Wariner, Merritt set stage for showdown in 400

EUGENE, Ore. – This was more a warm-up than the real thing. Still, it’s hard not to pay attention when Jeremy Wariner and LaShawn Merritt are running side by side.

Going shoulder to shoulder in the 400-meter semifinals Monday night at the U.S. Olympic trials, Wariner beat Merritt by .10 seconds to set up a rematch in the finals Thursday.

Wariner, the defending Olympic champion, improved to 12-2 lifetime against the man who figures to be his biggest competition this summer, finishing in 44.66 seconds and setting aside a loss to Merritt in Berlin last month that shook up the sport a bit.

“I think all Merritt and me were trying to do was just qualify, and make sure we get a preferred lane,” Wariner said. “We qualified 1-2, so it’s going to be interesting to see how the lineup is come Thursday. But we’ll be ready.”

It figures to be a two-man show when they meet Thursday in the finals, though you didn’t have to work hard to see them go at it on this night, either — even though the air was thick with haze and smoke due to winds blowing northward from the forest fires in California.

Wariner was in lane 4, Merritt in lane 5, and Merritt had a lead on the backstretch. But at about the 250-meter mark, Wariner started reeling him in. He had a comfortable lead down the stretch and, though Merritt closed the gap at the very end, it wasn’t by enough.

Merritt said that, like Wariner, his top priority was to make the final. Asked if he wanted Wariner next to him again Thursday, when the top three finishers get trips to the Olympics, he said “lanes do make a difference.”

Wariner has said he thinks he has a good shot at Michael Johnson’s venerable world record of 43.18 seconds at some point this summer, and Johnson said Saturday he thinks Wariner might be better off with someone pushing him.

Merritt appears to be the guy, though his win last month was somewhat unexpected. The only other time Wariner hadn’t beaten him head-to-head was when he pulled up and did not finish. This was their first rematch.

“It didn’t startle me,” Wariner said in an interview Saturday. “There have been races in the past where LaShawn has been with me at the 300 mark. The difference was, in those races, my finish was stronger. In Berlin, when I tried to kick for my finish, I didn’t go” anywhere.