Grand Prix wins for Williams, McFarlane
published: Saturday | June 5, 2004
Anthony Foster, Freelance Writer
WORLD CHAMPIONSHIPs silver medallist Christopher Williams and Danny McFarlane were Jamaica’s only winners at yesterday’s Primo Nebiolo Memorial, an IAAF Grand Prix meet in Torino, Italy.
Williams, the 1999 Pan American Games champion, stopped the clock at 20.80 seconds to finish ahead of Swede Johan Wissman (20.81) and fellow Jamaican Ricardo Williams (20.82) in a close contest.
Williams, who is gearing up for this month’s National Championships and August’s Olympic Games, has the 24th fastest time in the world this year, but according to many observers including his coach Maurice Wilson, will be in tip-top shape for the National Championships, set for June 25-27 at the National Stadium.
Meanwhile, McFarlane, the national 400m hurdles champion, clocked an impressive 48.80 to win his pet event. The Central American and Caribbean Championships gold medallist, who switched from the flat 400m just over a year ago, beat South African Llewelyn Herbert (48.89), Frenchman Stephane Diagana (49.13) and Boris Gorban of Russia (49.47).
In becoming the seventh fastest person in the event this year, McFarlane also defeated fellow Jamaican Dinsdale Morgan, who finished fifth in 49.62. Peta-Gaye Dowdie and Debbie-Ann Parris were second-place finishers. In the women’s 200m, Dowdie, still recovering from injury, finished behind Romanian Ionela Tirlea-Manolache (23.13) in a slow 23.21. Juliet Campbell was fifth in the 200m in a disappointing 23.83.
Parris also fell to Tirlea-Manolache in the 400m hurdles. Tirlea-Manolache won in 54.86, the third fastest time in the world this year, ahead of Parris’s 55.85.
Davian Clarke finished in the men’s 400m. His time of 45.75 landed him behind Shane Niemi of Canada (45.46), Eric Milazar of Mauritius and the United States’ Otis Harris (45.71).