Three former gold medalists are set to run at the U.S.A. Track and Field Championships in Des Moines. Reigning Olympic gold medalist Sanya Richards-Ross competes in tonight’s 400 meter prelims. The five-time world champion has spent much of this season battling back from injury.
Richards-Ross says she has a different outlook since the surgery. She says she’s realizing that you can’t last forever in the sport, and she knows she has 4 more years to compete and she will focus on that and making it to the Olympics in Rio.
Aries Merritt will run in the prelims of the 110 meter hurdles on Saturday afternoon. Merritt completed a dominant 2012 season by winning Olympic gold in London and has been fighting off a leg injury as he prepares for the U.S. meet.
Merritt feels like he is ready to post a fast time after battling a hamstring injury that turned out to be a small strain in the hamstring. Merritt says his goal is to make the team.
Justin Gatlin has been one of the world’s top sprinters for a decade and he will be in search of another trip to the world championships in the 100 meters. He is expected to run against his American rival Tyson Gay. “I would say when he’s healthy, he is definitely one of the most dangerous sprinters that you can compete against,” Gatlin says. But he says it is hard to know how Gay is going to run.
Gatlin beat reigning Olympic gold Usain Bolt at a meet in Rome this year but says it will take more than just one victory against Bolt to reclaim the title as “world’s fastest man”. “You have to continuously beat someone, especially in our field, to feel like you’ve really beat them,” Gatlin says. He says one win is considered a fluke, and you have to beat them more than once to prove yourself.
Gatlin will also compete in the 200 meter this week. The first round of the 100 is tonight.