EUGENE, Ore. — Now that everyone knows which two races Allyson Felix will run, it’s time to find out if Tyson Gay is fit enough to win even one.
Over the next 10 days in Eugene, two of America’s best-known sprinters will try to qualify for a trip to the London Games, but while Felix heads into Olympic trials at the top of her game, Gay remains a question mark after months of struggling with injuries.
Felix finally ended the drama and said she’ll try for the 100-200 double, instead of the 200-400 she’d been training for over much of the last year.
“I said from the beginning that what’s most important for me is what’s going to help me run my best 200,” Felix said Thursday.
Felix takes to the track today, while Gay’s first heat in the 100 is Saturday.
He has spent most of the past year on the shelf with a hip injury. His first race back was in New York this month, where he ran 10.00 seconds into a headwind and said he felt good. The men’s 100, however, might be the most competitive event at Olympic trials, where three spots are available in each event and there are no concessions made for injuries, false starts or anything else.
Among those Gay will have to beat are 2009 national champion Michael Rodgers, Olympic bronze medalist Walter Dix, 2004 Olympic gold medalist Justin Gatlin and two-time Olympian Darvis Patton. And if Gay somehow gets through that gauntlet, Usain Bolt and Yohan Blake will be waiting in London.
“I definitely know people are counting me out,” Gay said. “I’d probably count someone out, too, if they hadn’t raced in over a year. I only have one race going into trials. I’m not really that sharp, so I understand that comes along with the sport. I think I can do it.”
In the men’s 400, LaShawn Merritt, running well after serving a 21-month ban for using a banned male-enhancement product that also has been identified as a steroid precursor, is the defending Olympic champion and trying to stay ahead of 2004 Olympic gold medalist Jeremy Wariner. Merritt calls the episode that led to his punishment an embarrassment.
“It happened. I had to deal with it, with the poor judgment call on my end, and it’s over,” he said.
Jenny Simpson, a three-time NCAA champion in steeplechase at the University of Colorado, headlines the women’s 1,500 field — an event she won last year at the world championships in South Korea.
Up to 120 spots on the Olympic team will be handed out by the end of competition July 1. The weather forecast for the first weekend in Eugene calls for highs in the low 60s and a good chance of rain. In other words, it could feel very much like London, which doesn’t bother too many people at this stage.
“For me, I don’t care if it’s raining, snowing,” sprinter Sanya Richards-Ross said. “I’ve been waiting for this for four years.”
Footnotes. Byron Mullens, a center for the Charlotte Bobcats, will miss the London Olympics because of a toe injury, depriving host Britain of one of its three NBA players. Detroit Pistons guard Ben Gordon and Chicago Bulls forward Luol Deng are the other NBA players on the Britain squad. … Andy Murray will play singles for Britain in the Olympic tennis tournament, which will be contested on grass at Wimbledon from July 28 to Aug. 5.
The Associated Press
