Sandra Glover clocked the fastest time in the world this year and beat world record-holder Kim Batten in the 400m hurdles Monday to book her ticket to Sydney at the US Olympic Athletics Trials.
Glover won the final in 53.33, surpassing the 53.53 that Moroccan Nezha Bidouane posted in Rome on June 30th as the best in the world this season.
Batten led early, but Glover took control on the curve and sprinted for the victory. Batten held on for second in 54.70, holding off Tonja Buford-Bailey who was third in 54.80.
Glover confirmed her status as America's premier intermediate hurdler with her second national title, and showed that Batten and Buford-Bailey still have some way to go after time off for injury and motherhood, respectively.
When Batten set the world record of 52.61 at the 1995 World Championships, Buford-Bailey was second in 52.62.
But Buford-Bailey took a two-year maternity leave from the track, and Batten was felled last year by a painful toe ailment, originally diagnosed as a bone chip but later found to be a nerve problem.
"I have more races under my belt, but it's only the second race I got the ribbon," said Glover, who won her first national title last year at the age of 30. Glover took her personal best from 55.11 in 1998 to 53.65 in 1999, and said her religious faith -- not to mention seven years as a primary school teacher -- had given her the patience to wait for her moment.
"Everybody has this period of darkness," Glover said. "God waited for me to grow, and took me to another level.
"Working eight hours a day and dealing with children, you have to be patient," she added.
Glover gave up her job to concentrate on training this year.
"After working seven years, and you take a year off you feel a little lazy," she said. "But training-wise it went very good.
"Most definitely I can break the world record," Glover said, adding in an aside to Batten: "Sorry, Kim, your record is going down this year."
"That's OK, I've had it a long time," Batten replied.
The former world champ is just glad to be competitive after racing only in one low level meet this season.
"I'm not 100 percent, as far as training," Batten said. "But I felt very confident during the race."
And she's extremely happy to have finally found a way to fight the debilitating pain in her feet – (AFP)
© 2000 Al Bawaba (www.albawaba.com)
