Richards-Felix: giving some quarter
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The race that should have been a highlight of the Olympics -- and of the U.S. Olympic trials -- is scheduled to take place Tuesday at the DN Galan meet in Stockholm.
That is Allyson Felix against Sanya Richards in the 400 meters.
The international track federation deprived the world of a possible Beijing showdown between the two U.S. stars by refusing to make a schedule change that would have made a 200/400 double practicable in the Olympics.
That left Felix to concentrate on the 200 and Richards the 400, the races that each won handily at the U.S. trials in Eugene.
Track fans had been buzzing about a Felix-Richards confrontation since Felix, who runs the 400 rarely, upset Richards (49.70 to 49.72) in last year’s Stockholm meet. Richards had reasserted her supremacy in the event by the end of last season, beating Felix easily (49.79 to 50.17) in their only other meeting, at the Golden League meet in London.
But Felix showed again how good she could be with a startling 48.0 split (to Richards’ 49.07) on the winning 4 x 400 relay at the 2007 worlds.
Felix shares the 2008 world-leading 400 time (49.83) with Botswana’s Amantle Montsho, who also is scheduled to run in Stockholm, with Richards next at 49.86. The only big name missing from the race is Great Britain’s Christine Ohuruogu, who won the 2007 world title in the absence of Richards, who failed to qualify for the event because she was ill at the U.S. world trials.
Track & Field News ranked Richards, Ohuruogu and Felix 1-2-3 in the 400 for 2007.
Subscribers to wcsn.com can watch Tuesday’s race streamed live.
-- Philip Hersh
Top photo: Sanya Richards reacts after winning the gold medal in the women’s 400 meter during U.S. Olympics trials earlier this month in Oregon. Credit: Kirby Lee/Image of Sport-US PRESSWIRE
Insert: Allyson Felix after winning the gold medal in the women’s 200 meter finals during the U.S. Olympic Trials on July 6. Credit: Andy Lyons/Getty Images
