media_artricles :: 2014

DOUBLE TROUBLE

Ahye wins both sprints in Lucerne

Michelle-Lee Ahye captured the women’s sprint double at the Spitzen Leichtathletik meet in Lucerne, Switzerland, yesterday.

However, the Trinidad and Tobago athlete suffered a cramp in her left hamstring towards the end of the 200 metres race, and had to be carried from the track. But the cramp did not prevent her from whipping a quality field of half-lap sprinters, including Jamaica’s two-time Olympic 200m champion Veronica Campbell-Brown.

Ahye got home in 22.77 seconds, equalling the personal best clocking she had produced in striking gold at last month’s NGC/Sagicor National Open Track & Field Championships. Campbell-Brown finished a distant sixth in 23.13. Noted 200m runners, Bahamian Anthonique Strachan and American Tiffany Townsend were second and third, respectively, clocking 22.99 and 23.03. Another top half-lap sprinter, American Kimberlyn Duncan was fifth in 23.13.

Earlier in the meet, Ahye maintained her unbeaten run in 100m races this season when she won the shorter sprint in 11.09 seconds. American Tianna Bartoletta clocked 11.20 to earn the runner-up spot, ahead of Jamaica’s Schillonie Calvert (11.32). Another Jamaican, 2008 Olympic 100m silver medallist Sherone Simpson was seventh in 11.57.

Campbell-Brown joined the list of “big scalps” claimed by Ahye this season. On Saturday, the 22-year-old sprinter clocked 11.01 to win the British Athletics Grand Prix IAAF Diamond League women’s 100m dash, ahead of Jamaica’s two-time Olympic 100m gold medallist Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce, the runner-up in 11.10, and American Carmelita Jeter, the 2011 100m world champion finishing sixth in 11.33.

Ahye is the 2014 100m world leader at 10.85 seconds.

T&T thrower Cleopatra Borel earned bronze in yesterday’s women’s shot put with an 18.72 metres effort. Top spot went to world and Olympic champion Valerie Adams, the New Zealand athlete throwing 20.42m. Russia’s Yevgeniya Kolodko (19.08m) finished second.

T&T’s Keston Bledman clocked 10.30 seconds to finish joint-third with Jamaican Asafa Powell in the men’s 100m “A” race. Bledman, Powell and American Marvin Bracy were joint-fourth overall. Jamaica’s Julian Forte was first home in the “A” race in 10.24, forcing St Kitts and Nevis sprinter Antoine Adams (10.29) to settle for second spot. The Lucerne champion, however, was “B” race winner Kemar Hyman, the Cayman Islands sprinter stopping the clock at 10.23 to finish ahead of Bracy (10.30).

Wayne Davis II finished sixth in race “A” and seventh overall in the men’s 110m hurdles, the T&T athlete getting to the line in 13.60 seconds. American Aleec Harris (13.28), Cuban Orlando Ortega (13.30) and Barbadian Shane Brathwaite (13.30) claimed the top three spots.

And T&T half-miler Jamaal James clocked one minute, 47.20 seconds for eighth spot in the men’s 800m. Australians Alex Rowe (1:45.73) and Jeff Riseley (1:46.23) were first and third, respectively, while Qatar’s Abdulrahman Musaeb Bala (1:45.79) finished second.

Mikel Thomas secured the men’s 110m hurdles title at the Gugl Games, in Linz, Austria, on Monday. The T&T hurdler clocked 13.42 seconds to finish ahead of Americans Omo Osaghae (13.45) and Kevin Craddock (13.59).

Renny Quow finished fourth in the men’s 400m, the T&T athlete getting home in 45.61. Americans James Harris (45.33) and Calvin Smith (45.54) were first and third, respectively, while second spot went to Bahamian Demetrius Pinder (45.50).

T&T’s Jarrin Solomon got to the line in 21.22 seconds to finish sixth in the men’s 200m. The top three spots were captured by Americans Sean McLean (20.41), Keith Ricks (20.56) and Gil Roberts (20.77).

T&T quartermiler Machel Cedenio warmed up for the World Junior Championships with a third-place finish in the men’s 400m event, at the Guldensporenmeeting in Belgium, on Saturday.

Cedenio returned a time of 45.98 seconds—the fifth fastest clocking of his career. The race was won by American Torrin Lawrence in 45.32, while second spot went to Jamaican Rusheen McDonald (45.83).

Cedenio, the top junior in the world this year at 45.23 seconds, is part of a 21-member team that will represent T&T at the July 22-27 World Juniors meet in Eugene, Oregon, USA.

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