Sprint events the cynosure of all eyes

Dinesh Weerawansa reporting from Japan

WORLD CHAMPIONSHIPS: It all points to an exciting week-long contest as the cream of international class athletes vie for hours at the 11th IAAF World Championship which begins here in Osaka on Saturday.

Joining the galaxy of world stars in athletics would be our own Susanthika Jayasinghe, the most successful athlete that Sri Lanka has ever produced. However, it would be a tall order for Jayasinghe to win another medal in her farewell World Championship as she competes in both the women’s 100m and 200m events.

Sprint events are the cynosure of all eyes at any sporting event, at any level.

It becomes highly competitive and interesting when it comes to the World Championship.

Witnessing the races that determine the fastest man and woman would always attract packed stadium and there will be pin drop silence during that ten seconds plus. In the battle for the title of ‘World’s Fastest Man,’ Osaka will feature the first meeting of the year between the world’s two fastest men - the Jamaican World record holder Asafa Powell and that high-riding American, Tyson Gay.

Both Gay and Powell have remained unbeaten in their respective last five 100m races this season. With both of them chasing a first World title, the men’s 100m event would certainly keep spectators of a packed stadium on the edges of their seats.

Powell was clearly the faster of the two last year, but Gay quickly picked up where he left off last season.

Gay emerged the hottest sprinter of the season’s first half, taking the sprint double at the much looked forward to US Championships, both with world-leading timings - 100m in 9.84 seconds and 200m in 19.62 seconds.

Thus, he threatened the World record with a wind-assisted 9.76 (+2.2) in New York.

For his part, Powell hasn’t been quite as fast (a season’s best 9.90 seconds), but has dipped under 10 seconds in three of his five races.

On the other hand, men’s 200m would once again become one of the premiere events. Here too, Gay tops the field with his impressive 19.62 from the US championships, but he will have to face stiff challenge from some of the deadliest speed merchants.

His training partner Wallace Spearmon, Jr., has done a 19.82 this season and a 19.65 last year. World junior record holder Usain Bolt, who bettered the Jamaican national record to 19.75, has been on target.

In men’s 400m, World and Olympic champion Jeremy Wariner underscored his total domination with a career best 43.50 seconds in Stockholm to advance up to the No. 3 spot in the World rankings.

But he too is not going to have the things easy with Americans Nos. 2 and 3 - Angelo Taylor (44.05) and LaShawn Merritt (44.06) - are so far ahead of the rest of world at the moment that a first-time podium sweep is hardly out of the question. African record holder Gary Kikaya, who clocked 44.60 at altitude in the spring, is another 400m sprinter worth watching.

The battle for the World’s Fastest Woman swings between American champion Torri Edwards (10.90) and Olympic bronze medallist Veronica Campbell. Edwards has won her last six successive races in style while Campbell, who accounted for the world’s leading women’s 100m timing of 10.89 seconds with three sub-11 performances to her credit, are heading for a prestige battle.

Joining the galaxy of women sprinters in women’s 200m would be Sri Lanka’s Susanthika Jayasinghe. The attention will focus on a brewing rivalry between defending champion Allyson Felix and Sanya Richards.

With Richards absent from the 400m, the race for the title becomes a very open affair. Dee Dee Trotter is the next fastest but hasn’t been near the 49.64 form which brought her the US crown; Natasha Hastings, the U.S. runner-up in 49.84, has been running reasonably well after a long collegiate season, while Jamaican Novlene Williams (50.10) and Russian Natalya Antyukh (50.10) have been rounding into form.