Jones Turns Her Focus to 200

Marion Jones heard the whispers.

She had a bad back. She had a bad leg. Her form was bad and her psyche was shattered when she lost her 100-meter world title.

Jones made rumors of her demise appear premature Wednesday. Running in the soft twilight at Commonwealth Stadium, she easily won her first-round heat in the 200 meters in 22.70 seconds and led four U.S. women into today’s semifinals of the World Outdoor Track and Field Championships.

Jones’s time was bettered by Cydonie Mothersill of the Cayman Islands (22.54 seconds) and U.S. teammate Kelli White (22.65).

“I didn’t get much sleep the other night,” Jones said, referring to her loss to Zhanna Pintusevich-Block on Sunday, her first in 43 finals. “I spent a little bit of time thinking about what I could have done differently. [Tuesday] evening I sat up and said, ‘Well, there’s nothing I can do about it now. I need to refocus and try and win gold in this event.’

“It’s been a while since I lost a race, and I kind of forgot how to deal with it, I think. There were a lot of emotions running through me. . . . It’s good to be back on the track and build back a little bit of confidence.”

LaTasha Jenkins (22.82) and defending world champion Inger Miller (a season-best 22.98) also advanced. Jones has never won a world 200 title; she suffered back spasms in the semifinals in 1999 and was helped off the track.

“I feel good about my upcoming races,” she said.

In a race capped by a sprint to the finish, Charles Kamathi of Kenya ended the reign of four-time world 10,000-meter champion Haile Gebrselassie and won in 27 minutes 53.25 seconds. He edged Ethiopia’s Assefa Mezgebu (27:53.97), and Gebrselassie (27:54.41). Gebrselassie hadn’t raced since November, when he underwent heel surgery a month after winning his second consecutive Olympic gold medal.

Alan Culpepper (28:18.44) and Meb Keflezighi (28:44.48) of the U.S. were 18th and 23rd, respectively.

Sydney gold medalist Angelo Taylor missed the 400-meter hurdles final after he clipped the final hurdle with his foot in his semifinal heat, lost his stride and staggered to the finish in 49.23 seconds.

“I never really lost concentration. I just could not execute well,” said Taylor, who battled stomach and sinus problems. Calvin Davis and James Carter of the U.S. also missed the cut, the first time the U.S. hasn’t had an entry in the finals at the world or Olympic competitions.

Tonja Buford-Bailey of the U.S. missed a bronze in the women’s 400-meter hurdles by .04 of a second. She was timed in 54.55, a blink behind Daimi Pernia of Cuba. Nezha Bidouane of Morocco won with a time of 53.34, the world’s fastest this year.

In the 200, an event depleted when injuries led Maurice Greene, Ato Boldon and Ramon Clay to pull out, Kevin Little ran a season-best 20.21 and finished second in his heat to Britain’s Christian Malcolm, putting him in today’s final. Sydney gold medalist Konstadinos Kederis of Greece won the second heat in 20.03, the world’s fastest time this year and a Greek record.

Gabriela Szabo will also race again.

The Romanian distance runner, who won the 1,500 on Tuesday and has won the last two 5,000-meter world titles, backed off her threat to boycott the 5,000 to protest the presence of Russian rival Olga Yegorova. They will compete in the same heat tonight in hopes of qualifying for Saturday’s final.

Yegorova’s blood showed traces of the banned hormone EPO in a test done last month in Paris, and she was briefly suspended. However, she was reinstated by the International Assn. of Athletics Federations because the tests were not properly carried out.

“If I do not compete in the 5,000 meters, in a few months the people will forget what happened and will remember only the winner,” Szabo said. “I wanted to let people know I was never afraid of the Russian.”

IAAF Vice President Arne Ljungqvist said Yegorova is among seven to 10 athletes whose elevated EPO levels in tests done during the meet indicated possible use of EPO. However, since high levels can occur naturally, urine tests were scheduled as a follow-up. Ljungqvist said results of those tests might be available today.

Positive tests taken before the World Championships led to the expulsion Tuesday of Canadian sprinter Venolyn Clarke and Brazilian 800-meter runner Fabiane dos Santos. High jumper Solange Witteveen of Argentina was suspended for two years Wednesday after she tested positive for an amphetamine at the South American championships in May. Witteveen wasn’t entered in the world meet.