Jones seizes chance to show true grit

Marion Jones, who showed the grace of a true champion when she accepted her loss in the world 100 metres final, will seize the chance on Friday to show she also has the resilience.

Beaten for the first time in four years in the world championships final on Monday, Jones will attempt on Friday to win the world 200 title for the first time.

"I'm going to do my best not to let this one slip between my fingers," she said. "I would like to get in lane five or six so I don't have to run so much of the curve."

Two years ago Jones fell heavily to the track in the Seville world championships 200 metres, leaving the way open for American team mate Inger Miller to take the gold medal.

Miller missed last year's Sydney Olympics through injury but she would have needed everything going for her to head Jones, who won the 200 final by a clear four metres.

Jones, already the 100 champion, went on to anchor the U.S. 4x400 relay team to victory. She also won bronze medals in the long jump and 4x100 relay to become the first woman to win five track and field medals at the same Games.

Miller was eliminated in Thursday's semifinals, leaving a field thin in quality in the absence of Jones's conqueror on Monday, 1997 world 200 gold medallist Zhanna Pintusevich-Block of Ukraine.

Veteran Debbie Ferguson, who anchored the Bahamas to victory in the 1999 world and 2000 Olympic 4x100 relay finals, was fastest in the semifinals. Ferguson, 35, has competed at all eight world championships.

Olympic champion Million Wolde of Ethiopia takes on the silver medallist Ali Saidi-Sief in the men's 5,000 metres final following the Moroccan's decision to avoid compatriot Hicham El Guerrouj in the 1,500.

Wolde has extra pressure on his shoulders after his illustrious compatriot Haile Gebrselassie was beaten for the first time in eight years over 10,000 metres on Wednesday.

Ethiopian 1,500 metres record holder Hailu Mekonnen, fastest man in the world this year, is also in the field.

In the absence of Olympic champion Angelo Taylor, who was eliminated in the semifinals, Felix Sanchez of the Dominican Republic is the fastest man this year in the 400 metres hurdles.

Sanchez, born in New York, raised in California and now competing for his parent's homeland, races against Italy's defending champion Fabrizio Mori.

Friday's other final in the triple jump is likely to evolve into a duel between Bulgaria's Olympic champion Tereza Marinova and Russian silver medallist Tatyana Lebedeva.

Lebedeva is the world leader this year with 14.91 metres ahead of Marinova who has leaped 14.74.