U.S. meet races with new names, fresh talent

INDIANAPOLIS – Justin Gatlin is serving a doping suspension. Marion Jones has married and vanished from public view.

Judging from the talent on display at this week’s U.S. track and field championships, the sport will get along just fine without them.

“Great, even better,” was Tyson Gay’s assessment of the U.S. men’s sprints without Gatlin, who ran and won the 100 meters at last year’s U.S. meet even though he knew he had tested positive for steroids two months earlier.

Gay finished second and was declared national champion once Gatlin was suspended.

Only the world-record runs of Asafa Powell and Gatlin (9.77 seconds) were faster than Gay’s 9.84 100 last year. This year, Gay had eye-popping, though wind-aided, times of 9.79 and 9.76 over the past month.

The four-day meet will determine the U.S. team that will compete at the world championships in Osaka, Japan, Aug. 25-Sept. 2. The top three finishers in each event make the U.S. team. Defending world champions – such as Jeremy Wariner in the 400 and Allyson Felix in the 200 – are automatically qualified to defend their titles.

The 100 preliminaries are among the events scheduled today at Mike Carroll Stadium, where Gatlin and Jones drew the biggest cheers a year ago.

Lauryn Williams, reigning world 100 champion and Olympic silver medalist, said it is nice not to have the media scrutiny that accompanies Jones.

“It’s nice not to have the drug questions,” Williams said. “I think that with the presence of certain people, the more you people would have asked ‘What do you think about the scandal? What do you think about this?’ I don’t know if it’s just me, but I seem to not have those questions this year.”

Jones quietly married sprinter Obadele Thompson in February, then the couple settled in the Austin, Texas, area. Her coach, Steve Riddick, said last week that he did not expect Jones to compete this year.

“I think it’s good,” Felix said. “You have different names and you have a younger crowd. I know that we’re all excited about it, and we’re just trying to bring a positive light to the sport.”

That, of course, was what Gatlin had preached before he tested positive. Williams doesn’t believe Gatlin’s case will taint the other young U.S. athletes.

“I think our personalities as people and individuals stand out,” she said. “I don’t feel I’ve been judged as part of a group because of what happened to him or anyone else. I’m still Lauryn Williams, she’s still Allyson Felix, she’s still Sanya Richards. I don’t think we’re accused of anything because we’re part of the young group.”