Athletics-US sprinters on the charge in Tokyo

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By Mitch Phillips

LONDON (Reuters) -Two of the four Olympic sprint titles may have evaded the United States in Paris last year but the sport’s superpower is targeting a clean sweep at the Athletics World Championships, with Noah Lyles and Melissa Jefferson-Wooden leading the charge.

The U.S. dominated global sprinting for decades but endured an uncomfortable period in the shadows as Jamaica took command on the men’s and women’s sides.

Now, as the Caribbean island’s depth has fallen away, the Americans are reasserting their dominance and are hoping for their first world championship sweep for 20 years.

Lyles, of course, is the leading light after claiming the Olympic 100 metres gold last year – albeit by five thousandths of a second from Jamaican Kishane Thompson.

That gave him the coveted double after he won the world 100m title in Budapest in 2023. He has also lorded it over 200m at the worlds, taking the last three titles.

Lyles had a belated start to the season due to an ankle injury and has been beaten three times by Jamaicans Oblique Seville and world-leader Thompson (9.75 seconds) in Diamond League 100s where his sluggish start, always the weakest point of his racing, routinely left him too much to do.

But if anyone was about to write him off, he showed that he was back to his best to win the Diamond League 200m final in 19.74 seconds, overhauling Botswana’s Olympic champion Letsile Tebogo on the line.

The duo’s rivalry will be one of the highlights of the Tokyo championships, though Kenny Bednarek – with 9.79 and 19.67 to his name this season, looks well-equipped to crash the party in both events.

The women’s sprints look just as compelling.

St Lucia’s Julien Alfred, a hugely popular winner of the Olympic 100m last year, also struggled with injury mid-season but she too seems to be timing her comeback perfectly as she won the Diamond League final in 10.76 seconds and should also be a threat over 200m.

Defending champion and Olympic silver medallist Sha’Carri Richardson has yet to break 11 seconds this season but returns via her 2023 title wildcard.

During her struggles and diversions, compatriot Jefferson-Wooden has really stepped up to the plate and heads to Tokyo as the fastest in the field after her 10.65 at the U.S. trials – making her the joint fifth-fastest woman in history – having come into the year with a best of 10.80.

Long operating in the shadow of publicity-hungry Richardson, Jefferson-Wooden calmly built up a healthy collection of sprint relay golds, before taking bronze in the Olympic 100m last year.

This year she has become the main event – on the track at least – claiming impressive Diamond League victories over 100m and also clocking a personal best 21.84 in the 200m.

“The plan is definitely to go out there and take gold,” she said of the Tokyo challenge. “I feel like I put myself in a really good spot to be a contender for that and now it’s time to have trust.”

Both American women are coached by former Olympic sprinter Dennis Mitchell, who was banned for doping offences for two years during his competitive prime in 1998.

Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce is unlikely to claim a sixth world 100m title at the age of 38 but the smiling Jamaican will be assured of the warmest of send-offs as she says she is retiring after the event.

In a blow for the family, but a bonus for TV commentators, Tina Clayton looks Jamaica’s best prospect after twin sister Tia, owner of the fourth-fastest time in the world this year of 10.82, pulled up in the final of the country’s trials and misses out.

Jamaica’s Shericka Jackson will bid for a third successive 200m gold but has struggled to reach peak form this season as her best of 22.17 makes her only the eighth-fastest in a field that does not include American Olympic champion Gabby Thomas, who is absent with an Achilles injury.

(Reporting by Mitch Phillips, additional reporting by Amy Tennery, editing by Christian Radnedge)