OLYMPIC 4×100 metres relay gold medallist Nesta Carter continued his awesome form when he lowered his season-best from 9.86 seconds to 9.85, as he finished second in the men’s 100 metres at the Belgacom Memorial Van Damme Diamond League meeting in Belgium yesterday.

With the absence of training partner Asafa Powell and Usain Bolt from the event, the race, which included three other Jamaicans, was still expected to be a cracker as it included world leader Tyson Gay of the United States, along with American Trell Kimmons, Daniel Bailey of Antigua and Richard Thompson from Trinidad and Tobago.

From a local standpoint, most attention surrounded Carter and the in-form Yohan Blake, who was hoping to defeat Carter for the first time.

The athletes had to face the starter twice as the race was called back. Strangely, none of the athletes were penalised for a false start.

On the second occasion, Carter got a flying start and led for majority of the way before he was overtaken towards the end by a fast-finishing Gay, who got left in the blocks.

The American still clocked a fast 9.79 seconds for the win, just outside his world-leading and season-best of 9.78s, as Blake, who once again got out of the blocks slow, finished third in 9.91s.

Blake’s training partner, Mario Forsythe, finished sixth in 10.12s, while World Junior champion Dexter Lee equalled his winning world junior time of 10.21 seconds to finish eighth

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West Indies fast bowler Kemar Roach moved up a whopping nine places to 38th spot when the International Cricket Council Test bowling rankings this week.

The pacy Barbadian who celebrates his 22nd birthday Wednesday, played in two matches and ended the series six wickets at 31 runs per wicket. He took five wickets in the third Digicel Test Series against South Africa. His best bowling effort was 3-22 during a hostile spell in the second innings of the third Digicel Test. Overall he now has 26 wickets in seven Test at an average of 29.

West Indies’ left-arm spinner Sulieman Benn also made a climb up the ranking following his very good performances. The 28-year-old took 15 wickets in the three Tests – the most in the series – to jump three places to 31st position. Benn’s wickets came at 30 runs each and he had career-best figures of 6-81 in the third Digicel Test at Kensington Oval in Barbados. During the match Benn reached his 50th wicket in his 15th match.

The performance in the third Digicel Test was his third five-wicket haul in the last five Test matches. Benn also had a good series with the bat in the lower order making 101 runs at 20 runs per innings, including a Test-best 42 in the second innings of the first Digicel Test in Trinidad.
West Indies veteran left-hander Shiv Chanderpaul was already in the top 10 and his efforts with the bat in what was a losing cause for the Windies earned him another three places as he settles in sixth position.

His innings of 22 and 71 not out in the third Digicel Test have moved him ahead of Sachin Tendulkar and Jacques Kallis in a log that is still headed by India’s Virender Sehwag. Chanderpaul made the highest score of the Digicel Series – 166 in the second match at Warner Park in St Kitts to end the series with 300 runs at an average of 75. Overall he now has 8969 runs in his 126-match career.

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Jamaica’s star Veronica Campbell-Brown’s return to indoor competition ended in defeat as the sprinter was beaten into second place in the women’s 60m dash.Campbell-Brown, who switched coach last year, finished second to American Lisa Barber in a very tight finish which saw both runners being credited with the same time of 7.24seconds.

American Olympian Muna Lee finished third in 7.25secs, with Bianca Knight taking fourth in 7.32.
The men’s race went to Ivory Williams in 6.59secs. Michael Rodgers was second 6.60, while Antigua’s Daniel Bailey (6.63) was fourth after a poor start.
Priscilla Lopes-Schliep continued her dominance over the hurdles at the meeting. The Canadian clocked 8.01secpmd to beat Americans Tiffany Ofili (8.04) and Virginia Powell (8.07) in the women’s 60m hurdles.
Terrence Trammell won the men’s race in 7.49secs and he defeated Ryan Brathwaite, the Barbadian World champion 7.61.

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Maria Shakira Gooding, sister of former national triathlon champion Jason Gooding, won the fourth annual Sprint Triathlon in Antigua last Sunday.

’The race included a 750m swim at the rough Fort James Beach, a  20kmridethrough the busy town to English Harbor, and a 5km run up the scenic Shirley Heights fort,  from one side of the island to the other,’ she said, ’It was indeed a challenge.’

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He seemed to struggle coming out of the blocks but not even a bad start can seem to hamper the Bolt of Lightening.

Usain Bolt turned on the jets down the track to pull out a win out of seemingly nothing in inclement weather. Running a mete record 9.79s, Bolt led an impressive array of Caribbean athletes across the finish line with Daniel Bailey from Anitgua, Yohan Blake from Jamaica and Richard Thompson of Trinidad finishing in that order. Here are the race results:

1      BOLT      Usain      JAM      9.79 MR      0.174
2     BAILEY     Daniel     ANT     9.91 NR     0.171
3     BLAKE     Yohan     JAM     9.93 PB     0.163
4     THOMPSON     Richard     TRI     10.04      0.120
5     WILLIAMS     Ivory     USA     10.07      0.139
6     WILLIAMSON     Simeon     GBR     10.14      0.165
7     MARTINA     Churandy     AHO     10.17      0.173
8     COLLINS     Kim     SKN     10.22      0.196
9     MBANDJOCK     Martial     FRA     10.30      0.168

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“I am very satisfied with my performance,” Bolt said after his win.

“The crowd helped me a lot. I feel sure I will be very strong at the Olympic Games,” added the 21-year-old.

200m – Usain Bolt – 19.67s

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