World track set for a nine-day run

HELSINKI, Finland – Olympic champion Justin Gatlin climbs into the blocks for the 100-meter preliminaries, the American men go for a shot put sweep and Britain’s Paula Radcliffe begins her quest for atonement after her Athens debacle.

The world track and field championships, one of the largest athletic gatherings outside the Olympics, begin today with the first of nine days of suspense, surprise and subplots.

“This is where new stars are made, old stars fade away,” said Allen Johnson, at 34 seeking his fifth world title in the 110 hurdles.

While opening-day conditions should be dry, weather later on could be a problem in this northern European capital, where the extended forecast calls for light rain much of the coming week. That could slow the times and shorten the distances, but probably won’t dampen the intensity of the meet staged the year after and the year before each Olympics.

The meet returns to Helsinki after 22 years. The Finnish city was site of the first world championships in 1983. Olympic Stadium was completed in 1938 for what was to have been the 1940 Olympics. When the Olympic movement resumed after World War II, the stadium served as the centerpiece for the 1952 Helsinki Games.

Gatlin begins a busy week, when he plans to compete in the 100 and 200, as well as anchor the 400 relay. The first two rounds of the 100 are today, with the semifinals and finals on Sunday. The 23-year-old American was deprived of his showdown with world record holder Asafa Powell when the Jamaican withdrew with a groin injury, but there are plenty of others who can beat him on any given day, including U.S. teammates Shawn Crawford and Leonard Scott.

Finals are scheduled today in the men’s shot put, women’s 10,000 meters and men’s 20-kilometer walk.

The American trio of John Godina, Christian Cantwell and Adam Nelson has the nine best shot put marks in the world this year, so a sweep would seem a distinct possibility.

Radcliffe will run in the 10,000, the final event tonight, but she is a long shot in a race in which the favorites include young Ethiopian sisters Tirunesh and Ejegayehu Dibaba. Radcliffe has said she is using the 10,000 as a warmup for the marathon next Saturday. She failed to finish either race at the Athens Olympics.