Johnson Loses a 200, Gains a Real Threat

Numerous adjectives can be used to describe sprinter Michael Johnson. Invincible is not among them. For the first time in two years, he lost Friday in the 200 meters.

Namibia’s Frankie Fredericks confirmed that he is probably the No. 1 threat to Johnson’s 200-400 double during the July 19-Aug. 4 Summer Olympics in Atlanta by winning Friday at the Bislett Games in Oslo.

On a track traditionally more hospitable to distance runners, and on a cold, rainy night better suited for them, neither Fredericks nor Johnson approached the world 200 record of 19.66 seconds set by the Texan 13 days ago in Atlanta. That was Johnson’s 21st consecutive victory in a 200 final.

The streak would not reach 22. Fredericks finished in 19.82, Johnson in 19.85. Jeff Williams of Los Angeles was far back in third at 20.44.

Fredericks’ victory was an upset, but not as startling as if Johnson had lost in the 400. Earlier this week he extended his winning streak in finals in that event to 54.

“I had nothing to lose,” said Fredericks, who broke his third Commonwealth and African record in 11 days. “I knew I could come in here and get second and they would say, ‘Well, we expected that.’ ”

But if anyone figured to challenge Johnson in the 200, it was Fredericks. A former NCAA champion at Brigham Young in the 100 and 200, he won silver medals in both short sprints at the 1992 Summer Olympics in Barcelona. Two years later, on July 6, 1994, Fredericks was the winner at Lausanne, Switzerland, in the last 200-meter final that Johnson lost before Friday. Johnson was fourth in that race.

Three days ago in Lausanne, Fredericks equaled the second-fastest time ever in the 100 at 9.86. If not for a slight head wind, or for his arm-waving celebration before he reached the finish line, he might have broken Leroy Burrell’s record of 9.85. Fredericks also ran 9.87 on June 25.

Those times have established him as one of the favorites in that race in Atlanta. He has improved dramatically since beginning to train this year with defending Olympic champion Linford Christie of Great Britain. Yet, Fredericks said this week that he might enter only the 200 in order to conserve his energy for an anticipated duel with Johnson. By the time he starts the 200, Johnson, if all goes to form, will already have run four rounds in the 400.

To beat Fredericks, Johnson must get out of the blocks faster than he did Friday. Although he took the lead briefly in the straightaway, he expended too much energy overcoming his start. His deficit was accentuated by Fredericks’ exceptional start, which some observers believed beat the gun. Johnson did not complain.

“Everybody has their bad day,” he said. “This was mine. I hate to lose. When you give Frankie a lot of meters at the start, you have to lose.”

It also was a bad day for the women’s world champion in the 100 meters, American Gwen Torrence, who apparently has not recovered from a pulled muscle in her upper left thigh. She finished third in 11.06, behind Jamaica’s Merlene Ottey (10.95) and Pasadena’s Inger Miller (10.98).

Five seasonal bests were recorded by Denmark’s Wilson Kipketer in the 800 (1:42.76), Algeria’s Noureddine Morceli in the mile (3:48.15), Ireland’s Sonia O’Sullivan in the 1,500 (3:59.91), Kenya’s Paul Bitok in the 3,000 (7:29.55) and Portugal’s Fernanda Ribeiro in the 5,000 (14:41.07). Aside from the 200, the women’s 5,000 was the highlight for a capacity crowd of about 20,000. Ribeiro’s time was the third-fastest ever, but she barely held off Romania’s Gabriela Szabo (14:47.12) at the finish.

Oslo was the first of this season’s prestigious Golden Four meets, the only one before the Olympics. The others are scheduled for later in the summer in Zurich, Brussels and Berlin.

The Associated Press and Reuters contributed to this story.