World Athletics Championships 2007: Bluffers Guide

by Sanchez, Shot To Nothing

As of right now, the countdown clock to Osaka 2007 reads 13 hours, 10 minutes and 33 seconds. And I'm excited as hell.

Now I know a lot of you find it difficult to get excited about track, but I also know that each and every one of you likes to sound like you know what you're talking about when you're spouting off on sports with your bud's. So here's your bluffers guide to the biggest Track and Field event this year. You can thank me later.

With out a doubt, the biggest event of the championships will be the Mens 100m final. Ok, it's not unusual for the 100m sprint to be the Blue Ribbon event, but this time it's different. This time we will see the biggest showdown between two athletes since... well, ever actually.

Jamaican Asafa Powell is the world record holder, the worlds fastest man and in the shape of his life. He has been all dominant since Justin Gatlin was found to be a drugs cheat, and it took a long time for a new challenger to enter the fray. But now that man is here and my word, what a challenger Tyson Gay is. Gay has not only looked faster than Powell this year, but has also consistently threatened to break the World Record himself. Gay has filled the huge hole for the U.S. that was left after Maurice Greene retired. Sure the U.S. always have a raft of great sprinters, but they rarely have the class, grace and composure that Greene had. Thankfully Tyson Gay has it in spades, he is humble, respectful and generally comes accross as a great guy.

As is always the case in a Championship year, Powell and Gay have avoided racing each other all season but there's no hiding now, only running. These two may well push each other to a new World Record and whoever wins the race (Gay, for my money, as Powell often has problems with nerves) will truly be able to claim the title of 'World's Fastest Man.' Trust me, you
don't want to miss this one.

Perhaps surprisingly, the Women's High Jump is the next on the list of must see events. It has been fiercely contested all season long with many athletes needing to hit PB's (Personal Bests) in order to win at meets. If there is a favorite, then it has to be Croatian Vampire giant Blanka Vlasic who has managed to clamber to the top of the pile on a semi-regular basis. The problem is that she seems to be highly unstable and regularly harangues the crowd for no good reason. If she starts well then she will almost certainly win, but if she has a bad first attempt here and there then watch for her to go a bit mental and blow the whole deal in a fit of Easter European rage. Yeahuh...

Adam Nelson is always a pleasure to watch in the Mens Shot-Put. If you haven't seen this guy before then you need to take a few minutes out of your hectic day to check him out. Outside of competition he seems to be a nice, well balanced dude who just happened to sell himself on Ebay
once to get some sponsorship. But once the games begin he is ludicrously intense, tossing his shirt to the floor and roaring to the heavens before every throw. Seriously, if we're talking comedy value, then this guys got it in spades.

Wow, this post is already long and I've only mentioned three damned events. Time for some stream-lining methinks.

Right, Jeremy Wariner may break Michael Johnsons World Record in the Mens 400m but even if he doesn't, that race is a done deal for him, barring injury. Yelena Isinbayeva has looked out of form this season but is always a threat to the Women's Pole Vault world record, let alone the rest of the field.

The Woman who came third in the 400m at the U.S. Championships was convinced to drop out so that Sanya Richards (whom she beat fair and square) can compete, which was pretty horrendous really. Great going team U.S., nice way to screw over an athlete. Richards will probably win the Womens 400m now, but in my mind she didn't qualify for this event fairly so she doesn't deserve it.

Australian Craig Mottram will be hoping to smash the East-African's strangle hold on the long distant events again by medallng (and perhaps even winning) in the Mens 5000m.

There are a couple of wannabe hometown heros to watch out for as well in Koji Murofushi, current Hammer Olympic Champion and (the amusingly named) Kayoko Fukushi who is the reigning Asian Champion at 10,000m. Both athletes will hope to win for the Japanese home crowd.

And there are so many other things that deserve a mention but this post is already insanely lengthy. Check out Don's World Athletics Championships Preview over on With Malice if you're bursting for more, but more importantly, make some time to watch the events. You won't be disappointed I promise.