PARIS, 30 August 2003 — John Capel of the United States rescued American sprinting pride as he led home a 1-2 in the final of the men’s 200 meters at the World Championships here yesterday. The 24-year-old timed 20.30sec to beat home compatriot Darvis Patton while Shingo Suetsugu won Japan’s first ever sprint medal at a global championships by taking the bronze.

The Americans’ spirited performances helped dim memories of their older and more experienced teammates in the 100m who failed to get a medal for the first time since 1995. “This was exactly what we wanted,” said Capel. “We knew the Americans could come back.”

Capel and Patton, though, promised their mission was not over yet as they bid to win the men’s 4x100m relay, the heats of which are today, and suggest a real changing of the guard in the American sprinting hierarchy with the fading of world record holder Tim Montgomery and Olympic champion Maurice Greene.

Capel had picked the Japanese runner out as his major rival after beating him in the semifinals and, for one moment as they came off the bend, it looked as if the 23-year-old Suetsugu could pull off a major surprise.

However, Capel held his nerve and it was Patton, the training partner of 100m champion Kim Collins, who came through to pose the late challenge. Capel just held on while Suetsugu dipped in time to edge out Britain’s Olympic 200m silver medalist Darren Campbell and after an anxious wait wept tears of joy on seeing him get the verdict over the Englishman before going on a lap of honor.

Felix Sanchez of the Dominican Republic became the first hurdler since the legendary Edwin Moses to retain the men’s 400 meters hurdles world title here yesterday. Sanchez, who will be 26 today, timed 47.25sec to beat home Joey Woody of the United States while former world junior champion Periklis Iakovakis of Greece took the bronze.

Sanchez has said all along he will never be able to rival Moses but in retaining the title he becomes the first one to do so since the American achieved that in 1983 and 1987.

Sanchez, who sports a tattoo of Superman on his shoulder, was never in trouble as he blew his opponents away from the start and rounding the bend it was a case of who would fill the minor placings.

The toughest roll of the dice fell the way of 1997 silver medalist Llewellyn Herbert as the South African looked well set for a medal but came crashing down at the final hurdle. The 26-year-old Olympic bronze medalist slapped the track in anger got to his feet and crossed the line in last place.

Dwight Phillips of the United States added the men’s outdoor long jump world title to his world indoor crown here yesterday. Phillips leapt out to 8.32 meters in the fifth round to clinch his second global crown in five months. Jamaica’s James Beckford took the silver with 8.28m while Spain’s Yago Lamela was third with 8.22m

A damp and cool night contributed to the winning distance being the shortest in World Championships history. The event failed to ignite in the opening rounds until Phillips shot out to 8.22m with his third effort.

Lamela briefly took the lead when he also went out to 8.22m in the fifth round, taking pole position on the basis of better earlier jumps, but then Beckford shot out to 8.28m followed by Phillips’ 8.32m.

None of the medal trio could improve with their sixth and final efforts. Phillips’ gold medal makes up for the disappointment he suffered in 2001. The Arizona-based athlete went to Edmonton with high hopes of a medal but could only finish eighth after he pulled a hamstring on his third attempt and could not take his final three jumps.

Reigning men’s 800 meters champion Andre Bucher of Switzerland failed to make the final of the event. Bucher was outclassed in a sprint down the home straight and finished fifth in a semifinal won by South Africa’s reigning Commonwealth champion Mbulaeni Mulaudzi.

With just the first two and two fastest losers set to progress from the three semi-finals, Bucher will not be on the start line of tomorrow’s final. Bucher might have suffered a few mental bruises but the damage was more physical to Kenya’s Nicholas Wachira, the 2000 world junior champion.

Wachira was left sprawling on the track during the first semi when an opponent clipped his heal. Russia’s Yuri Borzakovskiy won that semifinal in 1min 45.31secs, the fastest time of the three races, followed home by the Kenyan-born Dane Wilson Kipketer, the 1995, 1997 and 1999 world champion.

Meanwhile, German javelin thrower Boris Henry took inspiration from his American girlfriend Kelli White, who won the 100 and 200 meters double, to lead the qualifiers yesterday.

Henry launched the spear out to 83.43m with his first throw, one of just five men to go over the automatic qualifying standard of 81.00m. Jan Zelezny of the Czech Republic, three times a champion at both the Olympic Games and the World Championships, was also an easy qualifier with 82.88m

However, Britain’s Steve Backley, four-times European champion and twice a medalist at the World Championships, had to sweat for nearly two hours before finding out that he had made the 12 qualifiers for the final. Backley was throwing in the first pool and could only reach 80.23m with his three throws. He then had to wait until the second qualifying group had been completed later before finding out that he had made the cut.

The 1999 women’s high jump world champion Inga Babakova of the Ukraine failed to make the final of the event. Babakova could only clear 1.88 meters, compared to a season’s best of 2.01 meters, and was not among the top 12 jumpers who made tomorrow’s final. Also failing to make the cut was Romania’s Oana Pantelimon, the 2000 Olympic Games bronze medalist.

Young Denies Committing

Doping Offense

There was a new twist to the controversy surrounding newly crowned world 400 meters champion Jerome Young yesterday when he denied admitting to the Los Angeles Times he had tested positive for steroids in 1999. The LA Times had claimed earlier in the week that the 27-year-old American was allowed to run at the Sydney Olympics in 2000 after he was cleared on appeal by an internal inquiry following his testing positive for nandrolone in 1999.

He went on to win gold in the 4x400m relay having run in one of the heats. Young, who is due to run for the USA 4x400m relay team that begins its competition today, explained he could barely hear the questions from the LA Times journalist as it was on a mobile phone and the interrogator was in a noisy room.

However he denied that he had answered in the affirmative when asked if he had tested positive. “Some journalists have asked me about the impact of recent news stories on my outlook at the World Championships,” he said in a statement. “I have responded to those questions by saying that the stories have happened, I’ve put them behind me and moved on. I wish to make clear that I have never committed a doping offense.”