lets do this: Gay for Gay in 2009

Okay, here goes. The World Championships in Berlin are quickly approaching and I am unafraid to make my predictions of the eventual (men's) champions, as biased as they may be. Some, I admit, are a product of my own fallacious thinking. Now, I'm not really qualified to make judgments about all the field events - I just don't follow them closely enough. But here's who I'm looking at for gold:

100m - Tyson Gay
200m - Tyson Gay
400m - Jeremy Wariner
800m - Gary Reed
1500m - Asbel Kiprop
5000m - Devastator Lagat
10000m - Devastator Bekele
Marathon - Deriba Merga
3000m sc - Bouabdellah Tahri
110hh - Dayron Robles
400mh - Bershawn Jackson
HJ - Jesse Williams
LJ - Dwight Phillips
TJ - Phillips Idowu
PV - Renaud Lavenellie
SP - Reese Hoffa
DT - Gerard Kanter
JT - Andreas Thorkildsen
HT - Kriztian Pars
Dec - Trey Hardee

I'll give a quick breakdown of my distance picks here, and why I went with them:

100m and 200m - Tyson Gay

He's got the #1 times in the world in the 100 and 200. Bad weather my ass Mr. Bolt! He just plan ran faster than you this year. Yea, yea, Bolt ran WR's in both events - but he also got in a car accident and has publicly said he's not in as-good shape.

400m - Jeremy Wariner

Another slightly off-the-wall choice. Wariner was well beaten all last year at 400m by Merritt, but it also seems like they are much closer this year. Plus...Wariner just seems filled with quiet rage at his loss. He will triumph this year! More likely than anything, his reunion with Clyde Hart will probably help matters against Merritt.

800m - Gary Reed

What can I say? Reed has shown some good form this year, and a lot of others have not - Borza and Kaki might yet surprise me, but if Reed is in it off the curve, my money is on him. Unless Symmonds is next to him.

1500m - Asbel Kiprop

I don't think I can say much about Asbel Kiprop that hasn't been said before. He's an insane talent - has thwomped the world's best at the age of 19. He will likely soon be the Olympic gold medalist from Beijing, if Ramzi's appeals run out. I think you'd be a little foolish to bet against him.

5000m - Bernard Lagat

I honestly think Bernie G is the man to beat when it comes to the 5000m this year. It's really quite the task to run away from Lagat - you can do it (ala Bekele this year at 3k) but you're going to have a hell of a time of it. It probably requires rabbits, to be honest. And there won't be any rabbits at the WCs. That leaves you, alone, facing the fury of the Lagat tornado.

10000m - Kenenisa Bekele