USA names strong squad for Worlds

Defending 200m champion Allyson Felix heads an impressive list of eight defending champions named in a 129-member USA team for this month's IAAF World Championships in Athletics, which is scheduled for Daegu, South Korea.

Felix, a three-time champion over the distance, will this year try her hand at becoming the first woman to win gold medals in both the 200m and 400m, when she attempts the double in Daegu during the August 27-September 4 championships. It should be a busy week in Daegu for Felix, as she is also expected to feature in the country's 4x100m and 4x400m relay teams.

Defending 400m champion Sanya Richards-Ross is also, as expected, among the numbers heading to Daegu as she will be looking to continue where she left off after last weekend's blistering 49.66 seconds run in London, the second-fastest time in the world so far this season.

Suspension

Olympic and world 400 metres champion LaShawn Merritt, who recently completed a 21-month doping suspension, is also in the squad.

Five other champions from the last instalment of the World Championships in Berlin, Germany, are also back for the USA - 400 metres hurdler Kerron Clement, shot putter Christian Cantwell, decathlete Trey Hardee, and long jumpers Dwight Phillips and Brittney Reese.

The team also has seven world leaders for 2011 in Reese, hurdler David Oliver, decathlete Ashton Eaton, high jumper Jesse Williams, women's sprinters Carmelita Jeter (100) and Shalonda Solomon (200), and pole vaulter Jenn Suhr.

Both Jeter and Walter Dix, the double Olympic bronze medallist, will tackle the 100-200 metres double against Jamaica's talented sprinters.

The US 100 metres team and 4x100 metres relay pool also include former Olympic and world champion Justin Gatlin, who finished runner-up to Dix in his second year back from a four-year doping suspension.