David Oliver
With one year to go before London hosts the next Olympics, the world's best runners, throwers and jumpers have converged on Daegu, South Korea, for the ultimate dress rehearsal, the IAAF World Track & Field Championships. Beginning Saturday (Friday night in the U.S.) and running through Sunday, Sept. 4, athletes will face off for global titles — and the favorites' status heading towards the 2012 Summer Games. NBC/Universal Sports analyst Ato Boldon is predicting "a world championship of controversy and intrigue," given some dynamic athletes (including double-amputee Oscar Pistorius of South Africa, who runs on prosthetic carbon-fiber blades and has qualified for the 400-meter dash) and the tricky new false-start rule that shows no mercy to anyone who jumps the gun. Extensive TV coverage (see schedule, below) means fans will get to see much of the action. Here are three storylines sure to attract attention in Daegu:
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David Neville, Jeremy Wariner and LaShawn Merritt by Carlos Barria/Reuters
Despite picking up six more medals the US track meet had another rough night Thursday Both the mens and womens 4x100-meter relay teams bumbled their final exchanges and failed to finish the heats Somebody somewhere has a voodoo doll on the United States womens anchor Lauryn Williams told NBCs Bob Neumeier Back in the studio Bob Costas summed it up perfectly when he said So the US relay teams laying a giant egg in the Birds NestEarlier world champion Allyson Felix was beaten convincingly by Jamaicas Veronica Campbell-Brown in the womens 200 Campbell-Brown the defending champion looked magnificent in running 2174 seconds putting her into a tie for eighth on the all-time list She jumped on Allyson Felix something awful and it was all downhill from there NBCs Ato Boldon said Felix ran a seasons best 2193 but never had the spark she showed in winning the last two world titles
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Selection for teams in two of Americas best Olympic sports gets underway this weekend The US Olympic Team Trials in track and field begin Friday in Eugene Oregon with the top three finishers in each event qualifying for the squad Swimming starts Sunday in Omaha Nebraska The top two in each event are bound for BeijingTrack gets underway Friday The only final is the womens 10000-meter run which should be a match race between Shalane Flanagan who set an American record in May and Kara Goucher the bronze medalist at the 2007 world championships The first two rounds of the womens 100-meter dash are Friday with the semifinals and finals on Saturday The field is extremely competitive including Torri Edwards and Lauryn Williams the 2003 and 2005 world champions respectively Allyson Felix two-time world champion in the 200 Angela Williams the world indoor champion at 60 meters and up-and-comers Marshevet Hooker and Muna Lee who have showed great f
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