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Frankie Fredericks had burst on to the world sprinting scene in 1991
when he won a silver medal in the 200m at the World Championships. He
followed this performance the next year with silver medals in both the
100m and 200m at the Barcelona Olympics. It seemed just a matter of
time before Fredericks would win a gold medal at a major international,
and it looked as if he would achieve that goal at the 1993 World Indoor
Championships in Toronto.
Starting as one of the favourites in the 60m,
Fredericks was headed for gold, until Canadian Bruny Surin just edged
past him in the final few metres to leave Frankie with another silver
medal. Fredericks however, was the overwhelming favourite in the 200m,
but he unfortunately sustained a hamstring injury while winning his
heat, which forced him to withdraw from further competition. Frankie
quickly regained his form in the outdoor season where he was the
dominant force in the 200m prior to the World Championships in
Stuttgart, which included a win over Michael Johnson (USA) at the Golden
Gala meet in Rome on 9 June.
At Stuttgart, Fredericks easily won his
heat of the 100m on 14 August (see photo above) in 10.32sec
running from lane 7. In the final the following day, he finished sixth
amongst a quality field in 10.03sec, his best time for the year. In the
200m, Fredericks finished second behind Mike Marsh (USA) in the first
semi-final, duplicating their finishing order in the previous year's
Olympic final, while the second semi-final was won by Carl Lewis (USA).
In the final, on 20 August, Fredericks was only fourth at the 100m
mark, but he then produced an incredibly fast finish, to win the gold
medal by a metre in a new personal best time of 19.85sec. (Ron Casey)
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