Just down the road from her hometown, Kelli White is emerging as the leading contender to replace the absent Marion Jones as the world's fastest woman.
Jones is back in North Carolina awaiting the birth of her child in July. But even if she had been on the track Friday night, she would have had a hard time beating White in the 100m at the US track and field championships.
PHOTO: AP
White's 10.93 second finish into a 1.1m-per-second head wind on a track not known to be fast was a personal best, eclipsing her 10.96 at this year's Prefontaine Classic. They are the two fastest times in the world this year.
"I am overly excited about that," White said of her Friday time. "Into a head wind. That is fantastic, and on this track at that."
She is a local favorite in the Bay Area, but little known elsewhere. That could change heading into this year's world championships and next year's Olympics.
"She's the real deal," reigning world men's 100m champion Maurice Greene said.
White was born in Oakland. She grew up and still lives in nearby Union City, where she was a high school sensation.
But just two weeks after running the nation's fastest high school 200 at the Sacramento Meet of Champions in 1994, she suffered a horrendous attack.
While she waited at a Bay Area Rapid Transit (BART) stop, White was assaulted with a kitchen knife wielded by a teenage girl she didn't know. The wounds required more than 300 stitches, and she still has a five-inch scar that circles her left eye.
As she heads to the world championships in Paris this August, she knows that she will have to tell the tale over and over. She said she doesn't mind.
"I thought it would bother me for the rest of my life," White said. "It doesn't bother me anymore."
She went on to an unremarkable career at Tennessee, but began to show promise in the years afterward.
In 2001, her 22.38 time was second only to Jones' 22.23.
White considered her 2002 season a disappointment, even though she was the US Indoor 200 champion and was second in the outdoor championship. She was third in February in the 200m at the US Indoors.
"When you have a disappointing season I think it fuels a better season," she said. "I had a really bad indoor season. I was devastated at not making the world indoor team. It just fueled me to train harder, just work harder."
Now it's on to the 200m, where White's competition will include 17-year-old sensation Allyson Felix. If White emerges as a double sprint champion, she won't be an unknown anymore, and the crowds of reporters will be waiting for the somewhat-shy 26-year-old sprinter in Paris.
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