Ready for the Worlds
Published:Friday | August 26, 2011 | 12:00 AM
André Lowe, Senior Staff Reporter
Daegu, South Korea:
The 2011 IAAF World Championships in Athletics is finally here and Jamaica's athletes are itching to hear the starter's gun. Decathlete Maurice Smith will be the first Jamaican in action on Saturday's opening day of the World Champs, here in Daegu, South Korea, but the Jamaican certain to hog the headlines is sprinter Usain Bolt, as he gets started on his Daegu destiny.
Bolt will start the defence of the 100m title that he won two years ago in Berlin at 7:45 a.m. (Jamaican time) on Saturday, as he looks to become only the third man behind American pair Carl Lewis and Maurice Greene to win consecutive world titles in the 100m when he lines up in the heats.
"I'm fit and I am ready to go," are the words coming from Bolt himself, suggesting that the injuries of 2010 and the race-rust shown throughout this season are all now merely matters of the past.
"Technically, I am not at my best, and I am not in 9.5 seconds shape either, but I am ready to run fast here," Bolt stated ahead of the race.
Training partner Yohan Blake, who has reportedly been turning eyes in training and has the confidence to match, is also set to make his first start at a major international championships and he, too, is feeling pretty good about his preparations leading into Daegu.
"I definitely think that my chances are as good as anybody else's … . It's going to come down to execution on the day and who runs the best race at that time," Blake has offered in the build-up to the event.
Opportunities
Nesta Carter and Michael Frater will both look to make the most of the opportunities that have fallen into their laps after the pair that finished outside of the automatic qualification at the National Trials in June in fourth and fifth, respectively, have now been afforded lanes for different reasons.
Carter replaces the embattled Steve Mullings, who is trying to clear his name after testing positive for banned substances, while Frater has replaced gold medal candidate Asafa Powell, who has failed to recover in time from a groin injury.
Bolt, however, isn't the only star on show tomorrow for team Jamaica, as the quarter-mile trio of national champion Novlene Williams-Mills, Rosemarie Whyte and 2009 Berlin silver medallist Shericka Williams are set to compete in the 400m heats, which start at 6:05 a.m. tomorrow (Jamaica time).
Williams-Mills and Whyte will start from lane eight in heat numbers one and three, respectively, while Williams will start from lane three in heat five, along with defending champion Sanya Richards-Ross.
Looking for place in final
Long jumper Jovanee Jarrett will be looking to book a place in the final when she faces qualification at 7:15 p.m. (Jamaica time). Jarrett is desperate to make it to the next round and seemed, judging from her businesslike demeanour in training, to have fully shaken off that frightening dislocated shoulder injury that she suffered at the National Trials in June.
Meanwhile, Smith will trumpet the Jamaican cause bright and early on Saturday morning here in Daegu in heat two of the decathlon 100m event (Friday 8 p.m. Jamaica time) before switching his attention to the long jump (Jamaica time - Friday 9 p.m.), and the shot put (Friday 10:50 p.m.).
Smith, who won silver at the Osaka World Championships in 2007, will be looking to score valuable points later in the evening in the decathlon high jump (Ja time - 6 a.m.) and the decathlon 400m scheduled for 8:40 a.m.