Gold for Alexander, pb for James
Pilar McShine broke her own national record in the women’s 1,500 metres event, at the Memorial Rasschaert meet, in Ninove, Belgium, yesterday. The Trinidad and Tobago runner returned a time of four minutes, 13.21 seconds to finish fifth in the metric mile.
The clocking was almost a full second faster than the old T&T standard of 4:14.20—established by McShine back in May, 2010.
Ethiopia’s Gudaf Tsegay topped the field in 4:07.27, forcing Canadian Kate Van Buskirk to settle for second spot in 4:07.74. Germany’s Elina Sujew (4:08.92) and Japan’s Ayako Jinnouchi (4:12.41) finished third and fourth, respectively.
Ayanna Alexander dominated her rivals in the women’s triple jump, the T&T athlete producing six jumps that were better than the best effort of the runner-up.
Alexander’s golden jump—13.24 metres—came in the opening round of the competition. She followed up with 13.03m, 12.99m, 13.10m, 13.22m and 13.18m. Sweden’s Angelica Strom jumped 12.73m to seize silver, ahead of France’s Marion Gatignol (12.09m).
Alexander also competed in the long jump, finishing fourth with a 5.76m leap. Australia’s Kerrie Perkins jumped 6.13m to strike gold, ahead of Belgian Camille Laus (5.94m) and Gabriella Dwomoh (5.92m) of the Netherlands.
Jamaal James fell short in his bid to achieve the men’s 800m World Championship “B” qualifying standard of 1:46.20. He had the satisfaction, however, of clocking a new personal best, the T&T half-miler finishing sixth in 1:46.57. The run was 31-hundredths of a second faster than his previous best of 1:46.88.
American Charles Jock emerged victorious in 1:45.12, getting home ahead of Kenya’s Felix Kitur (1:45.45) and Canadian Anthony Romaniw (1:45.60).
“I tried my best,” James told the Express, after the race, “and ran my heart out. I really wanted to represent Trinidad and Tobago at the World Championships in Russia.
“I’m happy,” he continued, “to end the season with a personal best. I would just like to thank all of Trinidad and Tobago for their support.”
James said that he and McShine had a lot to be grateful for this season.
“We would like to thank Unit Trust and Mr. Wendell Mottley in particular for helping us financially. Also, to the Ministry of Sport and SPORTT (Sports Company of Trinidad and Tobago). We both tried our best to try and put Trinidad and Tobago middle distance running on the map.”