Anneisha Mclaughlin (left), Allyson Felix (right) and Tameka Williams. - photo by Oliver Wright

BERLIN, Germany:

Her star rose just a step behind Usain Bolt's only a few years ago. But while Bolt continued his ascendancy at world-record pace, Anneisha McLaughlin skipped off track and plummeted even faster.

Plagued by injuries and doubt, she almost quit.

Now McLaughlin is putting the pieces of her athletic career back together, and by the time she faces the starter in today's 200 metres final at the IAAF World Championships in Athletics (WCA) here, the former Holmwood Technical standout will know she is again on the rise. She's even outpacing the expectations of her coach at MVP Track Club, Stephen Francis.

"While I was going out there (for yesterday's semi-final), coach told me I'd run 22.60," McLaughlin said after the race. "I go out there and run 22.5. So I'm happy. I'm very, very happy with it."

She should be. McLaughlin has run personal-best times in her two starts here. In the first round, she clocked 22.91 to surpass her season best of 22.99. She returned even better in the semis with 22.55.

Hoping to go faster

For the final, McLaughlin is hoping to go even faster. She will be in lane eight. Olympic champion Veronica Campbell-Brown, lane five and Simone Facey, seven, are the other Jamaican finalists.

But a WCA final was not promised to McLaughlin when she arrived here, even though that and more should have been simple goals based on the start to her athletic career.

As a high school star, McLaughlin finished a close second to in the 200 metres at the 2002 IAAF World Junior Championships in Kingston. Among those she beat was American Allyson Felix, the current two-time defending WCA champion and 2009 WCA 400 metres queen, Sanya Richards. Felix lines up in lane six today.

It was the same meet that Bolt announced his presence to the track and field world as a 15-year-old by winning the 200 in 20.61. But McLauglin, now 23 like Bolt, failed to keep in step. After taking a scholarship in the United States, she was plagued by injuries. Her times hardly budged and people wrote her off like other flamed-out Jamaican youth athletic prodigies. Out of form and dejected, she threatened to stop running altogether.

Felt like giving up

"At one point, I just felt like giving up while I was overseas," said the Manchester native. "Each time I ran and got hurt and stuff like that."

But encouraged by Holmwood's coach Maurice Wilson and others, McLaughlin decided to press on.

"My high school coach has always been there," she said. "He said he will never let me give up. So he's always there pushing me, even when I feel like giving up."

So McLaughlin changed course. She returned to Jamaica in 2007, enrolled at the University of Technology and joined MVP, trusting her struggling career to Francis.

It's paid off. The coach, who she gives the "majority" of the credit, helped correct technical flaws in McLaughlin's running style.

"I used to run with extreme back lift," she said. "It's not perfect now, but it's better and I'm running a bit more upright and stuff like that."

She lifted more weights and got stronger. To restore her confidence, McLaughlin said she called on her "inner strength". The MVP crew also rallied behind her.

Melaine Walker, the current world and Olympic champion 400 metres hurdler, credited the atmosphere at MVP for lifting McLaughlin out of the doldrums.

"It's not even hard," said Walker. "Because being around so much stars, you're gonna want to do well. You're gonna think about 'You know what, I was like all these people' and you're gonna want to be there again. So that's all the motivation you need."

The move didn't bring automatic success. Plagued by a quad injury, McLaughlin failed at Jamaica's Olympic trials last year. This year, she buckled down and refocused. Fourth at Jamaica's trials got her a ticket to Berlin.

Still, she has only run faster than two of today's finalists. A medal would be far-fetched, but others believe McLaughlin's star is ready to rise again.

"She's somebody to watch," said Walker. "Anneisha McLaughlin, a year away from now, is gonna be the top athlete in the 200 metres and you need to watch out for her."

Medal winners

BERLIN (AP): Medallists yesterday from the World Athletics Championshipsin athletics:

Men

200

GOLD - Usain Bolt, Jamaica

SILVER - Alonso Edward, Panama

BRONZE - Wallace Spearmon, United States

110 Hurdles

GOLD - Ryan Brathwaite, Barbados

SILVER - Terrence Trammell, United States

BRONZE - David Payne, United States

Decathlon

GOLD - Trey Hardee, United States

SILVER - Leonel Suarez, Cuba

BRONZE - Aleksandr Pogorelov, Russia

Women

400 Hurdles

GOLD - Melaine Walker, Jamaica

SILVER - Lashinda Demus, United States

BRONZE - Josanne Lucas, Trinidad and Tobago

High Jump

GOLD - Blanka Vlasic, Croatia

SILVER - Anna Chicherova, Russia

BRONZE - Ariane Friedrich, Germany