VICTORIA, British Columbia, 22 July 2003 — Nicolas Macrozonaris won the 200 meters at the Canadian Track and Field Championships, becoming the first since Ben Johnson complete the sprint double.
Macrozonaris, who won the 100m on Saturday, joins a select list that includes disgraced sprinter Johnson (1987) but also Percy Williams (1928), Desai Williams (1983), Harry Jerome (1960) and Johnson’s trainer Charlie Francis (1970 and 1971).
Macrozonaris, who rarely runs the 200, clocked a time of 20.85 seconds. He won the 100m in 10.13.
In the women’s sprints, Erica Witter captured the 200m in 23.34. She also won the 100m on Saturday.
Macrozonaris, 22, will join 800m runner Diane Cummins, ranked fourth in the world, and the worlds third-ranked high jumper Mark Boswell on Canada’s team which will compete in the world championship next month in Paris.
Canada’s team will consist of about two-dozen athletes.
Some of Canada’s athletes plan to compete next month in the Pan American Games in Santo Domingo with the hope of making the final qualification standards for the Paris worlds.
Olympic Champion Kosgei Out of Kenyan Trials
In Nairobi, Olympic and world 3,000 meters steeplechase champion Reuben Kosgei became the second athlete in as many weeks to withdraw from the Kenyan world championships trials to be held on Friday and Saturday in Nairobi.
Speaking by telephone from his Eldoret home north-west of Nairobi yesterday, Kosgei said he has an Achilles problem that has nagged him since his last race in Hengelo, the Netherlands, on May 29, where he finished second to compatriot Paul Koech.
“This injury has virtually ruled me out of major meetings this season. Maybe I will run a few Grand Prix races after the world championships but that will depend on the state of the injury,” Kosgei told Reuters.
“I can’t run at the trials because of it (the injury). Athletics Kenya has insisted that even defending champions must run at the trials to be included in the team, which is as good as slamming the door on me.
“I cannot make it this week. If they allow me into the team through the wild card system, I can try hard to peak within the four weeks remaining. But running at the trials to get selected is totally out of the question,” added the 24-year-old. World half-marathon champion Paul Kosgei said last week that a calf injury meant he would not take part in the trials at the Moi International Sports Centre, Kasarani, some 15 km north of the capital.
Kosgei, who ran the fastest 10,000 meters ever at altitude during Kenya’s Commonwealth Games trials last year, said he would instead concentrate on defending his world half-marathon title in Villamoura, Portugal, in October.
Athletics Kenya will on Saturday name the team to represent the East African nation, known globally for its distance runners, at the worlds in Paris from Aug. 23 to 31. Secretary General David Okeyo last week ruled out automatic selection for the three reigning world champions Reuben Kosgei, Richard Limo (5000m) and Charles Kamathi (10,000m).
Reuben Kosgei won Olympic gold in Sydney in 2000 and added the world title the following year in Edmonton, Canada.
His absence and that of Commonwealth 3,000 steeplechase champion Stephen Cherono, seeking Qatar citizenship to represent the Gulf nation at the 2004 Olympics, leaves Commonwealth silver medalist Ezekiel Kemboi as the favorite at the trials.
Cherono’s older brother Abraham, the Commonwealth bronze medalist, is also among the favorites in a race the Kenyans have won at every world championships since Tokyo in 1991 and in every Olympics since Los Angeles in 1984.
The season’s sensational athlete Abraham Chebii, who has twice humbled Ethiopia’s double Olympic and quadruple world 10,000 meters champion Haile Gebrselassie on the Golden League circuit, will have to fight hard to earn a place in the team. His biggest challengers will be world 10,000 meters champion Kamathi and national champion John Korir, who have both trained at altitude to prepare for the trials.
New Zealand Olympic Chief Davies Dies
In Wellington, John Davies, the head of the New Zealand Olympic Committee (NZOC), died yesterday.
Davies, 65, won a bronze medal in the 1,500 meters at the 1964 Tokyo Olympics and collected a silver in the mile at the 1962 Commonwealth Games in Perth. He died after a long battle with cancer, the NZOC said in a statement.
After he retired from competition, Davies coached several top athletes before becoming president of the NZOC in October 2000.
