T&T’s sprinter Semoy Hackett, 27, place third in the timed final of women’s 200 metres event at the Star Athletics Pro Meet in Montverde, Florida, USA yesterday.
Hackett clocked 22.62 seconds (+2.0) to have the third best overall time after placing first in heat two of the four races. Kai Selvon also ran in that heat, placing third in a time of 23.14 to have the eighth fastest time overall.
World youth champion Candace Hill, who finished fifth in 100m dash in 11.19 earlier, won the 200m later in the afternoon, in 22.38. Shalonda Solomon was runner-up in 22.59, with Jamaica's Kerron Stewart fourth in 22.69.
Murielle Ahoure of the Ivory Coast broke the African 100m record when running 10.78 (+1.6 m/s) to move to the top of the world rankings, and saw her just edging out Jamaica’s Veronica Campbell-Brown, who was runner-up in 10.83.
Ahoure's run eclipsed the African record of 10.79 held by Nigeria's Blessing Okagbare since 2013, and took three hundredths of a second off her previous best of 10.81, which was run in London last July. Earlier in the day, Ahoure had run a wind-aided 10.80 (+2.1 m/s) in the preliminary rounds.
Joanna Atkins finished third in the final in 11.09, while former world junior 200m champion Kaylin Whitney finished fourth in 11.17.
Both Hackett and Selvon competed in the 100m, finishing in 11.26 and 11.37, respectively to qualify for the next round in seventh and 11th fastest times but the T&T runners opted out.
In the men’s 100m, Keston Bledman just missed out on a podium spot, placing fourth in 10.07 in the final. Another local athlete competed in the event Shermund Allsop and he clocked 10.41 in the preliminary round but did line up in the final round heats. American Marvin Bracy registered a sub-10 clocking of 9.94 (+1.8 m/s) to defeat the field, winning ahead of runner-up Aaron Brown (10.01) and Clayton Vaughn (10.02), respectively.
Allsop went on to place sixth in 20.66 in an event which two-time Olympic medallists Richard Thompson and Jovon Toppin also competed. Thompson’s time of 20.84 saw him place 13th overall while Toppin was 34th in 22.05.
Tyson Gay won in 20.21 (+1.6 m/s) ahead of Justin Walker (20.26) (RK)