Too cold for Powell but 38.30 sec sprint relay still delights at Mt SAC
Monday 16 April 2007
Walnut, California (USA) - The marquee event on the final day of the 49th Mt SAC Relays (15) was the Men’s 4x100m relay, but the man drawing all of the attention - 100 metres World record holder Asafa Powell - took one look at the overcast skies and cool (15C) temperature and decided not to test a tender knee.
>Editor’s note - we are currently awaiting photos from Mt SAC<
Limited racing schedule for Powell
Tyson Gay (USA)
(Getty Images)
“Yes, it’s a bit cold for me,” he told the spectators over the public-address system. Powell was planning to run on the Jamaican’s MVP Track Club relay team (which finished 3rd with 39.11), but in the end decided that the risk was too great.
“I’m really not going to run that much this year before the World Championships,” he continued. “But I’m going to Osaka to win gold.” Although having run a World record 9.77 three times, Powell is still seeking his first global title.
That left the open door for a starry team of former University of Arkansas runners to speed around the oval in a world-leading 38.30 for the win, not that healthy Powell would have given that quartet much of a challenge. It was one of seven world-leading performances during the afternoon.
Sherone Simpson (JAM)
(Getty Images)
Trell Kimmons led off and passed to Wallace Spearmon, whose contribution put the team into an insurmountable lead. Tyson Gay and Aaron Armstrong added to that advantage as the US Red team of Carlos Moore, Mike Mitchell, Terrence Trammell, and Bernard Williams clocked 39.04.
Gay was the spokesman for the Arkansas Alum team, saying that “with better ‘sticks’ we could have run under 38.”
The Powell-less Jamaican team saw Andre Wellington, Michael Frater, Ainsley Waugh and Darrel Brown tour the stadium in 39.11 for third.
Allyson Felix (USA)
(Kirby Lee/Image of Sport)
But Jamaicans ‘can’ the women’s 4x100
The MVP Track Club of Jamaica - Geraldine Pillay, Sherone Simpson, Shericka Williams and Brigitte Foster-Hylton - won the women’s event with 43.25, equalling the season’s best. Williams came back later with a 51.8 anchor leg on her MVP Track Club 4x400 relay which ran a world-leading 3:30.58.
Despite the coolish conditions, Carmelita Jeter found the formula for a win in the Women’s 100 metres as her 11.16 clocking was a world-leading time. In the men’s sprint, Jamaica’s Chris Williams and Wallace Spearmon waged a tight battle all the way, with Williams prevailing at the end, 10.12 to 10.14, aided by a 2.1 wind.
Allyson Felix produces strong 400m
Reigning World 200 metres champion Allyson Felix moved up to the 400 metres for the first time in two years, and she came away with an impressively strong 51.74 victory over Liberia’s Kou Luogon (53.06). On the men’s side, Lionel Larry of the US won a nail-biter over Fernada Blakely, 45.72 to 45.89. The pair had matched each other stride for stride until the final ten metres when Larry nudged ahead for his victory.
Favourable winds for China and Mexico
Mt SAC has always had friendly winds for the Pole Vault, and Gao Shuying of China took advantage of the conditions to jump an Asian record 4.55 to win the Women’s Pole Vault. Gao took three unsuccessful attempts at 4.60 to end the competition.
Giovanni Lanaro also found the vault runway hot, as he scored a 5.82 win in the men’s event for a new Mexican national record (as well as a Central American and Caribbean area record). The fourth placer at the Moscow world indoor championships, Lanaro had also nudged up the national record with a 5.73 en route to his winning jump. Russ Buller took second at 5.73 with Japan’s Daichi Sawano third with 5.62.
Gerardo Martínez also joined in the Mexican national record celebration with his 2.30 victory leap in the Men’s High Jump.
Mike Mitchell may not have been thrilled by his lane three assignment on Mt SAC’s tightly designed track, but he powered around the turn in the men’s 200 metres and easily won in a PB 20.33, just off Morne Nagel’s world-leading time of 20.33. The women’s race was won by LaShauntea Moore in a wind-aided 23.04.
World season leads in Hammer, and women’s hurdles and Long Jump
Libor Charfreitag of Slovakia easily won the men’s Hammer Throw with a world-leading 80.36 throw. His margin was almost four metres ahead of A. G. Kruger at 76.84.
The women’s Hammer Throw saw Brittany Riley winning a tight three-person event at 69.25, with Bethany Hart (68.62) and Jessica Cosby (68.26) less than one metre behind. In all, seven throwers surpassed the 66-metre level in this early-season competition.
The men’s Discus Throw was a close affair, won by Kibwe Johnson over Michael Robertson, 60.57 to 60.44.
Sydney 400 Hurdles gold medallist Angelo Taylor won that event in 49.40, just holding off Derrick Williams (49.47). The women’s one-lap hurdles went to Jamaica’s Melaine Walker in a world-leading 55.99. Finishing third in that race with 56.56 was Athens 100 hurdles champion Joanna Hayes in her first 400 hurdle race in almost three years.
Akiba McKinney returned to the site of her PB performance in the Women’s Long Jump last year and almost matched it with a splendid world-leading 6.82 leap to win over Brianna Glenn’s PB 6.71 in an outstanding early-season competition. Rose Richmond (6.58) and Jamaica’s Elva Goulbourne (6.51) took the next two places.
The reigning World and Olympic Long Jump champion, Dwight Phillips, also was in good shape in his 8.15 win.
Jenny Adams rode a 2.1mps wind to her 12.75 victory in the Women’s 100 Hurdles, as Candice Davis and Canada’s Angela Whyte took the next two spots, both in 12.88w. The men’s hurdle event went to Ryan Wilson in a wind-aided 13.36.
Madeleine Pape was only making a stopover in the Los Angeles area on her way to Eugene, but it was long enough for the Australian to capture a win in the Women’s 800 at 2:04.95, as Julian Clay finished second (2:05.65).
Pape’s compatriot, 20-year-old Lachlan Renshaw, won a mad scramble at the end of the Men’s 800 Metres with 1:47.06, just missing his PB of 1:47.00 from last season. Duane Solomon (1:47.19) was second, and thanks to a late sprint over the final 60 metres, Alan Webb salvaged third in 1:47.32.
After his world-leading 5000 metres performance Friday night - click here - Mexico’s Juan Barrios came back and won an unpaced Men’s Mile race in a PB 3:58.18. Barrios took the lead before finishing the first lap and widened his advantage continually the rest of the way. Finishing a distant second was Aucencio Martinez in 4.00.69.
The women’s 1500 Metres went to Alice Schmidt with 4:15.28 off a late surge to win over Lindsey Gallo (4:15.54).
The men’s Shot Put was won by Dylan Armstrong at 20.58 ahead of Noah Bryant (20.18). The women’s event went to Liz Wanless with 18.29, as Jill Camarena was a distant second at 17.72.
Ed Gordon for the IAAF