Jonielle Smith wins 100m in Luzern
IT WAS a busy day for Jamaican athletes in Switzerland and Canada yesterday.
Competing at the Spitzen Leichtathletik Silver meet in Luzern, Switzerland, World Championships-bound Jonielle Smith won women's 100 metres in 11.12 seconds. Italy's Zarab Dosa (11.24) and the Bahamas' Camille Rutherford (11.33) finished second and third, respectively. Kemba Nelson of Jamaica ended fifth in 11.36.
Sprint hurdler Kerrica Hill was at her supreme best in the 100m hurdles. Hill, the two-time World U20 champion in the event, narrowly missed a spot for Tokyo after finishing a close fourth at the National Senior Championships. She bounced back with an impressive new personal best of 12.54 seconds for second place. Switzerland's Ditaji Kambundji won in a season's best, 12.49, while Raynith Jones of the USA took third in 12.86.
National 400 metres champion, Rusheen McDonald, will have to wait a bit longer to secure his individual spot for Tokyo. He finished second in 45.30 seconds, behind Trinidad and Tobago's Jaheem Richards, who won in 45.11. The automatic qualifying time for the men's 400m is 44.85.
Olympian Hansle Parchment, who missed out on Tokyo qualification after a subpar run at the National Senior Championships, turned the tables on two of the men who had beaten him there, finishing third in the men's 110-metre hurdles in 13.26 seconds. National champion Orlando Bennett was fifth in 13.36, and Tyler Mason, who had finished third at Trials, was sixth in 13.41. Jason Johnson of Switzerland won the event in an impressive 13.07.
There were also top-three finishes at the meet for Christopher Taylor, Sachin Dennis, and Natoya Goule-Toppin.
Taylor, who wants to join Adrian Kerr and Bryan Levell in the 200 metres in Tokyo, will have to wait a little longer to book his ticket.
Kerr, who was third at the Trials, secured his ticket recently in Los Angeles. Taylor, the Trials runner-up, finished third overall in 20.49 -- shy of the 20.16 qualifying mark. Zimbabwe's Makanakaishe Charamba won in 20.14, ahead of Switzerland's Timothe Mumenthaler (20.36).
Dennis was third overall in the men's 100 in 10.21 seconds, while Goule-Toppin clocked 1:59.80 for third in the women's 800m. Adelle Tracy finished seventh in 2:00.42.
At the Jerome Henry Classic in Burnaby, Canada -- a Bronze meet -- three Jamaicans secured top-three finishes. Daniel Thomas Dodd and Assinie Wilson were second in their respective events, while Navasky Anderson finished third.
Wilson clocked 49.45 seconds in the men's 400m hurdles. Thomas Dodd registered a heave of 19.30m in the women's shot put.
Anderson couldn't replicate the form that saw him break his own national record a few days earlier in the 800m, settling for third in 1:46.82.