Debbie Ferguson of the Bahamas, bottom, is congratulated by Jamaica's Juliet Campbell after she won the gold medal in the women's 200 metres at the Commonwealth Games in Manchester, England yesterday. Campbell took the silver. - Ap PhotoMANCHESTER, England, CMC:
CARIBBEAN track and field athletes had another glittering night in Manchester winning three more gold medals with Debbie Ferguson of the Bahamas completing the sprint double.
Ferguson demolished the field in the women's 200 metres, her teammate Laverne Eve won the women's javelin gold, with a seasonal best 58.46 metres and to complete the terrific treble, long jump specialist Elva Goulbourne leapt 6.70 metres to seal the gold for Jamaica.
Their efforts lifted the region's gold medal tally to eight, following Kim Collins (men's 100), Ferguson (women's 200), Michael Blackwood (men's 400), Alian Pompey (women's 400) and Claston Bernard (decathlon).
Queen of the track Ferguson smashed the Commonwealth record with a time of 22.20 seconds to add the 200-metre title to the 100 gold she won on Saturday.
"It was a perfect race for me," said Ferguson, who won Olympic sprint relay gold with the Bahamas at the 2000 Sydney Olympics.
Jamaica's Juliet Campbell grabbed the silver medal, beating Australian Lauren Hewitt to the line with a seasonal best time of 22.54 before fearing she may have picked up a serious injury.
St Vincent and Grenadines sprinter Natasha Mayers, the US Collegiate champion over the distance, finished an agonising fourth (22.84), while Jamaica's 1999 World Championship silver medallist Beverly McDonald failed to start.
Jamaica's Astia Walker was the only Caribbean sprinter to miss out on the final, finishing fifth in her heat in a disappointing 23.31.
DISAPPOINTED
"I'm bitterly disappointed, but I think I know the reason why I didn't make it - a lack of races," the dejected 27-year-old said.
"I was injured earlier in the season, but I got over that. Unfortunately, you need to be in the peak of fitness to challenge for medals and I was a long way from that tonight."
Bahamian flag carrier Eve saved her best until last to snatch the javelin gold from Australia's Cecilia McIntosh. The national record holder already had top spot in the bag with a fourth round throw of 57.62 metres that no-one else in the field could match.
But the 37-year-old Eve went one better and launched her sixth and final throw a massive 58.46 metres to cap a remarkable return to fitness.
"Age is no barrier and I feel absolutely awesome right now," she beamed. "It's been a tough year because I had a broken foot in December.
"I only had less than a month to prepare and I've been struggling with my rhythm, so this was a gift from above.
"I'm old, so I just try to hang in there as long as I can and it seems to be working!"
Long jumper Goulbourne was consistency personified as she out-performed her rivals to claim top spot on the podium.
The reigning US Collegiate champion and 1999 Pan Am Games bronze medallist only dipped below 6.35 metres once in six attempts and sealed victory at the fourth time of asking with a 6.70 metre jump.
"It's way below my best, but it still feels pretty good and I'm very, very happy," she said.
Bahamian national record holder, Jackie Edwards, finished a creditable seventh out of 12 with a best jump of 6.19.
Back on the track, Ian Weakley ran a brave 400-metre hurdles final to snatch a bronze medal despite claiming to be only 60 per cent fit!
Weakley was suffering with a groin strain, but still ran a 49.69 lap -- less than a second outside his personal best -- to finish behind crowd favourite, England's Chris Rawlinson, and Wales' Matthew Elias.
Weakley, 28, said: "I'm only about 60 per cent and I just did it for my country. I didn't decide to run until about ten minutes before the call.
"I still think I should have come away with a silver medal -- I knew I had a really good chance of getting a medal and that's the only reason I ran."
His teammate Dinsdale Morgan, the 1998 Commonwealth champion, finished just outside the medals in fifth place (50.14).
In the men's 200 metres, Bahamian Dominic Demerette was happy to equal the national record, despite finishing fourth with an identical time to third placed Darren Campbell of England.
Demerette, who ran 20.21 seconds, said: "I'm disappointed not to get a medal, but I never thought I would be in this position.
"It's my first major championships, so I'm happy with what I achieved."
Earlier, T&T's Marvin Regis ran 21.06 in the semis, but just failed to qualify for the final in his first major event.
In the men's 110-metre hurdles, Maurice Wignall of Jamaica cruised through to Tonight's final, finishing second in his heat with a time of 13.68.
Teammate Ricardo Melbourne's time of 13.99 was also good enough to hand him a final spot as the second of the two fastest losers.
Gabriel Burnett from Barbados (14.08) and Jamaica's Greg Hines (14.19) were not so lucky, both trailing in the wake of gold medal favourite Colin Jackson and well outside the qualifying times.
Jamaica completed an auspicious one-two in the first semi-final of the women's 100-metres hurdles.
Lacena Golding-Clark topped the list of qualifiers for tomorrow's final with a personal best time of 12.74 seconds, winning ahead of colleague Vonette Dixon, who also ran a PB 12.83.
RACE FAVOURITE
Jamaican race favourite Brigitte Foster, who only trails the brilliant American Gail Devers on the world performance list so far this season, was second in semi-final two in 12.98 seconds.
The men's high jump was the one disappointment of the night, with Jamaica's Germaine Mason finishing the highest placed Caribbean athlete in fifth spot, clearing 2.20 metres.
Barbadian Damon Thompson (2.15m) and Jamaican Norman Craig (2.15m) tied for seventh and Barbadian Henderson Dottin (2.15m) was ninth as Canada's Mark Boswell struck gold at 2.28 metres.
Finally on the track, Jamaican 800-metre runner Michelle Ballentine led the first lap of the final but finished eighth in two minutes 03.75, with a predictable win for Mozambiques Maria Mutola in a games record 1:57.35.
In the boxing ring, Bahamian light middleweight Anthony Major won a bruising clash with Cyprus Savvas Kokkinos on points (31-29) to progress to the quarter-finals.
Middleweight Jermain Mackey, also from the Bahamas, was victorious with a third round KO against Samoan Lualima Tokiana.
The T&T pairing of Devon Jones (Featherweight) and Simeon Prince (Middleweight) both lost out on stoppages, while Barbados light middleweight Junior Greenidge, widely regarded as the region's best talent, beat New Zealand's Kahukura Bentson 31-25 on points.
The Jamaican netball team destroyed Fiji 84-33 to record a third successive victory in Pool B.
The resounding win left Jamaican knowing they will top their Pool if they can defeat world number one Australia on Tuesday.
