Seville says he could have run better after second place at Prefontaine
WORLD Championships gold medallist Oblique Seville said he did not run his best race, after he finished second in the men’s 100m at the Prefontaine Classic — the ninth stop on the Wanda Diamond League series —held at Hayward Field in Eugene, Oregon, running 9.89 seconds (0.1m/s).
The world leader with 9.82 seconds, Seville was one of four Jamaicans who had podium finishes on Saturday, after Dejanae Oakley had won the women’s 400m on Friday’s first day of the event.
Rajindra Campbell was second in the men’s shot put while Demario Prince and Roje Stona were third in the 110m hurdles and men’s discus throw, respectively, on Saturday.
Seville said while his race was alright, he thought he could have done better technically.
“It wasn’t that bad. I don’t think that’s my best race, because I might have executed a better race than the race I ran, but I’m glad that I am healthy,” Seville said.
Kayinsola Ajayi equalled his Nigerian national record, running 9.84 seconds to win his first professional race, with Christian Coleman of the USA third in a season’s best 9.95 seconds.
Ackeem Blake, who was third at the national championships, was fifth in 10.06 seconds.
Campbell’s 22.16m in the first round was his best mark of the day as Italy’s Leonardo Fabbri threw a world-leading 22.74m to win while American Jordan Geist was third with 21.98m.
Prince, the Jamaican national champion, ran a personal best 13.01 seconds (1.8m/s) to place third in the 110m hurdles, beating his previous best 13.12 seconds that he set at the national championships two weeks ago.
Orlando Bennett was fifth in a season’s best 13.15 seconds while American Jamal Britt ran a personal best and meet record 12.86 seconds to beat NCAA champion Ja’Kobe Tharpe who was second in 12.91 seconds.
Britt broke the meet record, 12.90 seconds, set in 2010 by David Oliver.
Stona, the Olympic Games men’s discus throw record holder, threw 67.42m for third behind Mykolas Alekna of Lithuania, who won with 71.06m. and Kristjan Ceh of Slovenia who threw 69.94m.
Two-time NCAA champion Ralford Mullings was fifth with 64.94m on his professional debut.
Jonielle Smith ran a lifetime best 10.89 seconds (0.0m/s) for fourth in the women’s 100m — faster than the 10.94 seconds she ran earlier this year to move eight places up to 14th on the Jamaican women’s 100m all-time fastest list.
Tina Clayton was fifth with 11.00 seconds and Shericka Jackson sixth with 11.02 seconds as American Melissa Jefferson-Wooden ran a season’s best 10.78 seconds to edge her compatriot Sha’Carri Richardson, with a 10.79 seconds effort, while Adaejah Hodge of the British Virgin Islands placed third in 10.80 seconds.
In the preliminaries, Smith had placed third in her heat in 11.02 seconds (-0.2m/s), with Tina Clayton fifth in 11.06 seconds.
Shericka Jackson had run 11.06 seconds (-0.2m/s) for second in her semi-final heat, while Tia Clayton was fifth in 11.14 seconds and failed to advance.
Danielle Williams was fifth in the 100m hurdles in 12.51 seconds (0.8m/s), with Ackera Nugent sixth in 12.63 seconds behind world-leader Masai Russell of the USA who equalled the meeting record 12.24 seconds.
Tobi Amusan of Nigeria was second in 12.34 seconds while Devynne Charlton of The Bahamas placed third with 12.41 seconds.
Bryan Levell placed fifth in the men’s 200m with 20.20 seconds (-0.9m/s), Adrian Kerr was ninth in 20.78 seconds, with 18 year-old American Tate Taylor winning in a personal best 19.75 seconds, the fourth best so far this year.
Olympic champion Letsile Tebogo of Botswana was second in 19.93 seconds as Zimbabwe’s Makanakaishe Charamba came third with 20.11 seconds.
On Friday evening, Oakley made a winning start to her professional career after running 49.64 seconds to hold off training partner, American Aaliya Butler, 49.97 seconds, with Jamaican national champion Stacey-Ann Williams placing third in 50.12 seconds.