Some Austinites and current and former Longhorns will be competing in the 11th IAAF World Championships in Athletics (Track & Field) in Osaka, Japan, over the next nine days, a track meet that is equivalent in stature to the Olympics as far as competitiveness is concerned. Officially, the championships don’t begin until Saturday morning, but since Japan is 14 hours ahead of us, that means tonight (Friday evening).
Three of the likeliest medal contenders (all on the women’s side) will be former Longhorns Sanya Richards in the 200 meters and 4×400 relay and Melaine Walker (competing for Jamaica) in the 400 meter hurdles, and former Texas high school champion Amy Acuff in the high jump, but they don’t start competing until a couple of days from now. Former Longhorn NCAA champ Nicole Denby is also a possibility in the 100 meter hurdles.
More of an outside shot is junior Longhorn miler Leo Manzano, a native of Marble Falls. His heat in the 1,500 meters fires off tonight at 9:35pm Austin time. If he can survive today’s race and the Aug. 27 semifinal, he can go for the gold on Aug. 29. You can watch it live over the Internet by going to WCSN.com and paying for a (pretty cheap) subscription. If you prefer watching on television, highlights will be shown each day on the Versus cable channel, and weekends on NBC.
This article appears in August 24 • 2007.