Olympic Preview: Women's Hurdles

The sixth in our series of Olympic previews looks at the women's 100 meter and 400 meter hurdle races.

100 meter Hurdles
The Schedule: heats, Sunday Aug 17; semifinals, Monday Aug 18; finals, Tuesday Aug 19
The Americans: #1 Lolo Jones, #10 Dawn Harper, #11 Damu Cherry
The Contenders: #2 Brigitte Foster-Hylton (JAM), #3 Delloreen Ennis-London (JAM), #4 Josephine Onyia (ESP), #5 Sally McLellan (AUS), #8 Susanna Kallur (SWE)
The Stats: Records, 2008 List, 2007 Worlds, 2004 Olympics
The Medal Picks: T&FN - Jones, Ennis-London, Kallur; SI - Jones, Kallur, Cherry
The Story: Jones, the World Indoor champ, had her career breakthrough at the Olympic Trials and knew it. Since then, she has beaten all of her rivals at Super Grand Prix meets in Stockholm and London, if only barely at times. She goes into Beijing wearing the mantle of favorite but not an overwhelming one.

Foster-Hylton runs hot and cold; in her major races this year she has four wins but no seconds or thirds. Onyia's performances have been similar but not as good. Ennis-London has been far more consistent but with less upside. After Jones, McLellan has been the hottest hurdler over the last few meets.

The biggest question mark is Kallur. She broke a seemingly unbreakable indoor World Record, then came up injured during the World Indoor championships. A flare-up of that same injury has kept her from racing since early June, and this is not an event in which a big rest period is helpful. She's good enough to win, but how close to her best will she be?

400 meter Hurdles
The Schedule: heats, Sunday Aug 17; semifinals, Monday Aug 18; finals, Wednesday Aug 20
The Americans: #2 Tiffany Ross-Williams, #4 Sheena Tosta, #6 Christine Spence
The Contenders: #1 Melaine Walker (JAM), #3 Anna Jesien (POL), #7 Shevon Stoddart (JAM), #8 Nickiesha Wilson (JAM)
The Stats: Records, 2008 List, 2007 Worlds, 2004 Olympics
The Medal Picks: T&FN - Walker, Ross-Williams, Jesien; SI - Walker, Ross-Williams, Huang
The Story: Two of this event's top athletes, World Champion Jana Rawlinson and World Record holder Yulia Pechonkina, will miss the Olympics due to injury. This leaves the door open for many other athletes.

The recent Herculis Super Grand Prix meet in Monaco may be a preview of the Olympic final; Walker was first, followed by Ross-Williams, Tosta and Jesien. Walker is undefeated, has the year's best time, and has not shied away from tough competition, so she is obviously the favorite.

A bit of an unknown factor is Wilson. After a long and demanding collegiate season, she has laid low since the NCAA Championships (which she won), running only the Jamaican Olympic Trials. A year ago she was fourth at the Worlds and two of the three ahead of her there will not be running this time. She has to be considered a strong medal contender and has an outside shot at gold.

SI's medal pick Huang XiaoXiao is also out injured.