The inability of Austin athletes to make a final at the 11th IAAF World Championships in Track & Field in Osaka, Japan (see previous post) has finally been snapped. Sanya Richards, the 2003 NCAA champion at 400 meters for the Texas Longhorns, easily qualified this morning for the final of the 200 meters by winning her semifinal heat in 22.50 seconds. She is strong contender for the gold medal, but the competition will be tough: Her American teammate Allyson Felix is the defending champion, and Jamaican Veronica Campbell could still be riding high from her victory in the 100 meters Monday. If you go to WCSN.com, you can watch Richards’ race live Friday morning at 7:15am. Or tune in that evening to the Versus network.
Other Austinites in action right now: As of this writing (8:09pm Austin time), two former Austinites are about go into action, both in the qualification round of the women’s high jump. Corpus Christi native Amy Acuff, who has competed in every World Championships since 1995, and Erin Aldrich, a former Longhorn NCAA Champ and Olympian. Acuff is the likelier of the two to make Sunday’s final, which she has done in five of her six appearances. Aldrich in recent years has concentrated more on playing pro volleyball in Italy, and it shows – she only placed 7th at the U.S. championships, and made the American team only because the athletes ahead of her did not have a jump this season high enough to qualify them for Osaka. (Interesting thought: the U.S. women’s high jump team could have been an all-Austin squad. UT’s Destinee Hooker qualified for the team, but declined the invitation because she is also a volleyball All-American and had to prepare for the upcoming season.)
UPDATE: Acuff qualified, Aldrich did not.
This article appears in August 24 • 2007.