Rashid Ramzi of Bahrain leads the field home in first place as he competes during his Men's 1500m Semi Final (Getty Images)

28 August 2007 - Osaka, Japan - After two rather slowish qualifying rounds of the men's 1500 metres - the fastest time was a 3:38.65 first-round time by Mehdi Baala of France -  one doesn’t know what to expect in the final, one of five on the programme on Day Five action at Nagai Stadium.

Wide open men’s 1500m

Another jog-and-kick race in the final would put the gold medal up for grabs, with the final 100 metres a mad scramble for the line. Because the jury of appeals disqualified Baala in his semifinal and advanced three additional runners to the final, 14 finalists will toe the line. Fastest and most experienced finalist is 2004 Olympic silver medalist Bernard Lagat (USA), who holds the national records of both his native Kenya (3:26.34 in 2001) and his adopted U.S. (3:29.30 in 2005), and who practiced his finishing kick with a 51.4 last 400 to win his semifinal. The only other sub-3:30 finalist is defending champion Rashid Ramzi of Bahrain, at 3:29.14; six others have bettered 3:32, including the USA’s Alan Webb, at 3:30.54. But if the pace is slow, anyone in the field has a chance to win.  

Perry v. Felicien v. Kallur in women’s 100m Hurdles

Talk about anyone in the field being a possible winner --- try the women’s 100m Hurdles final. The eight semifinalists’ times ranged from 12.55 to 12.68, 0.13 of a second -- literally the blink of an eye. Still, the three fastest in the semis were defending champion Michelle Perry (USA), in 12.55; 2003 champion Perdita Felicien (CAN), 12.61; and Sweden’s European champion Susanna Kallur, 12.64. This is perhaps the strongest, deepest field of the championships.

Can Guevara return to top step?

The women’s 400 metres became a wide-open race when American record holder (and 2006 world leader at 48.70) Sanya Richards failed to qualify at the U.S. championships. Since then Dee Dee Trotter, who won the U.S. title in 49.64, has had an up-and-down season, and just sneaked into the final here as a time qualifier in 50.31. Jamaica’s Novlene Williams PB’d winning her semi-final in 49.66, and other sub-50 qualifiers were Nicola Sanders of Britain (49.77) and Natalya Antyukh of Russia (49.93). But perhaps the one to watch is Mexico’s 2003 world champion Ana Guevara, who knows how to win big races.

Another surprise looming in the men’s High Jump?

Over the years, the men’s High Jump has probably produced more “Where’d he come from?” winners than any other field event. But you still have to go with the form – and that means 2004 Olympic champion Stefan Holm of Sweden, whose PB is 2.39 metres (indoors) and who cleared 2.38 indoors this year. Close behind at 2.37 is Andrey Silnov of Russia, then Czech Jaroslav Baba at 2.36, with four grouped at 2.34: Tomas Janku (CZE), Eike Onnen (GER), Yaroslav Rybakov (RUS) and Linus Thornblad (SWE). Any one of these could get “hot” and win.

In ninth appearance, Dietzsch the favourite in the women’s Discus Throw

At 39, Germany’s 39-year-old defending champion Franka Dietzsch is competing in her ninth World Championships --- and she’s leading the 2007 world list with 68.06 metres! Closest to her this year are Cuba’s Pan American Games champion, Yarelis Barrios, with 66.68, and Czech Vera Cechlova, at 66.18. The best way to win a big-meet women’s discus is to get a big throw early and force the rest of the field to try hard (too hard) to surpass it. These are the three most likely to do just that.

In addition to these five finals, there’ll be semi-finals in two events of great interest – the men’s 200 metres, where Tyson Gay will try to complete a 100-200 double, and Usain Bolt of Jamaica and Wallace Spearmon, Gay’s University of Arkansas teammate, will try to stop him; and the men’s 400, where it appears to be the world vs. American Jeremy Warner.