Atheltics Weekly

IAAF WORLD CHAMPS 2017
LIKELY NEW KID ON THE BLOCK
200m
THERE will be a new half-lap
champion in 2017 with Usain
Bolt not defending and it looks
to be an open race.
The two fastest in the
rankings, Isaac Makwala and
Wayde van Niekerk, could be
potentially running their sixth
race come the final as both are
also contesting the 400m.
Makwala has the fastest time
at 19.77 but it is Van Niekerk
who has the proven competitive
record and starts favourite over
the Botswana athlete and could
sit alongside Michael Johnson
as the only joint 200m and
400m world champions.
With a 19.26 PB, Yohan
Blake is the quickest in the
field but failed to make the Rio
Olympic final last year and lacks
WILL Olympic champion
Wayde van Niekerk run flat
out? With the 200m to come,
the South African may try to
hold something back and not
repeat his Rio heroics.
consistency over the longer
distance.
Rasheed Dwyer and
Warren Weir complete a strong
Jamaican trio.
Andre De Grasse has
not broken 20 seconds this
He actually had little in hand
when beating Isaac Makwala
in Monaco and US champion
Fred Kerley looks a genuine
talent too but it is hard to see
Van Niekerk not defending in
style.
Former champion LaShawn
summer but he won in Rome,
was the best of the rest behind
Bolt in Rio and has to be one of
the favourites.
Akani Simbine and Jereem
Richards have been inside
20 seconds this summer and
so can’t be discounted and
Ramil Guliyev is another strong
potential finalist.
Ameer Webb leads what
looks a much reduced in quality
US trio with Isiah Young and
Kyree King and it is possible
there won’t be a US finalist but
possibly three Britons instead.
British champion Nethaneel
Mitchell-Blake could go very
close to a medal, if he can
reproduce his 19.95 PB form of
last year. He should benefit from
most of his rivals running their
second event, while he goes in
to his races fresh.
Zharnel Hughes was fifth in
the last world final and has not
reproduced that form in 2017,
but could take a place in the
final, as could Danny Talbot.
The ultra consistent Talbot is
in the best shape of his life and
he just missed the final in Rio,
finishing third in his semi-final. SS
DEFENDER VAN NIEKERK SHOULD WIN
400m
Wayde van Niekerk
just beat Isaac Makwala
in Monaco
Danny Talbot and Nethaneel Mitchell-
Blake: could make London 200m final
JEAN PIERRE DURAND
Event statistics
World record: 19.19 Usain Bolt
(JAM)
Champs record: 19.19 Bolt
Defending champion: Bolt
British interest: Zharnel Hughes,
Nethaneel Mitchell-Blake, Danny
Talbot
AW prediction: 1 Van Niekerk (RSA);
2 De Grasse (CAN); 3 Blake (JAM)
History: Bolt had run in the six
previous finals, winning the last four,
although was last in 2005. Calvin
Smith and Michael Johnson are the
only other double winners.
Event statistics
World record: 43.03 Wayde van
Niekerk (RSA)
Champs record: 43.18 Michael
Johnson
Defending champion: Van Niekerk
British interest: Dwayne Cowan,
Matthew Hudson-Smith, Martyn
Rooney
AW prediction: 1 Van Niekerk; 2
Kerley (USA); 3 Gardiner (BAH)
History: Michael Johnson stands
alone with four gold medals but
two-time champion Merritt is
chasing his sixth individual medal.
Merritt has not run a 400m
since May 5 and only qualified
by his Diamond League win
last season and doesn’t
look fully fit. Another former
champion, Kirani James, is
not competing.
The battle for medals is
open and another Botswana
athlete Baboloki Thebe,
American Gil Roberts and
Bahamian Steve Gardiner look
the best of the rest.
Matthew Hudson-Smith
made the final in Rio but,
ranked 15th among London
competitors, will need a big
advance on his 2017 best of
44.99 to repeat in London.
European champion Martyn
Rooney is improving race
by race but currently worldranked
96th, even a semifinal
spot would need a huge
improvement in form.
So too would Dwayne
Cowan, who is making his
championships debut at the
age of 32. Only fourth in the
UK trials, he qualified with a
45.36 in London. SS
3 0 A T H L E T I C S W E E K L Y