Saturday, June 28, 2008
EUGENE, Ore. (AP) — Back from her BALCO-related suspension, Chryste Gaines qualified for the 100-meter quarterfinals at the U.S. Olympic track and field trials Friday.
Gaines clocked 11.15 seconds, good enough for fourth place in her heat and a spot in the second round later on Day 1 of the meet to determine the roster for the Beijing Games. The 100 semifinals and final are today.
Allyson Felix, hoping to compete in four events in China, won her heat in 11.01, overcoming a relatively slow start to accelerate past the field in the final 50 meters.
“It feels good to get it started, but it could’ve been a lot better,” Felix said.
Also advancing to the quarterfinals: Marshevet Hooker, whose wind-aided 10.94 was the fastest time of the opening round; Muna Lee, who won her heat in 11 seconds; 2004 Olympic silver medalist and 2005 world champion Lauryn Williams, who finished behind Lee in 11.03; and 2003 world champion Torri Edwards, who pulled out to a big lead in her heat then eased way up and still won it in 11.16.
Edwards couldn’t compete at the 2004 Olympics because she was banned after testing positive for a stimulant.
Gaines, a two-time Olympic relay medalist, was banned for two years in December 2005, along with former men’s 100 world record-holder Tim Montgomery. Their punishments were based not on positive drug tests but on evidence gathered in the criminal investigation of the Bay Area Laboratory Co-Operative and the testimony of fellow sprinter Kelli White.
Montgomery and Gaines were among dozens of athletes who testified in 2003 before a federal grand jury in San Francisco probing BALCO.
They also were part of the series of athletes whose scandals and suspensions placed a cloud over the sport, a cloud that Felix and others are hoping to lift.
Eager to improve the way she gets going in the 100, Felix took up coach Bob Kersee’s suggestion to get accustomed to the blocks she lined up in at Hayward Field.
“Whatever little edge I can get,” Felix said, “I’m going to take it.”
She also will be racing in next week’s 200, and wants to make the U.S. roster in the 400 and 1,600 relays, too.
The competition got off to a quick start under a cloudless sky with the temperature approaching 90 degrees: In the very first event of the 10-day meet, Hyleas Fountain broke Jackie Joyner-Kersee’s decade-old U.S. record in the heptathlon 100 hurdles.
Fountain, a two-time national champion in the heptathlon, finished in 12.65, eclipsing Joyner-Kersee’s mark of 12.69. Fountain also bested Joyner-Kersee’s Olympic trials record of 12.71 from 1988, and Joyner-Kersee’s U.S. national championship record of 12.77 from 1991.
Diana Pickler was second with 3,750, followed by Jacquelyn Johnson with 3,717.