U.S. Track Team Suffers Day Of Disappointments

First, the U.S. men’s 400-meter relay team botched a handoff and didn’t get out of the first round. Then, Mike Powell lost his long jump title to Cuba’s Ivan Pedroso.

The best news for the Americans at the World Championships on Saturday was Allen Johnson’s victory in the 110-meter hurdles in 13 seconds.

The debacle in the 400 relay was devastating to the U.S. team, which has dominated the event in the World Championships and the Olympics.

“We had the team to win, but it didn’t happen,” said Jon Drummond, the second runner, whose handoff to Tony McCall wasn’t completed inside the changeover zone.

McCall, who replaced the injured Dennis Mitchell and was competing in his first international meet, ended up in tears. Drummond took the blame, saying he ran up too fast on McCall.

“I got slingshotted into the (passing) zone,” Drummond said. “The problem was the timing. This was something we weren’t worried about in practice. I was flying. I was running faster than I expected to.

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Handoffs have long been a problem for U.S. relay teams. The most renowned incident came during the 1988 Olympics when Lee McNeill took a handoff from Calvin Smith out of the zone during the first-round heats.

In the long jump, Pedroso got the world title, even if he doesn’t yet have the world record. The 22-year-old Cuban is waiting for track’s world governing body to approve a disputed jump for the world record last month.

His best leap of 28 feet, 6-1/2 inches Saturday was far short of his controversial performance of July 25 when he soared 29-4-3/4 at Sestriere, Italy. But it was superior to anyone else’s top effort, including that of Powell, the world record-holder.

The ailing Powell, suffering his fifth consecutive loss, was relegated to the bronze medal when James Beckford of Jamaica passed him for second place in the final round with a national record 27-2-3/4. Powell, whose various injuries include a misaligned vertebra, managed only 27-2-1/2.

Pedroso said his chances for a possible world record at the championships were negated by the swirling winds that at times changed from a headwind to a tailwind.

But Powell said he was certain that the 22-year-old Cuban eventually would get the record.

“He’s capable of breaking it,” Powell said. “We have similar technique - the hitch-kick, but he has great extension.”

In the hurdles, the 24-year-old Johnson charged out of the blocks smartly and held on, beating Britain’s Tony Jarrett, the runner-up, in 13.04, and two-time Olympic gold medalist and American record-holder Roger Kingdom, third in 13.19.

MEMO: This sidebar appeared with the story: WORLD TRACK AT A GLANCE Winners: Cuban Ivan Pedroso captured the long jump, beating Jamaica’s James Beckford and two-time defending champion Mike Powell of the United States. Pedro jumped 28 feet, 6-1/2 inches. Sonia O’Sullivan of Ireland won the 5,000-meter title in 14 minutes, 46.47 seconds over Fernanda Ribeiro of Portugal, who earlier had won the 10,000 title and had the world record in the 5,000. Allen Johnson of the United States won the 110-meter hurdles. Johnson finished in 13 seconds, the fastest time this season and tying him fourth-best ever. Martin Fiz of Spain came from behind to win the marathon to add to his European title from last year and Ellina Zvereva of Belarus won the women’s discus throw title. A look ahead: Finals on today’s final day: men’s 400 relay, 1,600 relay, javelin, 1,500, 5,000 women’s high jump, 800, 400 and 1,600 relay. 400-meter team fails while Powell settles for silver