Trinidad and Tobago track star Kelly-Ann Baptiste produced the fastest 200 metres clocking of her career, 22.49 seconds, at the National Training Center Classic, in Clermont, Florida, USA, on Saturday.
However, a 2.1 metres per second headwind, fractionally above the 2.0 legal limit, robbed the World Championship 100m bronze medallist of a new national half-lap record.
Baptiste grabbed gold in the event, finishing ahead of Great Britain's Abi Oyepitan (22.57) and Jamaican Samantha Henry-Robinson (22.87).
Another T&T sprinter, Rondel Sorrillo, finished in a dead heat for fourth in the men's 100m with American Dentarius Locke. Both athletes clocked 10.18 seconds--just one-hundredth of a second slower than Sorrillo's 10.17 personal best.
In a close finish, Jamaicans Ramone McKenzie and Oshane Bailey were first and third, respectively, clocking 10.10 and 10.12, while American Cordero Gray finished second in 10.11.
In the preliminary round, Sorrillo finished second in heat two and fourth overall in a wind-assisted 10.20 seconds.
Brittany St Louis copped fifth spot in the women's 400m, the T&T quarter-miler getting round the track in 54.96 seconds.
Americans swept the top two positions, Moushaumi Robinson winning in 52.19, from Tiffany Williams (52.54). Canada's Amonn Nelson (53.50) finished third.
At the Rio de Janeiro Grand Prix IAAF (International Association of Athletics Federations) World Challenge meet, in Brazil, on Sunday, T&T sprinter Emmanuel Callender produced the second fastest run of his career, 10.07 seconds, for a runaway victory in the men's 100m dash.
Callender, whose PR (personal record) is 10.05, finished well ahead of Jamaica's Dexter Lee, the runner-up in 10.21, and Zambia's Gerald Phiri (10.22).
Another T&T sprinter, Marc Burns, clocked 10.25 seconds to cop fourth spot.
Lee, Burns, Callender and Phiri combined for silver in the 4x100m relay, the mixed nationalities team returning a time of 38.87 seconds to finish behind Brazil (38.63) and ahead of Bahamas (39.36).
Jehue Gordon bagged bronze in the straight men's 200m hurdles, at the Great City Games, in Manchester, England, on Sunday. The street meet was staged on a purpose-built track.
Gordon got to the line in the rarely-run event in 23 seconds flat, the 20-year-old T&T athlete finishing behind British hurdler Andy Turner (22.54) and Dominican Republic's 2004 Olympic 400m hurdles champion Felix Sanchez (22.75). Another Briton, Richard Yates (23.23) was fourth.
-Kwame Laurence
Source: www.trinidadexpress.com