Hurdlers Find Place in Spotlight : Track and field: Jackson sets world record in 110-meter race and Devers wins 100-meter event to accomplish rare double.

Before track and field’s fourth World Championships, the favorites in the women’s and men’s high hurdles were wrestling with doubts of a diametrically opposed nature. The United States’ Gail Devers was not sure she could get over the last hurdle. Great Britain’s Colin Jackson was not sure he could get to the first.

But both overcame their obstacles Friday night at Gottlieb Daimler Stadium, not only winning their events but giving the sport’s historians reasons to join in the excitement the rest of the crowd obviously has felt the last two days.

Because the decathlon is track and field’s most popular event in Germany, crowds totaling more than 100,000 attended two sessions on the first day of that competition Thursday. Another 52,500 almost filled the stadium for the one session Friday, remaining long after the 10-eventer had ended to sing and chant the names of the champion, the United States’ Dan O’Brien, and the German competitors.

One night after Sally Gunnell had broken the world record in the 400-meter intermediate hurdles, the crowd saw another British hurdler break another world record.

Jackson, labeled a “choker” by U.S. rival Tony Dees because of a failure to win a gold medal in a major championship despite his perennial standing among the world’s best 110-meter high hurdlers, obliterated that myth, finishing in 12.91 seconds.

It is only the second time in 12 years that the record has been broken. The United States’ Renaldo Nehemiah ran 12.93 in 1981, a standard that lasted until another American, Roger Kingdom, ran 12.92 four years ago.

Devers’ record of 12.46 Friday night was not as impressive, toppling the American record she set in the 100-meter high hurdles in 1991 by two-hundredths of a second, but her achievement was no less remarkable.

In winning the high hurdles only four nights after winning the 100 meters, she became the only athlete besides Fanny Blankers-Koen of the Netherlands to accomplish that double in a major meet. Blankers-Koen won gold medals in the 100, 200, 80-meter high hurdles and 400-meter relay during the 1948 Summer Olympics.

It was an outstanding night for Americans. Besides Devers’ and O’Brien’s gold medals, Mike Powell also won the long jump. Bronzes went to Carl Lewis in the 200 meters, Lynda Tolbert in the 100 hurdles and Jack Pierce in the 110 hurdles.

The British won half as many medals but seemed twice as proud. Besides Jackson’s gold, silvers were won by Tony Jarrett in the high hurdles and John Regis in the 200. With two days remaining, they already have won as many medals here, six, as they did in track and field during last summer’s Olympics.

They give considerable credit to team captain Linford Christie, who inspired his compatriots by duplicating his Olympic performance with a victory here in the 100 meters.

But Jackson also profited from a pep talk Friday by Gunnell.

“You’re the best hurdler out there,” she told him. “Go and prove it.”

He had difficulty doing that in the past, causing his competitors to claim he was incapable of winning a major race. His best finishes were a third in the 1987 World Championships and a second in the 1988 Summer Olympics. He withdrew from the ’89 World Championships because of injuries, and he feared until a couple of weeks ago that one might force him out of this meet. But he was ready Friday night, taking the lead out of the blocks and never relinquishing it. The only hurdler who seemed capable of challenging him, Dees, hit the fifth hurdle and never recovered, finishing last. Jarrett finished in 13.00, Pierce in 13.06.

As proud as Jackson was, he seemed more impressed with Devers’ victory.

“I do a lot of training with Linford, so I know how difficult it is to do that double because the strides are so different in the sprints and the hurdles,” he said. “For Gail to go out and do that at this level is an awesome thing.”

Devers, formerly of UCLA and now of Palmdale, said she was aware of the significance of her accomplishment because her coach, Bob Kersee, would not allow her to forget she was chasing not only her contemporaries but Blankers-Koen.

Devers, however, was more concerned with recent history, such as last summer’s Olympics. She also won the 100 there. But, unable to regain her concentration, she could not settle into a comfortable pattern in the hurdles. Although she had a considerable lead, she tumbled coming off the last one and finished fifth.

She said she was thinking about that when she clipped the fourth hurdle Friday night. But she recovered and won easily. Russia’s Marina Azyabina crossed the line in 12.60, Tolbert in 12.67.

“I definitely wanted to come and conquer that 10th hurdle,” Devers said.

It was a night for conquering hurdlers.

* MIKE POWELL

He comes up well short of his world record but is happy to settle for a world championship in the long jump. C6