Posted: August 24, 2007

Athletics: Razorbacks Ready for World Championships

FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. - Current and former Track Hogs will begin competition at the 2007 IAAF World Championships in Osaka, Japan, Sat., Aug. 25. Team USA will begin its quest to extend its streak as the World's No. 1 Track & Field Team. The 100-meter prelims will be held at 12:10 p.m. and the semifinals at 8:15 p.m. in Osaka on Saturday. Current Hog J-Mee Samuels and former Hog Tyson Gay will take to the track for what hopes to be the first of many times during this championships event. Samuels, who will return to Arkansas for his junior campaign in 2008, was an All-American and two-time NCAA qualifier during the 2007 collegiate season. He qualified for the Pan Am Games with a fifth-place finish (10.22) at the USA Championships in June. In Brazil, he ran the lead leg of the 4x100-meter relay team that earned a bronze finish. Samuels is the 2005 USA Junior, National Scholastic and Junior Pan Am 100m champion. Gay, a two-time USA Champion in June, 2007, clocked times of 9.84 in the 100 meters and 19.62 in the 200 meters to enter the championships with the second-fastest 200-meter time in history and the second-fastest 100-meter time into a headwind in history. With his performance in June, Gay became the fastest 100/200-meter sprinter in history and both his times from Indianapolis continue to lead the 2007 world lists. Since the USA Championships, Gay recorded wins in Lausanne (200 meters -19.78), London (100 meters -10.02) and Sheffield (100 meters -10.13). Former Hogs Alistair Cragg, Wallace Spearmon and Eric Brown will also be competing in the 2007 IAAF World Championships later in the week. Visit USATF.org or IAAF.org for more details and an updated schedule. Highlights from the World Championships will be air on NBC and the Versus network. Visit USATF.org for a detailed schedule. Subscribe to the Runner's Web Weekly Digest