 |
| British hurdler Tiffany Porter will start as one of the favourites for the 100m hurdles title in Helsinki. |
It is always hazardous to project a sure-fire gold medallist for the sprint hurdles because so much can go wrong, but if there is a favourite it must be Britain's Tiffany Porter. Her reputation was enhanced when she won in Ostrava last month against such transatlantic luminaries as Priscilla Lopes-Schliep and Lolo Jones. Her time in the Czech Republic of 12.65 places her at the head of the European rankings and she is very much the woman to beat.
Having said that, a clipped hurdle here or a touch of nervousness there and the dreams could all come tumbling down. After double indoor silver, first at the European Athletics Indoor Championships in Paris last year and then at the worlds in Istanbul this winter, Porter can reasonably hope that the time is ripe to advance to a more precious metal. If she gets anywhere close to her career best of 12.56 set in Daegu last summer it is hard to see who would top her.
Standing in her way is another athlete who has been in the position of favourite before, Carolyn Nytra, who went to Barcelona two years ago fully expecting to take gold home to Germany. But on the day, nerves dragged her back to third. Porter knows her only too well, though, because in Paris-Bercy it was Nytra who finally clicked to bring home gold while the Briton had to content herself with silver. But while Nytra has only competed against national opposition in 2012, Porter is the more battle-hardened against quality rivals and that may give her the edge.
Waiting in the wings is Belarus's Alina Talay who was a mere 0.03 behind Porter in Istanbul to collect world indoor bronze. Militating against the Belarussian is her PB of 12.79 set at the Znamensky Memorial at the weekend. That makes her a full two tenths of a second slower than both Nytra and Porter in the PB stakes suggesting that, as yet, there is not a great deal more she can give.
The battle for bronze could be close with four women hovering in the 12:80s: Russia's Olga Samylova, Italy's Marzia Caravelli and the French pairing of Alice Decaux and Aisetta Diawara. Samylova was only just out-leant by Talay in Zhukovskiy, Caravelli's PB of 12.85 in Montgeron is also a national record while Decaux and Diawara both set PBs of 12.88 in their national championships with the former getting the nod on the thousandths of a second count.
Three-way battle between Davydova, Stambolova and Rosolova
 |
| Denisa Rosolova of the Czech Republic. |
Irina Davydova is the only athlete in the world to have gone under 54sec in the current season when she was timed at 53.87 at the Russian team championships in Sochi at the end of May. That was quite a leap for the Moscow resident who had never gone under 55sec before, let alone 54sec. Since then, however, her times have oscillated between 55.71 and 54.61 suggesting that she may need more time to establish herself in the sub-54 bracket. She has, however, picked up world university games silver in the past so the podium is not exactly an unknown quantity for her.
Standing in the Russian's way is the vastly more experienced Vania Stambolova who has a clutch of medals over 400m and the one-lap hurdles, including silver from Barcelona two years ago. Apart from a faster flat time than Davydova, the Bulgarian has been noticeably more consistent over the hurdles, all of her six performances this year being firmly located in the 54sec bracket. That consistency and battle hardness must make Stambolova the more likely of the two to lift gold.
The enormously talented Denisa Rosolova only had one performance over the one-lap hurdles prior to this season and that was outside 60sec all of eight years ago. This year, though, the 26-year-old Czech has set to it with a will and been rewarded with the third fastest time of the season so far of 54.38 at her national championships. Renowned for her toughness and staying power, she may yet prove a hard nut to crack in what promises to be one of the most contested events in the Finnish capital.
Not far behind is her equally talented countrywoman, Zuzana Hejnova, whose season's best of 54.43 suggests she is getting back to last year's record breaking form when she took her national record down to 53.29. Angela Morosanu of Romania and Hanna Titimets of Ukraine are the two remaining entrants who have both broken 55sec in 2012 and should make the final.