World Leading Performances
Elaine Thompson 100m in 11.07 seconds
At the Seniors Link Up at Stadium East, National Stadium, Jamaica, on April 16, 2016 Elaine Thompson of Jamaica surprised the gathering with an 11.07 seconds clocking in the 100m for a world leading time. Her bronze medal in the 60m at the 2016 World Indoor Championship on Saturday, March 19, 2016 at the Oregon Convention Centre, USA, was a hint that she was in good early season form.
Granted the bronze medal did not resolve the issue of her relatively weak start. In that race the winner Barbara Pierre had a reaction time of 0.138 seconds. Schippers the silver medal winner,had a reaction time of 0.144 and Thompson 0.174. In fact, Thompson had the slowest reaction time of the top six competitors. Considering the race was over in 7.02 seconds and only 0.02 seconds separated the each of the top three, 0.174 seconds is a fairly long time to invest in the start.
Her coach Stephen Francis is reported to have arranged her participation at the World Indoor Championship for the purpose of improving her start. Top chefs are aware that it takes time to produce good results, so the benefits of participating at the World Indoor Championship may not yet be apparent. In the absence of reaction time information, from the Seniors Link Up, we have no way of knowing.
Thompson can be satisfied that 11.07 is a good early season time. At the World Indoor Championship her tardy start gave Pierre a 0.036 second reaction time advantage. If Thompson can learn to erase that advantage, she may be participating in the 100m at the Jamaica National Senior Trials in June.
Yohan Blake 100m in 9.95 seconds
Yohan Blake of Jamaica spent the last two years recovering from injury. His world leading 9.95 seconds at the MVP Classic at the National Stadium, on Saturday night, April 16 would have been a huge relief to the extraordinary sprinter and to his fans. Now that he has broached the subject of sub-ten seconds, it is expected that other elite sprinters will recalibrate and come again.
In the interest of completeness it must be noted that around the same time a few hundred kilometresnorth, in Nassau, Justin Gatlin of the USA, at the Chris Brown Bahamas Invitational was completing his work over 100m in 9.90 seconds, but he was pushed by an over the limit wind of 2.3m/s, ahead of Femi Ogundoe of Qatarin 9.94. As Bolt gets ready to exit the huge stage he has constructed, almost single-handedly, T&F fans in general and Jamaicans in particular (yes every Jamaican is now officially a T&F fan) are keen to see what the worthy national junior record holder has to offer this year. This early season 9.95 from the man who established an U20, 10.08 record at Carifta Games 2007, will go some way to reassure T&F fans that he is ready to take the baton.
LaShawn Merritt 200m in 19.78
The unexpectedworld leading time of19.78 seconds for the 200m achieved by LaShawn Merritt of the USA, at the Chris Brown Bahamas Invitational was surprising for many reasons. The first was that it is certainly a long time since LaShawn Merritt had run a 200m worth noting. The second was that the general assumption included a renewal of his acquaintance with the prodigious Kirani James in the 400m. The third was that he ran a measured first 100m and still recorded a 200m time, which would make anyone not named Usain Bolt proud.
Aaron Brown of Canada, not known as a speed merchant, was able to enter the straight marginally ahead of Merritt, but thereafter Merritt responded like a man with a mission and separated himself from the chasing pack by seven to eight metres. After the 43.38 fireworks of the Beijing World Championships 400m final in 2015, one is left to wonder whether a sharpening of the 200m has become a prerequisite for competition among the top three.
Kirani James 400m in 44.36
As if to answer the question posed by LaShawn Merritt’s 200m in 19.78 seconds, Kirani James of Grenada, put down a composed world leading time of 44.36 in the 400m at the House of Chris Brown a few minutes later. If there had been competition the time might not seem so uncanny, but James had disposed of what competition there was within the first one hundred and fifty metres.
Running like a man who knew every measured step, James strode to victory with a ‘clockward’ glance at the line before undertaking his usual postrace formalities. One hundred years earlier, in a less formal time, a benefactor would have announced a purse so compelling, that James and Merritt would have been forced to settle matters there and then.
How James, Merritt and Van Niekerk will arrange matters to reduce or avoid competition between May and the August Olympics in Rio is going to be almost as enchanting as the Olympic clash in the long sprint.
Shaunae Miller 400m in 49.69
Shaunae Miller of the Bahamas was forced to put aside some of the hospitality associated with hosting, in order to achieve a world leading time of 49.69 at the House of Chris Brown. Strangely positioned in lane six, she was unable to see Quanera Hayes in lane four, who had made up the stagger and was leading slightly as they entered the home straight. The administrative arrangements must have misplaced the lanes and miscommunicated the iconic status of Miller in the Bahamas, as well as the importance of guest etiquette to Hayes. The uneasy murmur of the crowd was loud enough to be heard in downtown Nassau. Duly alerted, Miller began to exert herself.
Hayes, a silver medalist, at the 2016 World Indoor Championship, and now brimming with self-belief, would not let Miller go. It took Miller fifty metres to shake free – a trick she normally achieves in five. Even then the spunky Hayes was still within touching distance. Miller was relieved to see the line and having reached it, did not run more than five metres beyond it. Hayes took almost a second off her PB in 49.91. The determination shown by Hayes suggests she could be a metal collector and will bear close watching.
Johnny Dutch 400m Hurdles in 48.36
Dutch hit the front early and accelerated smoothly to put the result out of contention in a world leading 48.36 seconds at the House of Chris Brown. Nothing was left to chance. Javier Culson of Puerto Rico in 49.12, was given the duty to shepherd the chasing pack some six to eight metres behind. Jeffery Gibson of Bahamas did 49.16 for third. Jehue Gordon of Trinidad who struck gold at the 2013 World Championships was nowhere near his best and was well off the pace.
Christian Taylor
Christian Taylor in his final jump, just as the fat lady was about to sing, took the triple jump in a world leading mark of 17.11m. He might have taken ‘Just One Look’, as the sixties soul singer Doris Troy did. In the end,Troy Doris of Guyana, with 17.10M after the third roundhad to accept silver.
It was a stunning turnaround for Troy who was sitting pretty before Taylor’s last triple jump. Not to put too fine a point on it but Troy was heard muttering ‘Got to Get my Baby Back’ and Taylor was singing ‘You Give Me Joy.’Leevan Sands the local hero scoredthird with a 16.63m effort.
