Richards & Campbell in Showdown for Gold

The 200m Osaka IAAF showdown in the womens event sees 2006 IAAF World Athlete of the Year Sanya Richards take on the Olympic gold medalist Veronica Campbell of Jamaica.

This must be one of the most anticipated races of the World Athletic Championships in 2007 as they are now joined by fellow Americans Torri Edwards the 2003 World Outdoor silver medalist and 2004 Olympian LaShaunte'a Moore. A clean sweep of medals for Team America is however unlikely due to in-form Campbell

www.400m.com sees three USA medals as a real possibility for the men and with the finals so heavily stacked with Americans there is little doubt Friday will deliver a massive boost to their medal tally; the only question is how much metal they go home with.

Gay "doubles" with 200m Gold

According to form American Tyson Gay despite a claimed injury blasted to gold in the 200m for a 100m/200m double at the World Championships with a 19.76 second sprint to take Michael Johnson's record at the event in the process.

Usain Bolt tried to reach Gay down the finishing straight but had to settle for second with 19.91, Wallace Spearmon was third in 20.05

"It was extremely hard," said Gay.

"Usain Bolt gave me a tough run but I held on for a tough victory."

In the process Gay equalled the Maurice Greene double of 1999 and who can doubt that he will be the man to watch over the coming European big money races in the next few weeks.

Americans to dominate 200m mens final ?

With three Americans in Thursday's men's 200m final after Wallace Spearmon and Rodney Martin ran 20.05 and 20.18 the only question is how big the medal haul will be.

Claiming a sore knee after his dominant 100m blast on Sunday Tyson Gay took the second heat in 20.00; good work by a man with the potential world sprint double in his sights.

Campbell and Gay for 100m and 200m sprint doubles ?

Veronica Campbell saw her 200 metres heat on Wednesday go to plan with the Jamaican 200m Olympic champion running home in 22.74 seconds.

She may now go on to claim the first women's sprint double in 16 years at the Osaka world athletics championships; a perfect set-up for the Beijing Olympics.

After a photo-finish 3/100 ths of a second 100m win on Monday it's unlikely the 200m will be quite so close.

Gay and Powell for Zurich's Weltklasse ?

Will Gay and Powell will renew their rivalry at Zurich's Weltklasse meeting on Friday week or will the rematch will have to wait until the Olympic final in Beijing? Thats the hot question in the media.

For Gay now he simply has to plan his assault on the 200m.

Follow his progress at www.200m.com

Jamaica’s Campbell compelled to solve ‘missing puzzle’

OSAKA, Japan:

Jamaica’s Olympic 200 metre champion Veronica Campbell says she badly needs a world championship gold medal to complete the “missing puzzle” from her cupboard of global honours. “I feel excited about it. It’s very important to me,” the 25-year-old said Thursday about her bid to win her first world title by competing in the two sprint events at the championships opening here at the weekend.

Campbell won both 100m and 200m titles at the world youth championships before winning the 200m and 4x100m relay golds at the 2004 Athens Olympics. At the 2005 world championships in Helsinki, she took silver in the 100m and the 4x100m relay and finished fourth in the 200m. “I think this missing puzzle here is what I need to fill. So it (Osaka championships) is very important to me,” she said.

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Men's 200m USA National Championships; 19.62

Tyson Gay demolishes the field and runs the second fastest 200m in the world!!!

Gay, Spearmon to lead talented U.S. men’s 100/200m sprint corps in Osaka

INDIANAPOLIS - Reigning national 100m/200m champion Tyson Gay and 2005 World Outdoor Championships 200m silver medalist Wallace Spearman will lead a young and very talented group of U.S. sprinters at the 2007 IAAF World Outdoor Championships in Athletics in Osaka, Japan, August 25-September 2.

Gay enters the Championships still riding the momentum from his amazing display at the AT&T USA Outdoor Championships in June at Indianapolis, where he won the 100m and 200m titles in the most dominant display of sprinting excellence ever seen at a single track meet in the history of the sport...

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