The clouds cleared for Tim Montgomery and Chryste Gaines, who ran away with the 100m titles at the US outdoor athletics championships on Friday to book their world championship berths. With world record-holders Maurice Greene and Marion Jones on the sidelines thanks to their world championship byes, gaines and Montgomery saw off the rest of America's best on a windy day at Hayward field. Gaines, 30, won the women's 100m final in a wind-aided 10.89sec as 200m world champion Inger Miller saw her hopes of challenging for a sprint double at the 2001 worlds in Edmonton next August dashed. Miller, who won the 200m in Seville in 1999 after Jones was injured, finished seventh. "I strained my groin in the semi-finals," Miller said, adding that coach John Smith advised her not to run the final. "Stubborn as I am, I wanted to run," Miller said, adding that she definitely planned to make use of her champion's bye to race the 200 in Edmonton. She was only hoping the injury won't set back her training. "We'll see how this heals," she said.
There was disappointment, too, for tyree Washington. Long tabbed as a likely successor to 400m King Michael Johnson, Washington failed to qualify for the 400m final. Bureau Report