By Eddie Pells
Eugene, Oregon - Shawn Crawford, who was awarded an Olympic medal he felt he didn't deserve in Beijing, won a national title he most certainly does on Sunday, blowing away the field in the 200-metre finals at the US championships in a wind-aided 19.73sec.
Allyson Felix joined Crawford as America's other 200m champion. A heavy favourite to win her fifth national title, Felix didn't disappoint, finishing in 22.02 (also wind-aided) to edge out Muna Lee. Marshevet Hooker finished third.
Crawford blew away Charles Clark by .27 seconds to win his fourth national title, dating back to 2001. Wallace Spearmon finished third to nab the final spot on the US team heading to World championship in Berlin.
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| Tyson Gay has already qualified in the 100 and 200 |
Tyson Gay has already qualified in the 100 and 200 thanks to his World championships in 2007.
While Gay may be America's biggest sprint star, nobody has a more intriguing story than Crawford. The latest chapter for the 2004 Olympic champion came when he was awarded the silver medal at the Beijing Games after two runners who finished ahead of him were disqualified for running outside their lanes.
He never felt right about that so he delivered the medal back to Churandy Martina - a burden off Crawford's back, even though leaders in the sport refused to remove him from the record book.
Crawford will be among the headliners on a team that will also include newly crowned national champions Christian Cantwell (shot put), Bershawn Jackson (400 hurdles) Dawn Harper (100 hurdles) and Lopez Lomong (1500 metres).
Bernard Lagat and Jeremy Wariner will also be on the team based on their 2007 championships even though neither won anything this weekend. Lagat ran only one heat of the 800 and Wariner was eliminated in the semi-finals of the 200.
| 100-metre hurdler Lolo Jones fell in her semi-final heat |
Other American stars not as lucky include 100-metre hurdler Lolo Jones, who fell in her semi-final heat, and Olympic heptathlon silver medalist Hyleas Fountain, who was leading before withdrawing with a neck injury.
Sprinter Walter Dix and decathlete Bryan Clay, who have four Olympic medals between them, were injured earlier in the week and will also miss the trip to Berlin. - Sapa-AP
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