St.Kitts-Nevis Sprint Superstar misses out on 4th straight World Championship finals appearance

BASSETERRE,St.Kitts – Caribbean sprint icon and Former world champion Kim Collins of St Kitts and Nevis blames his slow start at the start of the 2007 sprint season as the major factor that hinderd his progress to a 4th straight World Championship final at the IAAF World Championships in Osaka, Japan.

Collins, a medallist in both the Helsinki World’s in 2005 and Edmonton in 2001 , has been out with injuries for most of the last two track seasons and was never seen as a serious factor in affecting the long anticipated showdown between Tyson GAY and Asafa Powell.

Despite the slow start to the 2007 season and his injury plagued 2006 the St.Kitts-Nevis sporting hero made it all the way to semi-finals, where he was edged in a photo finish by Trinidadian Marc Burns for the final slot in the finals, both sprinters clocking an identical 10.21 seconds.

“That has always been my bad luck,” Collins said after seeing the final results for his semis on Sunday. “When I am close to somebody I always lose.

“But I can’t be disappointed. After I started the season slowly I nearly made it to the finals.

Collins finished the championships with a seasonal best and believes that next year; the year of the Olympic Games in Beijing will be a comeback for him.

Kim Collins

“Next year I will be fully back. They will again need to count with me. This year I had some injuries and was not able to train enough,” he said.

The Jamaican pair of Nesta Carter and Campbell and Antigua’s Brendan Christian also failed to make it from the semis. The final
went to American world-leader Tyson Gay, who caught Jamaican world record holder Asafa Powell after the 60m mark.

According to Powell he had problems with his blocks and was unable to stay focused after getting up to his race form.

Collins is one of the most decorated Caribbesn sprinters in history having won the Commonwealth and World Championship as well as being a 2 time Olympic finalist in addtion to being a 3 time World Championship finalist including a silver and bronze medal performances in 2001 and 2005, thus medalling in each of his 3 world championship finals appearance. Kim is also the St.Kitts-Nevis national and OECS 100m record holder. Collins was also ranked as the #1 sprinter for most of 2003 and was in the top ten for most of the 2003-2006 track seasons.