Clarke, Riley clock best times at US Indoor meets

Paul Burrowes

Monday, February 13, 2012

REIGNING Commonwealth Games and Pan American Games sprint champion Lerone Clarke clocked a world-leading 6.52 seconds to win the 60 metres on Saturday at the USATF Classic, Randal Tyson Track Center in Fayetteville, Arkansas.

The 30-year-old Clarke, who equalled his personal best, edged out Americans Justin Gatlin and Trell Kimmons, both posting identical 6.57 seconds.

On the heels of Clarke's world-leading time in 2012 are France's Jimmy Vicaut (6.53 seconds) and American Harry Adams (6.55).

Clarke has competed in the last three IAAF World Indoor Championships (2006, 2008, 2010) with best times of 6.66, 6.89 and 6.78 seconds respectively, but since then he has improved.

He ran his personal best for the first time at the BW-Bank Meeting in Karlsruhe, Germany, last year, beating a field that included Trinidadian Marc Burns (6.56 seconds) and St Kitts and Nevis legend Kim Collins (6.64).

A past student of William Knibb High and the 2009 Central American and Caribbean Championship 100m silver medallist, Clarke is jointly the third fastest Jamaican in the 60 metres with Ray Stewart and Nesta Carter, both having clocked 6.52 seconds in 1998 and 2011, respectively.

Michael Green holds the national record with 6.49 seconds, ahead of Donovan Powell, 6.50 seconds.

This year's IAAF World Indoor Championships will take place on March 9-11 in Istanbul, Turkey.

Meanwhile, defending NCAA Division One indoor champion Andrew Riley ran personal bests in his pet event 60m hurdles and the 60 metres, at the Tyson Invitational, also in Fayetteville, Arkansas.

A senior at the University of Illinois, Champaign, the 23-year-old posted 7.53 seconds in the indoor sprint hurdles. He erased his previous best of 7.58 seconds with which he won the NCAA Indoor Championship gold last year.

The Calabar High past student beat Americans Spencer Adams of Clemson University and Barrett Nugent of LSU, who ran 7.66 and 7.70 seconds, respectively.

Riley is closing in on Maurice Wignall's national indoor record of 7.48 seconds set in March 2004 when he won the bronze at the World Indoor Championships that year.

Riley registered his new personal record of 6.70 seconds in semi-final one of the 60 metres which he won and opted not to take part in the final. He improved on his previous best by four hundredth of a second.

"Andrew was dominant... and ran the race he has been training and preparing for the last couple of weeks," Illinois head coach Mike Turk said on the school's website.

Riley has broken his school's indoor records in both events, sending a strong warning to rivals in this Olympic year.