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USATF Championships Preview - Women's 400m

posted by AnnGaff, a Women Talk Sports blogger
Thursday, June 25, 2009 at 3:09pm PDT

About AnnGaff:

Chief Technical Officer, Women Talk Sports. I competed in Track & Field and Cross-Country in college at the University of Nebraska and competed professionally in Track & Field (3000m Steeplechase) fr...more

EDITOR'S NOTE: AnnGaff and LesleyHiggins are writing these previews for the USA Track & Field Championships, taking place this weekend in Eugene, OR, based on their firsthand Track & Field experience. Gaffigan and Higgins competed against each other in college, with Gaffigan representing the Nebraska Huskers and Higgins representing the Colorado Buffs. Both women competed last year in the 3000m Steeplechase at the Olympic Trials. This year, the two are spectators-from-afar of the USATF Championships/World Team Trials; Higgins is out with a broken foot and Gaffigan gave birth to a baby girl in May.

400m:

1st Round on Thursday, June 25 at 5:55pm
Semi-Final on Friday, June 26 at 5:05pm
Final on Saturday, June 27 at 5:15pm

Top 10 entry times:

Sanya Richards 49.86
Joanna Atkins 50.39
Jessica Beard 50.56
DeeDee Trotter 50.88
Monica Hargrove 51.00
Debbie Dunn 51.13
Leslie Cole 51.20
Keshia Baker 51.29
Shana Cox 51.44
Natasha Hastings 51.46

My picks:

1. Sanya Richards
2. Natasha Hastings
3. Jessica Beard

The class of this field is clearly Sanya Richards (pictured left), who is showing signs of her world-dominating self after struggling the past couple years with Bechet's Syndrome, a strength-sapping disease that struck this superstar in 2007 and from which she had to recover from barely in time for the Beijing Games. Richards stormed back to her #1 world-ranking this season with first a 49.86 at the Nike Prefontaine Classic and then with a 49.57 at the DKB-ISATF Meeting in Berlin.

The race for second will be tight between Beijing Olympian Natasha Hastings, who won the Adidas Track Classic 400m in May, and NCAA Champ Jessica Beard, who currently has the 4th-fastest time in the world. Also don't sleep on 2008 Olympian DeeDee Trotter.

USATF Championships Schedule, Results & Quotes

USATF Championships Day 1 Recap

USATF Championships Day 2 Recap

USATF Championships Day 3 Recap

USATF Championships Day 4 Recap

More USATF Championships Previews:

Watch the USATF Championships:

On TV:

ESPN, June 26, 8:00 - 10:00 p.m. ET
ESPN, June 27, 7:30 - 9:30 p.m. ET
NBC, June 28, 4:00 - 6:00 p.m. ET

Online:

LIVE All Weekend at Flotrack.org

View AnnGaff's Profile

Filed Under:
Track & Field, Sports

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