Boldon worry over 4x100m relay team

NEWLY-CROWNED national 100-metre champion Ato Boldon expressed his concern over the fitness of ace junior sprinters Darrel Brown and Marc Burns ahead of the Athens Olympics in August. The quadruple Olympic 100 and 200m medallist spoke after his gold medal run at the Hasely Crawford Stadium, Mucurapo, on Saturday evening. Boldon won the men 100m final in 10.09 seconds, ahead of Niconnor Alexander 10.19 and Burns, troubled by lingering back spasms, 10.25.

Boldon, Burns and 2003 world 100m silver medallist Brown all pulled up lame during and after the race, with Brown sustaining an injured right hip. “My job was to come here, show that I was fit. It was essentially my first 100m for the year because I was injured and not in any sort of shape (to compete). I had nothing to lose here,” the 30-year-old Boldon remarked. “I decided that I had to be very aggressive at the start and the injury that I got to my ‘quad’ was because I was compensating for my hamstring.” Boldon continued, “I’m a bit upset because of the relays but we have 60 more days to go (before the Olympics) and hopefully we can be back to full strength soon.” The 1997 world 200m champ affirmed his decision to compete only in the half-lap at Athens, even though he easily made the Olympic ‘A’ standard (10.21) but he added, “I don’t have a qualifying time in the 200 (which was due to take place yesterday).” Fana Ashby had no trouble in lowering her national record time in the women’s 100m final, crossing the finish line in 11.03 seconds, well below the Olympic ‘A’ standard time of 11.30.

Cydonie Mothersill of the Cayman Islands took silver in 11.15, Ayanna Hutchinson was third in 11.20 and Wanda Hutson fourth in 11.40, equal to the Olympic ‘B’ standard. The crowd were also sent in a frenzy during the men’s 400m final, with Ato Modibo of Simplex storming through in the final 60 metres to claim gold in 45.72 seconds, nosing out 2003 winner Damion Barry of Tigers (who led from the 200m mark) who clocked 45.75. Both runners were below the Olympic ‘B’ standard time of 45.95 seconds while top junior Renny Quow of Zenith finished third in 46.60. The women’s quartermile was not as close as the men’s equivalent, as Phoenix’s Nickeisha Charles won in 53.18, followed by Memphis’ Abigail David 53.94 and Josanne Lucas of Tobago Falcons 54.14.

Other results: Men 1500m — 1. Jules La Rode (Palo Seco) 4:02.35; 2.Owen Sobers (Tobago Falcons) 4:02.96; 3.Denzil Ramirez (Defence Force) 4:04.50.
Women 1500m — 1.Pilar McShine (Success/Laventille) 4:41.18; 2.Samantha Shukla (Success) 5:03.80; 3.Kema McShine (Success/Laventille) 5:07.05.
Women 100m hurdles — 1.Alicia Cave (Eagles) 13.79; 2.Cuquie Melville (Zenith) 14.97; 3.Natoya Baird (Zenith) 15.46.
Men 110m hurdles — 1.Karriem Pierre (Eagles) 14.12; 2.Patrick Russell (unattached) 14.76; 3.Adoniss Jones (Toco) 14.90.
Men Long Jump — 1.LeJuan Simon (Memphis) 8.04m; 2.Amicki Goodridge (Air Bon Sonics) 7.14m; 3.Mikel Courtney (Toco) 7.08m.
Men High Jump — 1.Kevin Huggins (QRC) 2.05m; 2.Peter Springer (Palo Seco) 1.85m.
Men Shot Put — 1.Dave Stoute (Simplex) 16.99m; 2.Basil Andrews (Palo Seco) 13.23m.
Women Long Jump — 1.Jessica De Freitas (Guyana) 6.09m; 2.Rhonda Watkins (Bishop Anstey) 6.00m; 3.Sheron Mark (QRC) 5.71m.
Women Javelin — 1.Natalie Dixon (Neon Trackers) 40.10m; 2.Kwema Phillander (Palo Seco) 36.89m; 3.Venice Fredericks (Success) 30.25m.