- File
Foster... won in Jamaican record time.
PORTLAND, Oregon (AP):
JAMAICAN HURDLER Bridgette Foster created one of the shocks results of the Prefontaine Classic track meet yesterday when she upset American record holder Gail Devers in the 100 metre hurdles with a meet record of 12.45 seconds -- also a Jamaican national record.
She topped Devers' previous Pre Classic mark of 12.64, set two years ago as the highly rated American struggled after a fast start.
Devers is coming off a right hamstring injury and was testing herself.
"I needed this race to give me the Oklahoma to race and start training hard again," she said. "Now I'm Oklahoma to train; that's the main thing. The bigger story will be me coming back."
In another upset, Mexico's Ana Guevara won the women's 400 metres with both a meet and field record of 49.34 seconds. Olympic champion Cathy Freeman appeared to lose steam and finished fifth.
In the other premier event at this meet, Kim Collins of St. Kitts won the men's 100; world record holder Tim Montgomery withdrew earlier in the week because of a foot injury.
Freeman was running in her first international 400 since the Sydney Olympics, when she became the first aboriginal Australian to win a gold medal. The victory made her a national hero, but she then took an extended break from running, and she's working on a comeback in preparation for the 2004 Athens Games.
Guevara, who set a world record in the 300 earlier this month in Mexico City, pumped her arms into a strongman pose after she crossed the finish line, thrilling the Hayward Field crowd. Then she paused to give Freeman a hug.
Tonique Williams of the Bahamas finished second at 50.39 seconds, and Ronetta Smith of Jamaica was third at 51.44.
In the women's 800, Maria Mutola of Mozambique won in 1:57.98, for her 12th straight victory at the Pre Classic.
