Carolina’s Natasha Hastings was second in a college-record 49.84 and Mary Wineberg third at 50.24. Trotter came from third on the final turn to draw away.
Richards, who ran under 50 seconds nine times last year, finished at 50.68.
“I just lost my thinking,” Richards said. “I thought I was already on the team and didn’t fight for that third spot, so I’m really disappointed. But I still have the 200, and I’m going to come out and win that.”
Richards advanced through the qualifying round of the 200 later Saturday.
“It was really tough,” Richards said. “My parents came down and they encouraged me and said that maybe the 400 wasn’t for me to win this year. Maybe it’s the 200. I tried to get my head back into it. I felt OK in the 200. I didn’t feel great. I’m sure it was more mental than physical. Hopefully, I’ll run really well tomorrow.”
Tyson Gay, running less than 24 hours after his 9.84-second clocking in his 100-meter victory, was the leading 200 qualifier at 20.66 seconds into a brisk headwind. Wallace Spearmon, Xavier Carter and Jeremy Wariner were among the others to advance to Sunday’s semifinals.
With Gay, Spearmon and Carter, the event features three of the fastest sprinters in the event’s history. A fourth, NCAA 100 and 200 champion Walter Dix, did not show for the 200.
“It’s a new day,” Gay said. “I really didn’t warm up long. I’m a little fatigued. I just wanted to get it done.”
The top three finishers in each event make up the U.S. team for the world championships Aug. 25-Sept. 2 in Osaka, Japan. Defending world champions also make the team, as long as they compete in some event at the U.S. meet.
Mikele Barber was the fastest women’s 200 at 22.73.
Hyleas Fountain repeated as heptathlon champion despite a serious distraction at home.
“My mom is really ill right now,” she said. “She just got a mastectomy. I was trying to deal with that last week and just visiting. I had surgery on my left knee, but I believe in coming out and competing. I didn’t’ know I could do this because of my fitness level. I made it all the way through. I wasn’t going to give away a championship.”
She said she wanted to dedicate her victory to her mother.
In the men’s 400, Angelo Taylor ran side-by-side with LaShawn Merritt, edging ahead in the finish to win by 0.05 seconds. Taylor, 2000 Olympic champion in the 400 hurdles, won at 44.05 to Merritt’s 44.06. Taylor tumbled to the track after the close victory.
The world’s best 400 runner, the Olympic gold medalist Wariner, has a bye into the worlds as the defending champion. He is competing in the 200 at the U.S. meet.
Taylor, 28, returned to racing following two arrests in a three-month span on charges of having sex with 15-year-old girls. He was placed on probation and fined $2,500 in 2006.
“That’s life. I’m not perfect,” he said. “I’ve made mistakes. It was a learning lesson.”
Joanna Hayes, Olympic gold medalist in the 100-meter hurdles, experienced leg cramps and finished last in her semifinal heat. Ginny Powell went on to win the event. Amy Acuff won her sixth U.S. outdoor championship in the high jump.
Reese Hoffa had the five best throws to win his first U.S. outdoor shot put title with a best of 70 feet, 5¼ inches in a competition that started in a light rain. Dan Taylor was second at 68-10¾ and Adam Nelson third at 67-4¾.
“I was checking the weather every hour, waiting to see what would happen,” Hoffa said. “I saw a front coming in. After that, I accepted it: ‘It’s going to be wet out here. There’s nothing I can do about it. If I want to make this team, I better make the best of it.’ And that’s what I did.”
James Carter, runner-up at the worlds two years ago, won the 400 in 47.72 seconds, with Kerron Clement second at 47.80. They were the event’s two fastest times this year.
Treniere Clement won her third consecutive U.S. women’s 1,500 title at 4:07.04.