KINGSTON, Jamaica — National champion Rusheen McDonald is still short of the qualifying time for next month’s World Athletics Championships after he was fifth in the men’s 400m in 45.12 seconds on Tuesday’s Istvan Gyulai Memorial at the National Athletic Centre in Budapest, Hungary- a World Athletics Continental Tour Gold event.

McDonald, who has a season’s best 44.89 seconds, is still short of the 44.85 seconds qualifying mark, but is 39th in the World Ranking quota and could still make it to the World Championships by invitation.

The national record holder will have another chance this weekend at the NACAC Championships in Freeport, The Bahamas, to get the standard.

Three Jamaican men have qualified for the quarter-mile – defending champion Antonio Watson, Sean Bailey, who was eighth in Budapest on Tuesday with 48.38 seconds, managing to complete the race after failing to do so the previous two occasions, and Bovel McPherson, who was a finalist at the national championships.

They all have the qualifying standard.

Zambia’s rising star Mazula Samukonga on Tuesday ran a season’s best 44.11 seconds to win, beating Trinidad and Tobago’s Jereem Richards (44.14 seconds), also his best this season, with American Khaleb McCrae third with 44.16 seconds.

National record holder Ackera Nugent was fourth in the 100m hurdles in 12.85 seconds (-0.4m/s), and Amoi Brown finished fifth in 12.88 seconds as Nadine Visser of the Netherlands won in a season’s best 12.43 seconds, as Americans Alia Armstrong (12.59 seconds) and Christina Clemons (12.74 seconds) were second and third, respectively.

Carey McLeod was fourth in the men’s long jump with a best of 7.96m (-0.3m/s), and Tajay Gayle, competing for the first time since mid-June, was seventh in 7.86m (0.2m/s).

Shiann Salmon was sixth in the women’s 400m hurdles in 54.95 seconds as Femke Bol of the Netherlands won with 52.24 seconds, ahead of Naomi Van Den Broeck of Belgium, who ran 54.50 seconds, and American Jasmine Jones was third with 54.61 seconds.

Raymond Richards was seventh in the men’s high jump with 2.18m, with Dominic Williams running a personal best 6.66 seconds (0.3m/s) to place second in the men’s 60m, behind Hungary’s Dominik Illovszky, who set a meeting record 6.63 seconds.

Michael Campbell was fourth with 6.67 seconds, Kadrian Goldson was sixth in a season’s best 6.76 seconds, and Adrian Kerr was seventh in 6.79 seconds.

-Paul A Reid