BATON ROUGE -- The 2007 IAAF World Championships kick off Friday and the LSU track and field program will be well represented as 12 current and former athletes have made the trip to Osaka, Japan, to compete against the best athletes the world has to offer.
Junior All-American Richard Thompson kicks off the competition for the LSU contingent as he lines up in the first round of qualifying in the 100-meter dash at 10:10 p.m. CDT.
Thompson will represent his native Trinidad and Tobago at this year’s World Championships as he punched his ticket to Osaka with a second-place finish in his specialty at the Sagicor National Open Track and Field Championships in June. He boasts a personal best time of 10.09 seconds in the event with a seasonal best wind-aided time of 9.95.
LSU great and reigning world triple jump champion Walter Davis will look to defend his title as he opens the competition with the qualifying round of his specialty on Saturday at 6:40 a.m. The triple jump final is scheduled for Monday while Davis will also compete in the long jump.
Also set to compete on the first day of qualifying is senior Isa Phillips of Jamaica in the 400-meter hurdles and former Lady Tiger great Marian Burnett of Guyana in the women’s 800 meters.
Phillips is making his debut at the World Championships after being crowned NCAA champion in the 400 hurdles at the NCAA Outdoor Championships in June as he clocked a new personal best of 48.51 in the final. Burnett, a former NCAA champion at 800 meters, is making her second straight appearance in the outdoor World Championships.
Also opening the competition on Saturday is former Lady Tiger Hazel-Ann Regis in the 400 meters and senior NCAA champion Sherry Fletcher in the 100-meter dash. The duo will represent Grenada as Regis lines up in the 400 at 8:50 p.m. followed by Fletcher in the 100 at 9:40 p.m.
Fletcher follows in a long line of elite Lady Tiger sprinters as she became the fourth to win an NCAA title in the 100 meters in 2007. She is also set to compete in the 200 meters at the World Championships after winning a bronze medal in the event at the 2007 Pan Am Games last month.
The Lady Tigers are also well represented in the hurdles as LSU great Lolo Jones of the United States and sophomore Nickiesha Wilson of Jamaica line up for the first time on Sunday.
Jones has proven to be one of the world’s premier performers in the 100-meter hurdles during her career, and she is making her debut in the event at the World Championships after earning a third-place finish at the AT&T USA Outdoor Track and Field Championships on June 23. Wilson is set to make her debut in the 400 hurdles.
Rounding out the list of competitors for the Tigers at this year’s World Championships is former standout Alleyne Francique of Grenada and senior All-American Siraj Williams of Liberia. The duo is slated to open the first round of qualifying in the 400 meters on Monday at 6:10 p.m.
A pair of former Lady Tiger national champions is the last to begin their run at the World Championships as Laverne Eve of The Bahamas opens qualifying in the javelin on Tuesday, while Ronetta Smith runs on Jamaica’s 4x400-meter relay team on Sept. 1.