The Tribune

By BRENT STUBBS Senior Sports Reporter bstubbs@tribunemedia.net Having struggled in her bid to win a medal in the shorter sprint, Debbie Ferguson-McKenzie has decided to try something new this year and only concentrate on her specialty in the 200 metres. The decision has forced Ferguson-McKenzie to skip this weekend's 13th IAAF World Indoor Championships in Istanbul, Turkey. And it will limit her appearance in the 100 heading into the August Olympic Games in London, England. While the Bahamas' nine-member team is scheduled to leave today for the World Championships, Ferguson-McKenzie said her and coach Lance Brauman decided not to make the trek to Istanbul because the 200 is no longer contested at the global meet. "We've only been in spikes for two weeks now so we decided not to take the time off from training to go to Worlds," said Ferguson-McKenzie, who would have only been able to run the 60. "I ran one meet just to see where I was to break out the monotonous training and that's all it was. I'm now getting ready for outdoors. The concentration is on the Olympic Games." In that meet held in New York on February 11, Ferguson-McKenzie ran 7.33 seconds which was under the qualifying time of 7.35 for the Worlds. Ferguson-McKenzie, who turned 36 on January 16, is expected to run in a relay meet at the end of the month in Clearmount, Florida, where she is currently training in Brauman's camp. At the beginning of April, she is expected to compete in her first open race before she comes home for the first Chris Brown Invitational on April 14 - the event is now scheduled for Grand Bahama. But she noted that her schedule will officially begin on May 5 at the Guadeloupe Invitational, towards the trek for the Olympics. From there, she intends to run in just two meets in Europe - first at the colourful Daegu Championships in South Korea (the site of last year's IAAF World Championships in Athletics) on May 16 and the Samsung Diamond League in Shanghai, China, on May 19. Ferguson-McKenzie, the 200m bronze medallist in the 2004 Olympics in Athens, Greece, will make another trip home in June for the Bahamas Association of Athletic Associations' National Championship before she heads to Europe in the run-up to the Olympics. "The Olympic Games is a little bit early so I want to spend more time training and less time traveling," Ferguson-McKenzie said. "I want to get it together and stay healthy. I want to make sure that I don't overdo it to a certain extent. I want to try something different this year. With the Olympics beginning at the end of July and track starting at the beginning of August, before you blink, it's here." With so many of the younger athletes starting to come into their own right now, Ferguson-McKenzie said she's looking for the return of the women's 4 x 100m relay team in London. The Bahamas last won a medal at the 2000 Olympics in Sydney, Australia, with Ferguson-McKenzie anchoring the 'Golden Girls' team of Eldece Clarke (alternate), Sevatheda Fynes, Chandra Sturrup and Pauline Davis-Thompson. "Chandra is coming back (after a year's absence) and we have Q (Sheniqua Ferguson) and a lot of the other youngsters, so my recommendation to the BAAA and the BOA is to get the relay teams (both male and female) together early," she said. "I know last year (at the World Championships in Daegu), we got the ladies together at the last minute and because we failed to plan, we failed (team dropping the baton between Anthonique Strachan and Nivea Smith)." Ferguson-McKenzie said the trip to Daegu, where the team only ran once before at the BAAA Nationals, proved that it's not only about putting the four fastest women together but also ensuring that they have sufficient time to train. "Yes, you have to run fast, but it's all about getting the stick around," she said. "Hopefully, we will get a chance to work on that this year and get ready to run as fast as we can at the Olympics." There's no official qualifying time for the relays. The top 16 teams in the world will automatically earn the rights to compete at the games. At present, Australia is the only country on the list, having done 44.01 in Brisbane on January 14. As for the 4 x 400 relay, Ferguson-McKenzie said she wouldn't mind helping the team to qualify but she's not certain if she will run it at the Olympics. Again, Australia is the only country to have posted a time. They did 3:34.12 on the same date in Brisbane. Three clubs from Jamaica and another from the US are also on the board.