Richards falters in the 400 meters

The realization hit Sanya Richards in waves.

She felt victory slipping away as her legs deserted her after the midway point of the 400 meters Saturday afternoon. One woman passed her, then another, but Richards thought she still was third when she crossed the finish line at the U.S. track championships.

A couple of minutes later, as she did a TV interview, Richards learned she was fourth in a pedestrian 50.68 seconds.

“I was shocked,” Richards said.

Not only had Richards lost for the first time over two years in 19 finals, she had failed to earn one of the three U.S. spots in the event for the world championships in August.

Nearly half a second separated her from third-place Mary Wineberg (50.24) as DeeDee Trotter won her first national title in a personal-best 49.64. Richards also lost her collegiate record to Natasha Hastings of South Carolina, who was second in 49.84.

“I thought I was on the team,” Richards said. “I didn’t fight for that third spot. I’m really, really disappointed.”

Richards and her coach, Clyde Hart, thought her undoing was the illness that has bothered her since April.

It was just as Hart had predicted in an interview last week: that it would be hard for Richards, 22, to run three 400s in three days because she had missed so much training time and raced only twice before the U.S. championships. She ran a 50.02 in the Friday semifinals but had nothing left in the final.

“She is devastated,” Hart said. “She barely lost the world title two years ago. She felt this was her year.”

In the men’s 400, Angelo Taylor threw himself across the finish line, getting track burns on his elbow, knee and shoulder, to beat LaShawn Merritt. Each ran personal bests: 44.05 for Taylor, the 2000 Olympic champion in the 400 hurdles; 44.06 for Merritt.

Another winning streak ended in the women’s 100-meter hurdles, where reigning world champion Michelle Perry lost for the first time in 15 finals. She was second in 12.72 to Ginny Powell’s 12.63.

Richards recovered her composure in time to finish second in a 200-meter first-round heat and make today’s semifinals. Given that the U.S. has four spots in the 200 for the world championships because Allyson Felix is the defending champion, Richards has a decent chance of making the team, but Hart said they would wait to see how she felt today before deciding about the ensuing rounds.

Her plan for Monday is more certain. Richards will go to Baltimore to see a specialist at Johns Hopkins Hospital about the illness that has included flu-like symptoms and ulcers on the mouth and tongue. The sores have made it hard for Richards to eat.

Some will wonder whether Richards compromised her health by running in a Golden League meet June 15 in Norway. That race, which she won, came only five days after she made a twice-delayed season debut in Eugene, Ore., and only six days before her first race at the U.S. championships.

The lure of Oslo was a $1-million pot for winning the 400 in all six Golden League meets. Hart said he did not try to talk Richards out of the long trip because she also needed races to make up for lost time.

“When you’ve got a $1-million money bag out there, it’s hard to convince kids [about backing off],” Hart said, “especially when you’re dominant in your event like she has been. It’s a two-edged sword.

“Our No. 1 goal was the world championships, with the Golden League No. 2. Now we’ve got to see what we can salvage.”

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Philip Hersh covers Olympic sports for The Times and the Chicago Tribune.