Hard to Envision Hartwig's Misses

Hard to Envision Hartwig’s Misses

By MIKE PENNER

July 15, 2000 12 AM PT

TIMES STAFF WRITER

SACRAMENTO — No matter which way you looked at Friday’s men’s pole vault qualifying round, you couldn’t see American record holder Jeff Hartwig failing to qualify for the finals.

Hartwig couldn’t see it, either, which, as it develops, was precisely his problem.

Hartwig failed to even clear the qualifying height of 18 feet 2 inches Friday, and afterward placed some of the blame on his ongoing difficulties in finding the right fit of contact lenses.

“My plan was to have eye surgery after the trials to get rid of these contacts,” Hartwig said. “I’m not picking up the [pole-vault] box like I should. I’ve gone through boxes of contact lenses. I’ve tried about six different kinds.

“They pretty much bother me all the time. Halfway down the runway, you have to hold your eyes open so you can pick up the box good. Depth perception is so important. With it being relatively dry out here, [the lenses] definitely contributed to it.”

Hartwig, the 1999 U.S. champion and national record holder at 19 feet 9 1/2 inches, said he lost sight of the box just before he launched his third attempt.

“I was setting my run up good,” he said, “but as I left the ground, the box wasn’t where it was supposed to be [in his field of vision]. Visually, I was just not picking it up.

“Sometimes that happens when your legs are dead. But I felt great tonight. The legs were not a problem.”

Nick Hysong, seated alongside Hartwig in the interview tent, said he could empathize with his rival.

“I have mixed feelings,” Hysong said. “I qualified, but Jeff is one of my best friends. I was almost in tears when he missed his third jump.”

Vision problems, Hysong said, are “something we all go through. If your perception is not right, it can be very difficult to jump.”

Michael Johnson led all qualifiers for the men’s 400-meter semifinals with a time of 45.16 seconds, appearing as if he were jogging the final 100 meters.

Just trying to conserve energy while making sure the job got done, Johnson said.

“It’s supposed to feel as smooth and as easy as it looks,” he said. “At this point, I don’t think there’s anything in my race that needs work.”

Nor anything with Johnson’s level of self-esteem.

Asked if the Hornet Stadium running surface was a fast track, Johnson shrugged.

“I don’t know,” he said, before nonchalantly adding, “It doesn’t matter.”