Dave Patrick and Danny Harris ran 47.75 and 47.76 respectively at the
US Trials but failed to make the US team. Only Schmid was thought
capable of denting the USA’s hegemony, a view unaffected by the
heats, where Phillips (49.34), Young (49.35) and Moses (49.38) were
the three fastest. Bâ (49.41) and Schmid (49.77) were the other heat
winners. Moses cranked things up in the semis, running 47.89 ahead of
Young (48.50) and Schmid (48.93), while Phillips showed his strength
in taking the other semi-final in 48.19, ahead of Graham (48.37) and Bâ
(48.48).
In the final, Phillips reacted far quicker than the others (0.15 versus
0.21 for Moses, 0.22 for Bâ) and by the third hurdle was 0.19 up on
Moses and 0.20 ahead of Bâ. At the fourth hurdle there were four con-
tenders, with Phillips just ahead of Moses 20.93 to 21.00, Bâ (21.01)
and Young (21.09). Phillips was pressured by Moses until the eighth
hurdle, but the reigning champion began to tire, and Phillips led off the
last hurdle by more than 2m. Bâ was second, but closed with a fero-
cious finish to set an African record, becoming the number three per-
former of all-time. The American chopped more than three tenths off
his best, while Bâ’s run was the only sub-48 mark of his career.
USA
SEN
JAM
GBR
FRG
KEN
ESP
AUT
CAN
BUL
BEL
KOR
KUW
NEP
SWE
EGY
JPN
ZAM
PUR
HON
AUS
YUG
BAR
ANT
TCH
SLE
FIJ
BRN
KSA
