Collins retains world No 1 sprinting spot

MONACO: World 100-metre champion Kim Collins has retained the world number one spot in the event in the year-end International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF) world rankings. Collins, whose impressive year was climaxed by his exciting 100-metre win at the World Championship in Paris in August, is the only English-speaking Caribbean athlete to hold a number one ranking in the IAAF ratings released on Tuesday. Jamaicans Germaine Mason, Brigitte Foster and Lorraine Fenton and Chandra Sturrup, of the Bahamas, secured number two positions in their events. In the men’s 100 metres, the 27-year-old Collins tops the Americans Justin Gatlin and Bernard Williams for the top spot, while Trinidad and Tobago’s 19-year-old Darrel Brown is 10th ranked in the event.

Mason, the Pan Am Games champion, is number two to Sweden’s Christian Olsson in the men’s high jump, while Foster stalks veteran Gail Devers in the women’s 100-metre hurdles and Fenton is led only by Mexican Ana Guevara in the women’s 400 metres. Sturrup, who won Golden League titles in Oslo, Paris and Rome, finished the year number two in the 100 metres to American Kelli White.