NEXT STOP: WORLDS SOME OF NATION'S BEST WILL HEAD TO IAAF MEET.Byline: Sean Martin Sean Martin may refer to:
The United States United States, officially United States of America, republic (2005 est. pop. 295,734,000), 3,539,227 sq mi (9,166,598 sq km), North America. The United States is the world's third largest country in population and the fourth largest country in area. Outdoor Track and Field Championships, which get under way today at Home Depot The Home Depot (NYSE: HD) is an American retailer of home improvement and construction products and services. Headquartered in Vinings, just outside Atlanta in unincorporated Cobb County, Georgia, Home Depot employs more than 355,000 people and operates 2,164 big-box Center in Carson, serve a dual purpose this year. The meet will crown the nation's best athletes and also is a qualifier for the International Association of Athletics Federation's World Championships. The top three finishers in each event this week who have met the IAAF IAAF abbr. International Amateur Athletic Federation `A' qualifying standard will represent the United States in Helsinki, Finland, on Aug. 6-14. Athletes have until July 19 to meet the qualifying standard. ``To me, (the World Championships) is right up there with the Olympics,'' said 2004 Olympics 200-meter silver medalist Allyson Felix Allyson Felix (born November 18, 1985 in Los Angeles, California) is a track and field sprint athlete, competing internationally for the United States in the 200 meters. Felix, born and raised in southern California, is also a devout Christian and is the daughter of an ordained , an L.A. Baptist of North Hills graduate. ``You are still competing against the best athletes.'' The World Championships will offer some surprise Olympic gold Olympic Gold is the official video game of the XXV Olympic Summer Games, hosted by Barcelona, Spain in 1992. It was released for the Sega consoles, Mega Drive/Genesis and Master System, and Sega's handheld, Game Gear. medalists, such as 400-meter champion Jeremy Wariner and 100-meter hurdles winner Joanna Hayes, a chance to reaffirm their victories in Athens. ``As the returning (Olympic) champion, you want to show you can do it again and again,'' said Hayes, a former UCLA UCLA University of California at Los Angeles UCLA University Center for Learning Assistance (Illinois State University) UCLA University of Carrollton, TX and Lower Addison, TX standout. ``Having a title puts a little more pressure on you. Now you're a target.'' The World Championships also are a chance to make up for disappointing performances in Athens, said Quartz Hill High grad Michelle Perry, who finished 14th in the heptathlon heptathlon: see under decathlon. heptathlon Women's athletics competition. Contestants take part in seven different track-and-field events: 100-m hurdles, shot put, high jump, long jump, javelin throw, and 200- and 800-m runs. at the 2004 Olympics and will be one of the favorites in the 100-meter hurdles in Helsinki. That's if she makes the U.S. team. Some of the world's best athletes must advance through strong fields this week to get to Finland. Four runners in the men's 100-meter field, topped by Olympic gold medalist Justin Gatlin, have qualifying marks under 10 seconds. The top four runners in the women's 200 are separated by .22 seconds. Athletes need to be competitive this week but peak at the World Championships. Felix, for example, will not add speed work, the final stage of her training, until after this week, she said. ``Every athlete picks one focal point focal point n. See focus. for the season where they want to be at their best,'' former Canyon of Canyon Country standout Lauren Fleshman wrote in an e-mail. Fleshman represented the United States in the 2003 World Championships and will compete in the women's 5,000 meters this week. ``You can't train to peak at your absolute best for both, so you just make a goal and go for it.'' Track and field athletes relish the opportunity to compete in Europe. Most will head there after the national championship to compete in the world's premiere invitational meets. ``I don't think anywhere has the same aura as Europe,'' said UCLA grad John Godina, the world's leading shot putter. ``It's just different over there.'' Lauryn Williams, the reigning Olympic silver medalist in the 100, said track stars are celebrities in Europe and walk the streets in anonymity in the States. Her bus was mobbed by fans at one European meet last year. ``I think a lot of people here like to watch track and field,'' Williams said, ``but (in Europe) they have a true passion for it.'' CAPTION(S): photo Photo: Former L.A. Baptist standout Allyson Felix says the World Championships are as prestigious as the Olympics: ``You are still competing against the best athletes.'' Sarah Reingewirtz/Staff Photographer |
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