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Caribbean stars shone at Word Juniors
Paul Reid
Wednesday, July 28, 2010
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MONCTON, Canada — All three Caribbean men who came into the 13th IAAF World Junior Championships at the Stade de Moncton as favourites delivered by landing gold medals.
Jamaica's Dexter Lee wrote his name in the annals of the Championships by retaining his 100m title, the first man to achieve that feat; Grenada's Kirani James, who won two World Youth Championships gold medals in Bressanone last year, won his country's first ever World Junior gold when he won the 400m, while Trinidad and Tobago's Jehue Gordon won the 400m hurdles.
Grenada’s Kirani James strides to victory in the 400 metres at the 13th IAAF World Junior Championships in Moncton, Canada last week. (Photo: Paul Reid)
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While all three were expected to win, no one expected gold from the Bahamas' Shaunae Miller as the six foot tall 16-year-old upset the seedings to land the gold in the 400m final after setting a national junior record 52.45 seconds in the semi-finals.
In the final last Friday, Miller fought off Nigeria's favourite Margaret Etim for one of the biggest upsets of the meet, as she won her country's first ever medal in the quarter mile.
While all four Caribbean athletes were more than happy for their Championships titles, 18-year-old James, who just completed his first year at the University of Alabama, told reporters after the race he was disappointed with his slow times and that "right now I am more interested in running fast times at championships".
James's time of 45.89 seconds was much slower than the 45.01 seconds he had run earlier in the year.
In contrast, Lee and Gordon, who were two of five athletes presented at the IAAF/LOC opening press conference last Monday, also ran slower than expected times, but were more than happy with the gold medals.
Lee, who was the biggest star here in Moncton, almost fell in his semi-final heat, but came back hours later to win the 100m in 10.21 seconds after running a personal best 1.16 seconds three weeks ago.
Gordon, a studious soft- spoken but intense competitor, ran 49.30 seconds in the final, chased by Japan's Takatoshi Abe all the way, well off his personal best 48.26 seconds set in Berlin last year as he was fourth in the World Championships, just missing out on a medal after failing to get past the semi-finals at the 2008 World Juniors in Poland.
Gordon and James had dominated their respective events coming into the championships with the Grenadian, who became the first man to win the 200m/400m World Youth double when he copped both gold medals in Brixen/Bressanone last year, had the top five times in the world, almost a full second better than the US's Errol Nolan (45.59 seconds).
Gordon owned the top six times in the world coming into the Championships.
Caribbean stars shone at Word Juniors
Paul Reid
Wednesday, July 28, 2010
var addthis_pub="jamaicaobserver";
MONCTON, Canada — All three Caribbean men who came into the 13th IAAF World Junior Championships at the Stade de Moncton as favourites delivered by landing gold medals.
Jamaica's Dexter Lee wrote his name in the annals of the Championships by retaining his 100m title, the first man to achieve that feat; Grenada's Kirani James, who won two World Youth Championships gold medals in Bressanone last year, won his country's first ever World Junior gold when he won the 400m, while Trinidad and Tobago's Jehue Gordon won the 400m hurdles.
Grenada’s Kirani James strides to victory in the 400 metres at the 13th IAAF World Junior Championships in Moncton, Canada last week. (Photo: Paul Reid)
1/1 While all three were expected to win, no one expected gold from the Bahamas' Shaunae Miller as the six foot tall 16-year-old upset the seedings to land the gold in the 400m final after setting a national junior record 52.45 seconds in the semi-finals.
In the final last Friday, Miller fought off Nigeria's favourite Margaret Etim for one of the biggest upsets of the meet, as she won her country's first ever medal in the quarter mile.
While all four Caribbean athletes were more than happy for their Championships titles, 18-year-old James, who just completed his first year at the University of Alabama, told reporters after the race he was disappointed with his slow times and that "right now I am more interested in running fast times at championships".
James's time of 45.89 seconds was much slower than the 45.01 seconds he had run earlier in the year.
In contrast, Lee and Gordon, who were two of five athletes presented at the IAAF/LOC opening press conference last Monday, also ran slower than expected times, but were more than happy with the gold medals.
Lee, who was the biggest star here in Moncton, almost fell in his semi-final heat, but came back hours later to win the 100m in 10.21 seconds after running a personal best 1.16 seconds three weeks ago.
Gordon, a studious soft- spoken but intense competitor, ran 49.30 seconds in the final, chased by Japan's Takatoshi Abe all the way, well off his personal best 48.26 seconds set in Berlin last year as he was fourth in the World Championships, just missing out on a medal after failing to get past the semi-finals at the 2008 World Juniors in Poland.
Gordon and James had dominated their respective events coming into the championships with the Grenadian, who became the first man to win the 200m/400m World Youth double when he copped both gold medals in Brixen/Bressanone last year, had the top five times in the world, almost a full second better than the US's Errol Nolan (45.59 seconds).
Gordon owned the top six times in the world coming into the Championships.