ULTIMATE PUSH
Jamaica look for strong finish on final day in Budapest
JAMAICA came up short on the second day of the inaugural World Athletics Ultimate Championships at the National Athletics Center in Budapest, Hungary, with Oblique Seville’s second-place finish in the men’s 100m the best result on Saturday.
Jamaicans contested four finals, including the men’s 100m, women’s 100m, women’s 400m and men’s long jump, and will be looking for better results on Sunday, the third and final day.
Commonwealth Games champion Sanique Walker and two-time World Athletics Championships bronze medallist Rushell Clayton have qualified for the final of the women’s 400m hurdles.
They will join Romaine Beckford, who is in the men’s high jump; Ackelia Smith, who is in the women’s triple jump; and the mixed 4x400m relay team.
Additionally, Jamaica will hope to get into the 200m finals, with Bryan Levell and Christopher Taylor in the men’s semi-finals and Ashanti Moore and Lavanya Williams in the women’s semi-finals.
Seville, the World champion and Diamond League winner, was upstaged by American Kenny Bednarek who won the final in a season’s best 9.85 seconds (-0.6m/s). Seville repeated the 9.90 seconds he ran to lead the semi-finals but was edged on the finishing line.
US athlete Melissa Jefferson-Wooden (centre) smiles at her victory ahead of (from left) America’s Sha’Carri Richardson, Saint Lucia’s Julien Alfred, Jamaica’s Tina Clayton, and Britain’s Amy Hunt, in the women’s 100m final. (Photo: AFP)
Another American, Ronnie Baker, was third in 9.93 seconds.
Seville had easily won his semi-final while Ackeem Blake failed to get past the semi-finals after running 10.21 seconds.
Jonielle Smith was the best-placed Jamaican in a quality women’s 100m final, placing fourth in 10.94 seconds (-0.2m/s), the same time recorded by her compatriot Tina Clayton, while Lavanya Williams was seventh in 11.07 seconds.
American Melissa Jefferson-Wooden ran a world-leading 10.62 seconds to win the title, just beating Julien Alfred of St Lucia, 10.74 seconds, with Sha’Carri Richardson of the USA third in 10.76 seconds.
The USA’s Kenny Bednarek (left) poses with sprint legend Usain Bolt of Jamaica, after collecting his trophy. (Photo: AFP)
Jodean Williams had run 11.16 seconds for fifth in her semi-final while Brianna Lyston had run 11.18 seconds in her first race.
National record holder Nickisha Pryce was third in the women’s 400m final, running 49.56 seconds as favourite Marileidy Paulino of the Dominican Republic won in 49.07 seconds, coming from fourth place over the last 120 metres to take the title.
Norway’s Henriette Jaeger was second in 49.28 seconds.
In the other final that included a Jamaican, Diamond League winner Tajay Gayle was fifth in the men’s long jump with a best of 7.90m (-0.1m/s), after failing to make the top four for the fourth and final round.
Gayle improved with each jump, starting with 7.52m (1.0m/s) and then had a 7.72m (-0.2m/s) jump in the second round.
Walker lowered the 54.00 seconds she ran to win the Commonwealth Games, improving her personal best to 53.77 seconds as she placed third in her semi-final from lane nine behind Americans Jasmine Jones, who ran a season’s best 52.77 seconds, and Anna Cockrell, who ran 53.31 seconds.
Clayton was fourth in her semi-final in 53.84 seconds, after she came off the seventh hurdle in seventh place.
Emma Zapletalova of Slovakia won her semi-final in 52.93 seconds, followed by Panama’s Gianna Woodruff, 53.73 seconds, and Belgium’s national record holder Paulien Couckuyt, 53.81 seconds.
Commonwealth Games champion Navasky Anderson just missed out on a place in the men’s 800m final, finishing fifth in the first semi-final in 1:44.83 behind Kenya’s Emmanuel Wanyonyi who was fourth in 1:44.43 to secure a place in the final.
American Kenneth Bednarek (second right) wins the men’s 100m final during the World Athletics Ultimate Championship at Gyula Zsivotzky National Athletics Centre in Budapest on Saturday. Also pictured are (from left) the USA’s Ronnie Baker, Botswana’s Letsile Tebogo, and Jamaica’s Oblique Seville, who placed second. (Photo: AFP)