Sports News Bolt the headline act in bid for classic sprint double Reports from Berlin

ATHLETICS WORLD CHAMPIONSHIPS:NOT SINCE Jesse Owens was the headline act has Berlin been anticipating an athletic event like these World Championships. Things have changed since 1936, including the look of the old Olympic Stadium, but plenty of athletes here will no doubt be inspired by the heroics of Owens, even if it's just for one day.

Some people think staging the World Championships over nine days straight is at least one day too many, and they sometimes do drag on a little. It just means there’s ample opportunity for athletes to try their hand in a couple of events. For some, like Usain Bolt, Kenenisa Bekele, Bernard Lagat, it’s about winning gold in two events. These championships are no stranger to such feats.

Bolt looks destined to be the headline act this time, just as he was in Beijing, by winning the classic sprint double, although the American Tyson Gay, who has actually run faster over the 100 and 200 metres this summer, is sure to press the big Jamaican.

Bekele, the indefatigable Ethiopian, is also in line for a 5,000-10,000 metres double, as he did in Beijing, while Lagat is attempting to defend the 1,500-5,000 metres double he landed in Osaka two years ago.

For others, like Thomas Chamney, it’s about progressing in two events as far as possible. Chamney is the only Irish athlete here running two events – the classic 800 and 1,500 metres double – and that assignment begins straightaway when the 12th edition of these World Championships get under way tomorrow.

Only one athlete has pulled-off a World Championship double over 800 and 1,500 metres, and that was Rashid Ramzi, in Helsinki in 2005. Except that doesn’t actually count, as earlier this year, over six months after winning the Olympic 1,500-metre title, the huge suspicions about the former Moroccan turned Bahraini were realised when retesting of Beijing samples revealed he was pumped up with the latest endurance drug, Cera EPO. Thankfully, Ramzi is nowhere near Berlin.

Chamney’s qualification for the 800 and 1,500 metres is a small reflection of the considerable progress he’s made this summer. The only problem now is deciding which one is his strongest event. Although he ran the 800 metres in Beijing last summer, a late call-up on his B-standard, he finished the summer with bests of 1:46.66 and 3:42.73 – and ultimately 2008 was a season of frustration. He started the year training in Spain, thinking that competitive environment might bring him on, when instead it broke him down.

So he wintered this year in Ireland, taking a more intimate approach, with his father, John, acting as his promoter/agent. On July 3rd, on little notice, they were told he had a lane in the 800 metres at the famous Bislett Games in Oslo. Chamney was ranked next-to-last, but ran the race of his life – finishing third, and improving his best to 1:45.41. Two weeks later he improved his 1,500 metre best by an even greater margin, running 3:37.67.

After winning the national 800-metre title to secure his selection (denying his old rival David Campbell in the process) Chamney then had to decide what to focus on come Berlin – and he decided to focus on both.

“To be honest I’m just a lot stronger this year,” he said. “My base over the winter months was really good. I think long term, the 1,500 metres is where I’m going to be at my best, come the London Olympics.

“I also think 1:45.4 is better running than 3:37.6, if you had to compare the two. But right now I’m still a bit of a novice at the 1,500 metres. The 800 metres, at the World Championships, you needed to be running 1:45 all the way through, and even still you mightn’t make it. The 800 metres is much more of a lottery.”

The 25-year-old Clonmel native is one of the first of the 14 Irish in action, in the heats of the 1,500 metres, tomorrow evening. The semi-finals are on Monday, and the final Wednesday, with the first round of the 800 metres set for Thursday.

“I’ve always wanted to run both. The 1,500 metres is first, and the way I’ve been training this year, I’ve been focusing a lot more on strength work, 1,500-metre work. So I’ll run the first round of the 1,500 metres and take my chances on making it through.

“But I do think I can make the semi-final in the 1,500 metres. Maybe even the final. There aren’t too many 1,500-metre boys that can run 1:45 for 800 metres every day of the week, which is a bit like I’ve been doing.

“I’ve run it three times now. The 800 metres is not until later in the week. Maybe I won’t be quite as sharp for it, but I still think I can make the semi-final of the 800 metres as well.”

Alistair Cragg runs in the 5,000 metres but his form has been as inconsistent as ever, and while his season’s best of 13:16.83 ranks him 17th of the 44 entries, he’ll need to produce something special if he’s to make the final. Although he dropped out of races in Lausanne and London, the 29-year-old is quietly confident.