Weir, Fraser-Pryce win 200m in impressive style
SPREADING his arms wide as he neared the finish line, Warren Weir’s posture said it all.
But he voiced it after his spectacular new personal best in winning the men’s 200m in 19.79 seconds as the JAAA/Supreme Ventures National Senior Championships ended in a blaze of glory at the National Stadium last evening.
“This was no fluke, this one is for real,” he said.
The men’s 200m had promised to be the highlight of the four-day meet and it did not disappoint, as Weir, the Olympic Games bronze medallist, in the absence of Usain Bolt and Yohan Blake, took the event in a big way.
Nickel Ashmeade was second in 20.06 seconds, with Jason Livermore, who made the team to the Moscow World Championships in the 4x100m relay, taking third and cementing his place, running 20.13 seconds.
Running in lane six, Weir came off the curve in front and never trailed, despite a late surge from Ashmeade, as he maintained his form and spread his arms in triumph three strides from the line.
Weir then told reporters that he wanted to send a message that his 2012 season was no fluke, as he warned “Jamaica and the rest of the world” to take notice.
Olympic silver medallist Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce, who skipped the 100m as she has a bye to the World Championships, sent a message with a world leading 22.13 seconds to win the women’s race and said she just “came out to execute and was not that interested in times”.
MVP runners swept the top three places in the event as Sherone Simpson was second in 22.55 seconds, and Anniesha McLaughlin made it to back-to-back World Championships teams when she placed third in 22.58 seconds.
The fourth day was arguably the best in terms of quality performances, as the 400m finals and women’s triple jump produced quality results.
There’s a new guard in the men’s 400m, with the top three all making the team to a senior global meet for the first time in an individual capacity.
Javere Bell, who left Racers Track Club last year to stay with coach Bertland Cameron, won his first national senior title, running a new personal best, his second this year, 45.08 seconds, holding off Calabar High schoolboy school boy Javon Francis, who also ran a personal best 45.24 seconds, with Akheem Gauntlet third in 45.48 seconds.
Omar Johnson was fourth ahead of Edino Steel, while Olympian Rushane McDonald, who went out hard, faltered in the home stretch and placed sixth.
In the women’s 400m final, Novlene Williams-Mills used all her experience to hold off Stephenie Ann McPherson with a resurgent Patricia Hall taking third.
Williams-Mills, who said she started training late this season, about six months ago due to a myriad of medical problems, clocked a season’s best 50.01 seconds, as McPherson ran yet another personal best (50.28 seconds), and Hall, who was a semi-finalists in the 400m at the IAAF World Indoors last year, ran 51.13 seconds to hold off Anastacia Leroy.
Williams-Mills said performing in front of her family and friends always lifted her and yesterday’s win “felt so much different” after battling with injuries all year. “This was such a difficult year, I am just grateful to be here and running well.”
Williams-Mills praised the younger McPherson, whom she said, “pushed me to a fast time today and I have watched her all season and she runs with so much heart and soul”.
McPherson told the Jamaica Observer she had issues with her spikes twice in the race, but was thankful to be on her first national team and headed to Moscow. “I am just going back to training now and do what I have to do as I aim to be in the finals at the World Championships.”