The start of Kelli White’s final Sunday at the World Track and Field Championships was delayed some 30 minutes because U.S. teammate Jon Drummond bollixed the schedule by protesting his disqualification from the men’s 100-meter quarterfinals for a false start.
White also was running the 100, a race in which the athletes usually are so twitchy any unexpected event can throw them off stride.
Not knowing when the race actually would begin, White kept stretching and did a few extra warmup drills. It did not relieve the tension.
“Sitting back there, ready to go, it’s pretty nerve-wracking already,” she said.
White, U.S. champion in the 100 and 200, made it worse with a very poor start once she finally ran.
“It gets scary when I do get out of the blocks kind of slow,” White said. “It’s such a strong field, you can’t catch everybody. I was a little concerned.”
Forty meters later White left the other seven finalists vainly trying to catch her before winning her first world title in a personal-best 10.85 seconds, fastest in the world this year. Torri Edwards of the U.S. was second in a personal-best 10.93. Defending champion Zhanna Block of Ukraine took third in 10.99.
Two-time world 100 champion Marion Jones, a new mother, watched from trackside, where she is working as a TV commentator. To those who would suggest White won only in her absence, it should be noted Jones’ best time since winning Olympic gold in 2000 is just a tick faster at 10.84.
“I think Marion is a great athlete,” White said. “It takes years to achieve what she has. I have years to go. I think this is really my first season.”
White, 26, still considers the 200 her better event. Later this week she will try to become the first woman since 1991 to win the 100 and 200 at the same world meet.
Two other new champions gave dazzling performances.
Ethiopia’s Kenenisa Bekele, 21, sprinted away in the final 250 meters from his venerated countryman, five-time Olympic and world champion Haile Gebreselassie, to win the 10,000 in a meet-record 26 minutes 49.57 seconds.
Sweden’s Carolina Kluft, 20, became the first woman in 11 years–and just the third ever–to score 7,000 points in the heptathlon, winning with 7,001. Kluft is the youngest to win a world heptathlon medal.
