Montgomery Takes Cue From Jones

Tim Montgomery and Marion Jones share a coach, Trevor Graham. They share a house in Raleigh, N.C. They reportedly also share a romantic relationship.

Sharing a set of starting blocks at Saturday’s Grand Prix final in Paris turned out to be another winning decision by Montgomery.

Jones won the women’s 100 meters in 10.88 seconds, taking the women’s overall Grand Prix title. In the next event, the men’s 100, Montgomery used the same blocks and left them where she put them.

“I’ve been having trouble with my starting, and Marion was helping me sort it out in training,” Montgomery told reporters in Paris. “She’s like my guardian angel.”

Montgomery winged his way to a world record of 9.78 seconds, breaking Maurice Greene’s three-year-old mark of 9.79. Montgomery was quick to say Greene is still king because of his consistency under pressure, and he credited Jones with giving him sage advice about rivals Greene--who didn’t run Saturday--Dwain Chambers and Coby Miller.

“Being around Marion, I asked her if there’s anything I need to change,” he said. “What I got was, ‘Focus on you and what you’ve got to work on. They know you’ve got it. They know you’re ready. You don’t have to tell them you’re ready.’ ”

Montgomery was ready: His reaction time out of the blocks was 0.104 of a second. “At 30 meters, I saw no one was around me, so I kept digging down as deep as possible,” he said. “And from then on I kept running and running and running.”

The 27-year-old native of Gaffney, S.C., believes his record won’t stand long. “It could well disappear next year and it might not be me who lowers it,” he said.

But with Jones to push him, he’s sure to stay in fast company.

New Carroll Students

Frank Carroll’s roster of figure skating students, depleted when Michelle Kwan left last October, has expanded.

Carroll, who already had Olympic bronze medalist and world silver medalist Tim Goebel and the fourth-place finisher at this year’s U.S. championships, Angela Nikodinov of San Pedro, recently added U.S. novice women’s champion Danielle Kahle of Thousand Oaks. He’s also working in El Segundo with Yebin Mok of Los Angeles, but Mok’s primary coach will be former skater Johnnie Bevan.

Kahle is a tiny, red-haired dynamo whose energy and jumping have inspired comparisons to Tara Lipinski. She moved up to the junior level and will compete in a Junior Grand Prix event at Phoenix this week. Beatrisa Liang of Grenada Hills, ninth at this year’s U.S. meet under coach Tiffany Chin, also will compete there.

Nothing is sure in skating--

especially for the women, where injuries and puberty can knock skaters off the elite track--but Kahle is worth watching.

Four years ago, Sarah Hughes was a little-known 12-year-old, and she went on to win gold at the Salt Lake City Games. Carroll, who coached four-time world champion Kwan for nearly a decade, isn’t foolish enough to predict Kahle will follow Hughes’ golden path, but he’s excited about her potential.

“I think she’s a tremendous talent,” he said. “She has a lot of maturing to do, very much like Michelle Kwan did when I first got her. It looks like she has the same drive and desire.”

Mok, 18, was 10th at the U.S. championships in January. Because Nikodinov is also a top-10 skater, Carroll felt it unfair to coach both full time. “She’s doing very well,” he said of Mok, who struggled with a growth spurt the past few years.

Nikodinov, whom Carroll took on last season after the death of her coach, Elena Tcherkasskaia, has been hampered by a shoulder injury. But before that, Carroll said Nikodinov was improving her conditioning and mental toughness.

A graceful skater with an innate musical sense, Nikodinov often faded toward the end of her long program. And if she made a mistake, she often lost confidence and made several more. That happened at the U.S. championships, where she was fourth, one place too low to make the Olympic team.

“We’re very, very happy. She’s been skating magnificently,” Carroll said of Nikodinov, who is scheduled to compete in Grand Prix events in Germany and Japan in November. “I think we work well together. She’s made great strides. She’s in much better shape, and we’ve worked on the idea that she has to keep going if she misses an element and not get discouraged if she makes a mistake.”

However, Carroll said Goebel is struggling to regain his form after a long post-Olympic tour with Champions on Ice. “He’s very tired, and it’s a difficult time for him,” Carroll said. “Tim’s not doing as well as he expects, and he expects a lot. He wants to do everything right away, perfectly. He’s a little difficult to be around now.”

Goebel has again enlisted Lori Nichol to choreograph his programs, which Carroll described as “works in progress.” Goebel has time to polish them before his Grand Prix events: he’s scheduled to compete at Skate Canada, Oct. 31-Nov. 3, and Trophee Lalique, Nov. 14-17 in Paris.

Spike ‘em

Despite losing two regulars, the U.S. women’s volleyball team reached the final of the world championships before losing to Italy Sunday at Berlin.

Without Keba Phipps of Lakewood, who injured an eye in practice Saturday, and pregnant team captain Robyn Ah Mow, the U.S. women relied on their strong blocking. The final game was tied, 9-9, before Elisa Togut’s three consecutive winners put Italy ahead to stay. Italy won, 18-25, 25-18, 25-16, 22-25, 15-11.

“I’m proud of my team because they did a great job throughout this world championship,” Long Beach State alum Tara Cross-Battle said.

Long Beach State product Danielle Scott was voted the tournament’s best blocker.

Here and There

Suzy Favor Hamilton broke four minutes in the 1,500 twice in the last two weeks, the second and third times she has broken that barrier this season. She was timed in 3 minutes 59.43 seconds last Sunday at Rieti, Italy, two days after she was timed at 3:59.40 at Berlin and joined Mary Decker as the only U.S. women to break four minutes twice in one season.