THE indomitable Kenyans made a clean sweep of the women’s long distance medals while Jamaican world record holder Usain Bolt is ready to enhance his legendary sprinting status with victory in the premier 100 metres race which will be contested today at the 13th World Athletics Championships being staged in Daegu, Korea. Bolt cruised in his quarter-finals heat and still posted the fastest time among all the qualifiers from seven heats when he clocked 10.10secs in winning heat five.
Joining Bolt into the semi-final rounds are three other Jamaicans – Yohan Blake (10.12secs), Nesta Carter (10.26) and Michael Frater (10.26) who won Heat Four, Five and Seven respectively.
Based on the 2011 seasonal times and their victory over their rivals, all four world class Jamaicans are expected to face the start for the showdown final which promises to be a sizzling affair despite the absence of Tyson Gay, Asafa Powell and druggies Steve Mullings and Michael Rogers.
European 100-metre champion Christophe Lemaitre of France won Heat Three in a time of 10.14 and beat former American Olympics and world champion Justin Gatlin into second place with 10.31secs. Gatlin is a twice proven ‘druggie’  and how on earth this guy is still allowed to race at recognised meet only helps to continue the tainting of world sports at the highest level, especially athletics with everyone of these dubious characters bent on achieving glory, fame and fortune at all cost.
It is because of these notorious “cheaters” that most people get turned off from the sports which was declining very fast until Bolt breathed new life into the sprint races with his phenomenal sprinting prowess and astonishing 100 and 200 world records at the 2008 Beijing Olympics and 2009 World Championships in Berlin.
Bolt’s training partner Blake has already had his name tainted with a short sentence last year with positive results in his urine samples. Four other athletes from that club including former Commonwealth 100-metre champion SherryAnn Brooks was also among the tainted lot.
There is nothing to stop guys like Gatlin and Great Britain’s proven druggie Dwain Chambers, whose character and reputation are already tarnished, to indulge in disreputable practices to attain glory again. In fact, only one week ago, Gatlin declared in an interview carried in a British newspaper that he is not concerned about anything but is out to prove that he is the best sprinter in the world.
Among some of the other notable qualifiers for the 100 Semis are American Walter Dix who won Heat 2 in 10.25 and Trinidadian Richard Thompson (10.34secs) who finished third behind American Trell Kimmons (10.32) and Kittitian Kim Collins, who at age 35 showed that there is still some power in his legs, won Heat 1 in 10.13secs.
It is very difficult to make a proper assessment and analysis when not having seen the actual races in Daegu; but I will follow my instincts and predict that from among the list of semi-finalists, I expect Bolt and his Jamaican compatriots Blake, Frater, Carter to make the finals which also include Dix, Thompson, Lemaitre and Bailey. Six Caribbean stars plus an American and a Frenchman to battle for world supremacy and the title as the ‘world fastest human’.
The women’s 100 prelims and quarter-finals will be contested today while the semis and final will be on tomorrow to decide the world’s fastest woman. I expect Jamaica’s speed queens Veronica Campbell-Brown and ShellyAnn Francis-Bruce and American champion Carmelita Jeter to be involved in a hotly contested final that should also include Jamaican Kerron Stewart who won silver in Berlin and cannot be counted out of the medals.
I do not like to blow any trumpet but those who follow my predictions in last Thursday’s Column will remember that I predicted that Kenyan Edna Kiplagat will win the marathon title from her compatriots.
The 31-year-old did indeed produce a sterling performance to win the gruelling race in 2mins 28.43secs. She became the second Kenyan woman, after Catherine Nadereba to celebrate the global world crown. The mother of two was followed home by compatriots Priscah Jeptoo (2: 29.00) and Sharon Jemutai Cherop (2: 29.21, season’s best).
And as I had predicted, there was more joy and glory for the Kenyans when Vivian Jepkemoi Cheruiyot led home the Kenyans train in the 10 000 metres. She established her season’s best with 30mins, 48.98secs. And she out-sprinted her compatriots Sally Kipyego (30: 50.59) and Linet Chepkwemoi Masai (30:53.59; season’s best). 
Ethiopian 5 000-metre specialist Meserat Defar who was hoping to do the double but did not make it through the keenly-contested race which saw Masai taking the lead pacer role for much of the second half the race. Cheruiyot bided her time and made her move in the final two laps and increased the lead and pressure to win the gold medal which puts her in a strong position to win the long-distance double in the absence of Ethiopia’s Olympics and world champion Tirunesh Dibaba.
Defar, once she is fit, will seek to redeem herself in the 5 000 which promises to be something special as Cheruiyot would be going all out to notch the double.
The Kenyans would be hoping that 80-metre specialist David Rudisha continue the golden march with victory in the men’s 800 metres. The new world record holder won his heat easily in 1min. 46.23secs which was slower that his Sudan’s rival Abubaker Kaki who clocked the fastest qualifying time when he won his heat in 1:44.83.
Although Russia’s Yuriy Borzakovskiy won the first heat in 1:46.1, he has not produced the times during the year to pose any serious threat to Rudisha and Kaki taking gold and silver. But Ethiopia’s rising star Mohammed Aman displayed remarkable speed and stamina to split Kaki and Kenyan Alfred Kirwa Yego in their heat.
The 17-year-old won the first World youth Olympics 800-title last year in Singapore with a time of 2:19.54secs while he had to settle for silver at this year’s 7th World Youth Championships with a time of 1:44.68 on July 9 in Lille, France.
Yesterday, he tracked Kaki and posted 1:45.17 and bettered Yego who managed 1:45.50. He is nowhere close to Rudisha’s world record time of 1:41.01 set at Reiti, Italy on August 29 last year or Kaki’s career best of 1:42.23 set at Oslo, Norway, on June 4, 2010; but he has shown amazing improvement from last year. It will be a great achievement to mount the medals podium in Korea.
Meanwhile Rudisha, who was voted IAAF “Athlete-of-the-Year” for 2010 and took the title from Bolt who won in 2008 and 2009, can upstage Bolt again should he break his own world mark.
On the other hand, Kaki, who is twice world Indoor 800-metre champion in 2008 and 2010, cannot be counted out of the reckoning and he is capable of upsetting Rudisha’s plan to celebrate his first global senior title and also break the Kenyan monopoly in the event.
Formerly, the 400-metre was considered the longest sprint but with Rudisha and Kaki racing at these times, they now make the 800-metre the longest sprint. The 1:41.01 will break down to less than 12.4secs per 100 metres which reveals the astonishing pace these guys have been racing to break the 1:40.00 barrier. I have a feeling it may happen today.
Going for gold today would be Germany’s Nadine Muller in the women’s discus. She hurled the disc to 65.54 to win her heats from Cuba’s champion Yarelys Barrios (63.80) while Chinese Yanfeng Li prevailed in the other heat with a throw of 64.44 metres with Polish Zaneta Glanc (63.44) and American Stephanie Brown-Taflon (61.89) in that order.
Muller had a personal best of 67.78m at Wiesbaden on May 8 last year while her 2011 season’s best is 66.05 at Halle on May 21. Her major rival for the gold is China’s Li whose personal best is 67.98 set at Schonebeck on June 5 this year.
In the women’s long jump, Brazil’s Maureen Higa Maggi leapt 6.86m to lead the finalists that also included Belarus’ Nastassia Mironchyk-Ivanova (6.80) and Russia’s Darya Klishina (6.77) from her heat while American Britney Reese (6.79) is in the other heat with Portugal’s Naide Gomes (6.76) and Russia’s Olga Kucherenko (6.67) among the top three.
While some of the established stars will prove their worth with sterling performances, I expect a number of rising stars to make impressionable outings at the global championships that have attracted athletes from 202 countries.