media_artricles :: 2014

Bledman secures Stockholm silver

Jehue 3rd, Walcott 6th

Keston Bledman produced his best run in two months to secure silver in the men’s 100 metres dash, at the DN Galan IAAF Diamond League meet, in Stockholm, Sweden, yesterday.

The Trinidad and Tobago sprinter got to the line in 10.09 seconds to grab second spot, behind Jamaican Nesta Carter, the winner in 9.96. Great Britain’s Chijindu Ujah finished third in 10.10—the same time clocked by fourth-placed Jamaican Nickel Ashmeade. American Mike Rodgers was disqualified for a false start.

The last time Bledman ran faster than 10.10 seconds was on June 21 when he clocked a season’s best 10-flat to finish second at the NGC/Sagicor National Open Championships.

The Florida-based athlete was unable to find his best form at the Commonwealth Games in Glasgow, Scotland, last month, and was eliminated in the semifinal round. Yesterday’s solid 10.09 effort was Bledman’s first run since the Commonwealth meet.

Commonwealth Games silver medallist Jehue Gordon got home in 50.13 seconds to capture bronze in the DN Galan men’s 400m hurdles. Gordon exacted revenge on South African Cornel Fredericks, the man who had beaten T&T’s reigning world champion in the Commonwealth final. Fredericks was fourth in 50.18.

World Championship silver medallist Michael Tinsley took gold yesterday, the American clocking 49.60 seconds. Puerto Rican Javier Culson picked up silver in 49.84, while Dominican Republic’s two-time Olympic champion Felix Sanchez was seventh in 51.68.

Olympic champion Keshorn Walcott hurled the spear past the 80-metre mark five times in the DN Galan men’s javelin event. The best of those efforts, 84.27 metres, earned the T&T athlete sixth spot in a quality field of throwers.

Finland’s newly-crowned European champion Antti Ruuskanen emerged victorious with an 87.24m throw. German Thomas Rohler (85.12m) and Finland’s 2007 world champion Tero Pitkamaki (84.73m) finished second and third, respectively. And Kenyan Julius Yego (84.67m), the African and Commonwealth Games champion, was fourth, one spot ahead of Egypt’s Ihab Abdelrahman (84.58m).

Walcott finished second to Yego at the Commonwealth Games.

On Sunday, at the Espoo Challenge in Finland, Josanne Lucas struck gold in the women’s 100m hurdles, the T&T athlete stopping the clock at 13.33 seconds.

On Saturday, in Mexico City, Mexico, T&T’s Commonwealth Games bronze medallist Ayanna Alexander finished sixth in the Pan American Sports Festival women’s triple jump with a 13.48m effort. Cuba swept the medals, Mabel Gay (14.53m), Yarianna Martinez (14.29m) and Dailenis Alcantara (14.29m) finishing first, second and third, respectively.

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