Walter Dix takes serious approach to U.S. track championships

DES MOINES, Iowa -- In this neither-here-nor-there track season, with no major international championship for U.S. athletes, many of the country’s top track and field performers are treating the national championships as just another competition.

Some are not competing at all. Some have entered an event other than their specialty.

Not Walter Dix.

The sprinter from Florida is doing all he can in the nationals that began Thursday at Drake Stadium.

No matter how quickly he runs, Dix will be making up for lost time as he competes in both the 100 and 200 meters.

Three years ago, when he was a junior at Florida State, Dix had run times that left him on near equal footing with Tyson Gay, then becoming the country’s uncontested top sprinter. And those were the days before Jamaica’s Usain Bolt, then a callow teenager, sped light years ahead of everyone else on this planet.

Early in the 2007 season, Dix ran the 200 meters in 19.69 seconds, then sixth fastest in U.S. history.

“A lot of people view me running 19.6 when I’m 21 to be the next big thing,” Dix said.

He would finish Florida State, win 2008 Olympic bronze medals in both the 100 and 200 meters, sign a pro contract with Nike and run into quicksand in 2009.

A dispute with his former agent led to a legal battle between them and caused problems with meet organizers, who were leery of getting in the middle. Then Dix injured a hamstring at nationals, and that was the end of his 2009 season. He feels the off-track stress contributed to getting hurt.

“The contracts and lawyers and stuff gets in the way of what you want to do,” Dix said.

The issue with the agent was settled out of court. Dix’s brother, Alex, took over as his agent. Dix wrote the year off as a learning experience.

“That was a business year,” said Dix, 24, of Coral Springs, Fla. “I learned a lot business-wise in track and field. You’re always going to have a tough time your first year on the job. Now I’ve got good people in my corner. A lot of stuff I was worried about I’m not worried about as much.”

That seemed apparent in early May, when Dix ran the 100 in 9.98 and the 200 in 19.89 on the same day in Tallahassee. Those times aren’t going to push either Bolt or Gay at their best, but they gave Dix more reasons to think he can challenge them.

Gay skipped nationals because of a leg injury. Bolt also has been sidelined by an injury since early June.

“I want to be the the best,” Dix said. “That’s what I strive for every day. I’m not trying to come second best to anyone. If my progession keeps going, I’m going to be right there.”

Dix hopes to get his first shot this year at Gay in the 200 at the July 3 Prefontaine Meet, part of the IAAF Diamond League series, in Eugene, Ore. He is scheduled to race the other top Jamaican, former world record-holder Asafa Powell, at the July 10 Diamond League meet in Gateshead, England.

“My coach tells me not to think about next week, just get through this weekend,” Dix said. “But it’s hard not to think about racing Tyson.”

Dix cruised through a first-round heat of the 100 on Thursday, running 10.27 into a headwind. The semis and final are Friday. The 200 begins Saturday and finishes with two rounds Sunday.

Few would be inclined to run the six rounds of both sprints in a year with so little at stake. For Dix, it’s a matter of both not wanting to go a year without doing it, given that the national meets in 2011 and 2012 will determine world and Olympic team spots, and also of feeling that his job encompasses both.

“You don’t want to take a year off from running six rounds and come back to do it next year,” he said. “I’m not a 100 or 200 specialist. I’m a sprinter. That’s what we do, the 100 and 200.”