media_artricles :: 2017

Ahye fourth in Shanghai 100m

T&T's Michelle-Lee Ahye missed out on a top three finish at the second meeting of 2017 IAAF Diamond League in the women's 100 metros sprint in Shanghai yesterday when she placed fourth.

A finalist at the Rio Olympics in both the 100m and 200m, as well as the 4x100m women's relay for T&T, Ahye crossed the line in 11.21 seconds well behind double Olympic champion Elaine Thompson, who prevailed with a world lead of 10.78.

The 24-year-old Thompson admitted one day before the race that she surprised herself with how fast she's run. And she could be well surprised again by her overwhelming victory at the Shanghai Stadium where she stormed to the fourth fastest performance of her career, just 0.08 shy of her personal best, in what was her first race in the Chinese port city.

Thompson shrugged off a reaction time of 0.171, the second slowest among all the nine sprinters, built a clear lead after 30 metres and kept extending the margin through the finish.

Tori Bowie of the US clocked 11.04 to finish second, with Marie-Josée Ta Lou of Ivory Coast in third in 11.07.

In the women's Shot Put, T&T athlete Cleopatra Borel placed eighth with a best throw of 17.64 metres well off of winner, Lijiao Gong of China who had a best of 19.46. Second was USA's Daniella Bunch with 18.98 and third, Hungary's Anita Marton with 18.69.

American teenager Noah Lyles clipped 0.19 off of his PB to win comfortably in the men's half-lap race with a 19.90 clocking, equalling the world lead time set by South Africa's Wayde Van Niekerk last month.

His vastly-experienced countryman LaShawn Merritt, a two-time world champion who finished fourth over the distance at the Olympics in Rio, was forced into second place in 20.27, while Britain's Olympic finalist Adam Gemili clocked 20.35 to finish third.

Olympic champion Shaunae Miller-Uibo of The Bahamas also clocked a world lead to notch her back-to-back Shanghai 400m in 49.77. Natasha Hastings of the US trailed almost one second behind to come home second in 50.74 while Ukraine's Olha Zemlyak was third in 50.89.

Jamaica's reigning Olympic champion Omar Mcleod also scored a repeat victory in Shanghai in a breath-taking 110m hurdles showdown. The 23-year-old was almost neck-and-neck with Spain's Orlando Ortega, the 2016 Diamond Trophy winner, at the final hurdle. But Ortega stumbled in front of the finish and had to concede with a 0.06 deficit in 13.15.

Local star Xie Wenjun, a Shanghai native, clocked 13.31 to finish third.

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