Richards and Carter return to form in Zurich Golden League
September 11th 2007 13:11
Carter, in his first 200m race since sustaining a knee injury at the US championships last June stopped the clock in 19.92 – a meeting record.
Meanwhile Richards was left wondering what if when she took the women’s 400m race in a world leading time of 49.36.
The Clyde Hart trained athlete hasn’t showed great consistency this season and failed to qualify for the world championships but when she gets it right she is head and shoulders above the rest of the field including world champion Christine Ohuruogu who finished down in 4th here with 51.32.
Victory in Zurich kept Richards in the hunt for the golden league crown and a share of a $1 million jackpot.
Another American Michelle Perry however failed in her latest outing. Having won the previous 3 100m hurdles races Perry was a frustrated 3rd here behind Susanna Kallur (4th in Osaka) and Delloreen Ennis-London (3rd in Osaka). Kallur ran 12.66 with both Perry and Ennis-London clocking 12.68.
The final athlete in with a shout of the jackpot is Yelena Isinbaeva who made made it 4 out of 4 in the women’s pole vault.
She didn’t have it all her own way though – clearing a competition winning 4.80m with her 3rd and final attempt.
The competition is also getting a lot closer to the Russian with former world champion Svetlana Feofanova leading the chasing pack with 4.75m here.
The women’s 100m was a surprising affair with Christine Arron, the 6th place finisher in Osaka beating the silver medallist Lauryn Williams and bronze medallist Carmelita Jeter as well as Torri Edwards (4th) and Kim Guevert (5th).
Like nearly every other event ran on the night those who were in action in Japan saw their performance suffer slightly so the time of 11.17 for Arron is not inspiring by itself but taken in context will provide a moral boosting triumph going into the closing weeks of the season.
In the men’s event Portugal’s Francis Obikwelu made up for his disqualification in the heats in Osaka with a win here in 10.17.
Finally Blanka Vlasic made no mistake in the women’s high jump clearing 2.04m ahead of the 2.01m effort of Russian Yelena Slesarenko.
You won’t have long to wait for the next round of the golden league – it takes place in Brussels this Friday night.
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