Jeremy Wariner Has New Coach

Jeremy Wariner won the Men's 400m in a personal best time of 43.50 on August 7 at the DN Galan Meet in Stockholm, Sweden.

It didn’t take very long. Jeremy Wariner has switched to Baylor assistant coach Michael Ford—who coaches Wariner’s training partner and former teammate Darold Williamson.

Coach Clyde Hart announced yesterday he split with Wariner because of a contract dispute.

An official contract with Coach Ford has not been signed but the decision is not surprising. The move allows Jeremy to remain in Waco at the Baylor track and train in the system that has made him successful.

Coach Ford was a standout 400 meter runner at Baylor and has been an excellent track coach at the university for eight years. Ford is prepared to coach the planet’s fastest 400 meter runner.

Sure, this is a distraction today. It is likely that very little will change in the long run. Jeremy has a talented management team to steer his career that includes agent, Michael Johnson, and manager, Deon Minor, who was a two-time indoor NCAA 400-meter champion at Baylor.

Next week Wariner is headed to Beijing on Olympic publicity work, and then he is back to the Baylor track to work on winning Olympic gold and breaking the world record.

By Jay Hicks, a.k.a. Track Evangelist

Asafa Powell Going Down Under

The maneuvering by track and field athletes, coaches and managers has begun. They are hoping the proper strategy will deliver a berth to Beijing.

Otherwise, those reservations for Beijing won’t be necessary.

The road to Beijing 2008 Olympics has officially begun with Asafa Powell’s love affair with boisterous Australian track fans.

Yesterday, Powell and his manager, Paul Doyle, announced his first race in 2008 will be the Sydney Athletics Grand Prix on 16 February.

Five days later he will run at the IAAF World Athletics Tour meet in Melbourne (21 Feb). Meanwhile, more and more runners are skipping the indoor track and field season all together and opting for races in warm weather climates.

Asafa and his crew will travel to Australia on February 9 with coach Steve Francis.

Powell has been criticized by track legend Michael Johnson and others for his lackluster performance at this year’s World Championships 100-meter final race. He was beaten by American Tyson Gay and Bahamian rival Derrick Adkins.

Asafa resurrected his season by lowering his own World Record to 9.74 seconds in September. The race still could not quiet murmurs that Powell disappears on the major stage.

MJ contends that Asafa is not a competitor at all—that he can’t win the big races, and his fast times are in races with nothing on the line.

Powell has been unfazed by his critics, and his eyes are locked on getting things started in Australia

By Jay Hicks