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2008 Beijing Olympic Preview: Men’s 400 Meters

Posted August 11th, 2008 at 10:30 PM by Jesse Squire

Section: News & Results, Track & Field, Olympics

Men’s 400 Meters
The Schedule: heats, Monday Aug 18; semifinals, Tuesday Aug 19; finals, Thursday Aug 21
The Americans: #1 Jeremy Wariner, #2 LaShawn Merritt, #8 David Neville
The Contenders: #3 Chris Brown (BAH), #4 Ricardo Chambers (JAM), #5 Tyler Christopher (CAN)
The Stats: Records, 2008 List, 2007 Worlds, 2004 Olympics
The Medal Picks: T&FN - Wariner, Merritt, Christopher; SI - Wariner, Merritt, Brown
The Story: A funny thing happened on the way to Jeremy Wariner’s unchallenged Olympic title defense: he got challenged. Beat, actually. Along with the men’s high hurdles and women’s 5k, this will be one of the very best races in the whole shebang. Wariner’s season record against rival LaShawn Merritt stands at 2-2, and the race will go to the one who makes the fewest mistakes.
In their wake, the race for third is nearly as tight. Brown has topped all the others over the outdoor season, but Christopher usually runs his best in the biggest meets. He certainly did at the World Indoors, where he won gold. Neville’s performance at the Olympic Trials suggests he should be in the fight as well.

Note: Athletes’ rankings refer to TheFinalSprint.com’s World Points Standings, and medal picks come to us from Track & Field News and Sports Illustrated, respectively.