Is Allyson Felix’ Time In 200m Heats A Cause For Concern?
Posted by Jimmie R. Markham | August 18, 2008
If Allyson Felix is not careful, she could find herself suffering the same fate Tyson Gay had in the men’s 100m—that is, being a spectator when it’s time for the finals. Her qualifying mark of 23.02 in the opening heats of the women’s 200m dash was ranked only 9th. She hadn’t raced since the London Grand Prix on July 25th, 2008. There she finished 4th with a time of 23.00, a full 3/10th of a second behind Sherone Simpson’s winning time of 22.70. Ten days ago, she wrote this in her blog:
I ran very poorly in Stockholm and London because I was just exhausted. I had made trips back and forth to Europe and my legs were simply dead. My coach Bobby Kersee and I debated running the 200m in London because I was feeling fatigued so when I came off the curve and realized I couldn’t shift to another gear I just cruised in as to prevent injury.
Now it appears that her legs might not be any less dead than they were in London. Of course, these are the opening heats and she did finish 1st in hers. Still, her winning time was only the 4th fastest out of 6 heats. A year ago in Osaka, she ran her opening heat at the world championships in 22.50, over a half second faster than she ran today. Nobody else ran faster than her that day. Today, eight people have done so.
There’s probably no need to panic, but we might want to keep a close watch on her form as she progresses through the rounds.
| Rank | Athlete | NAT | Time | |
| 1. | Muna Lee | USA | 22.71 | Q |
| 2. | Muriel Hurtis-Houairi | FRA | 22.72 | Q |
| 3. | Cydonie Mothersill | CAY | 22.76 | Q |
| 4. | Rakia Al-Gassra | BRN | 22.81 | Q |
| 5. | Nataliya Pyhyda | UKR | 22.91 | Q |
| 6. | Sherone Simpson | JAM | 22.94 | Q |
| 7. | Emily Freeman | GBR | 22.95 | Q |
| 8. | Yuliya Chermoshanskaya | RUS | 22.98 | Q |
| 9. | Allyson Felix | USA | 23.02 | Q |
| 10. | Kerron Stewart | JAM | 23.03 | Q |
| 11. | Susanthika Jayasinghe | SRI | 23.04 | Q |
| 12. | Veronica Campbell-Brown | JAM | 23.04 | Q |
| 13. | Kadiatou Camara | MLI | 23.06 | Q |
| 14. | Marshevet Hooker | USA | 23.07 | Q |
| 15. | Roxana Díaz | CUB | 23.09 | Q |
| 16. | LaVerne Jones-Ferrette | ISV | 23.12 | Q |
| 17. | Ivet Lalova | BUL | 23.13 | q |
| 18. | Virgil Hodge | SKN | 23.14 | Q |
| 19. | Natalia Rusakova | RUS | 23.21 | Q |
| 20. | Debbie Ferguson-McKenzie | BAH | 23.22 | Q |
| 21. | Ionela Târlea | ROU | 23.24 | Q |
| 22. | Aleksandra Fedoriva | RUS | 23.29 | Q |
| 23. | Oludamola Osayomi | NGR | 23.31 | Q |
| 24. | Darlenis Obregón | COL | 23.33 | q |
| 25. | Sheniqua Ferguson | BAH | 23.33 | Q |
| 26. | Adrienne Power | CAN | 23.40 | q |
| 27. | Evelyn dos Santos | BRA | 23.43 | q |
| 28. | Guzel Khubbieva | UZB | 23.44 | q |
| 29. | Vincenza Calì | ITA | 23.44 | q |
| 30. | Allison George | GRN | 23.45 | q |
| 31. | Inna Eftimova | BUL | 23.50 | q |
| 32. | Eleni Artymata | CYP | 23.58 | Q |
Topics: Blog, Olympic Games, Sprints/Hurdles, Team USA |
August 18th, 2008 at 11:32 pm
Yes, I have actually been alarmed ever since her performance at the adidas track classic.
Throw out today’s time and look at her body mechanics. It’s not looking good.
Allyson has not looked like herself since late May. Quite frankly, she may have peaked in Doha (May 9) when she ran 10.93 and 49.83.
Veronica Campbell-Brown is hungry and will push the race to 21.89 in the finals.
The question to be seen is whether Allyson is overtrained or has something left at this point???
Jay Hicks.
August 19th, 2008 at 8:38 pm
i am a felix fan but honestly it look bad, it seem Jamaica might clean sweep the 200m
jamlovee@yahoo.com
August 21st, 2008 at 2:07 pm
Well Campbell-Brown ran a personal best of 21.74, so I guess we found out the answer, huh?