Eight more Grand Slam Track champions were crowned on the third and final evening of action at the inaugural Grand Slam Track event in Kingston on Sunday (6).
US duo Dylan Beard and Tia Jones, who came into Grand Slam Track as late additions, were in pole positions to collect the US$100,000 top prize for the ‘short hurdles’ categories. Both only needed to secure top-two finishes in the 100m flat after winning the sprint hurdles the previous day. However, they found sprinting without hurdles to be another obstacle.
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Jones, who finished sixth, watched helplessly as Danielle Williams sped to victory in 11.54 seconds (-3.4m/s) to the delight of her home crowd, who waited three days to see a Jamaican Grand Slam champion. “I’m happy I could pull it out for them (the home crowd),” said Williams. “I just channelled my mind to beat everybody because I have a lot of speed and it was a fun run.”
Beard was trimmed down to size in the men’s equivalent after finishing third to France’s Sasha Zhoya, who burst through the pack to win in 10.55 (-2.0m/s), giving him a winning score of 20 points.
“I was on the blocks and thinking about all the athletes that raced here before me,” said Zhoya. “Shelly-Ann, Usain, Asafa was here today as well, and I was like, ‘I gotta show up, I can’t be lacking on a track where all the greatest come from’. So I had to run fast. It’s a pleasure, honestly, it’s a pleasure.”
In the ‘long hurdles’ men’s 400m, Chris Robinson ran the race of his life and was on his way to victory when Alison dos Santos clawed his way from fourth to overtake Robinson just before the line, winning in 45.52 to Robinson’s 45.54 PB.
Dos Santos, the long hurdles Grand Slam champion, had high praises for the format. “I think this feels more like a championship. Of course, there are different races, but in the meantime this is more like a championship,” he said. “You need to compete one day, but you need to stay locked in because you need to compete again. That’s the big difference for me. The difference is that this feels more like a championship than a meet.”
World 800m champion Marco Arop of Canada, back on familiar territory with the 800m, took charge from the first lap and never relinquished the lead, winning in 1:45.13. Olympic champion Emmanuel Wanyonyi, who finished second in 1:46.44, took the overall ‘short distance’ Grand Slam prize thanks mainly to his earlier win in the 1500m.
Elsewhere, Grant Fisher and Ejgayehu Taye were crowned the long distance Grand Slam champions.
Olympic 100m bronze medallist Melissa Jefferson-Wooden claimed the sprint double in the women’s short sprints category. The US sprinter battled a strong headwind (-4.7m/s) to win in 23.46 with Jenna Prandini 0.10 behind.
Just as she did on the opening night in the 400m hurdles, Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone was in cruise control throughout the women’s 400m in the ‘long hurdles’ category. She crossed the finish line in 50.32 to cap off a successful weekend. (World Athletics)
“I knew the wind was going to be bad but when they told me it was minus five (5), I said OK that makes sense when I felt like I was going backwards a little bit,” McLaughlin-Levrone said with a grin. “I’m happy to come out of this weekend healthy.” (World Athletics)
