Brigitte Foster of Jamaica (left) falls at the finish as Perdita Felicien of Canada wins the women's 100 metres hurdles during the World Athletics Championships at the Stade de France in Saint-Denis yesterday. Felicien won in 12.53 seconds. - Reuters PARIS, France:
THE FIFTH day of the ninth IAAF World Athletics Championships left Jamaica with a silver lining in Paris last night.
Brigitte Foster first took the runner-up spot in the women's 100 metres hurdles final and just over two hours later Lorraine Fenton won silver at a major championship in the 400 metres for the third year in a row.
Foster clocked 12.57 seconds as gold medallist Perdita Felicien of Canada crossed the line in 12.53.
American Miesha McKelvy was third in 12.67.
Fenton ran a gallant race from start to finish but was no match for Mexican dynamo Ana Guevara who won in a world leading 48.89. The next two finishers both had season best times, Fenton 49.43 and 2001 champion Amy Mbacke of Senegal, 49.95.
It was a bad start which conspired to grab gold from the grasp of Foster in the hurdles final.
With world No. 1, American Gail Devers, eliminated in the semi-finals it was generally expected that the Jamaican national champion, coached locally by Stephen Francis, would have crowned herself in glory.
However, her reaction time at the start, 0.158 second, was sixth fastest, well behind Felicien who came out of the blocks in 0.147 second. That virtually decided the first two medals.
Foster made a determined effort to overhaul the Canadian including a desperate lunge at the line but she failed by four-hundredths of a second.
With her battle scars showing, a bloodied left cheek and left shoulder from a fall on the track, Foster slammed the starter for her initial problems in the race.
"I think the starter messed me all up," Foster said. "That gun went just like that. At this level of competition we need to have people who know about the sport.
"He held us forever on our marks and then next thing we know the gun goes. Set, go. We are not used to that."
Jamaica's two other finalists finished at the back of the field. Both crossed the line in 12.87 with Commonwealth champion Lacena Golding-Clarke pipping Vonette Dixon for eighth spot in the field of nine.
Fenton meanwhile said she knew going into the 400m final that it would be fast.
"I knew a season best would have won but I did not know how low."
She did, however, have the satisfaction of finishing in front of Senegalese Thiam who beat her for the gold in Edmonton two years ago. Fenton had earlier taken silver behind Australia's Cathy Freeman at the 2000 Sydney Olympics.
JAMAICA'S BEST DAY
Four other athletes qualified for the finals of their events on Jamaica's best day of the championships so far.
Beverly McDonald, a 1999 silver medallist in Seville, Spain, will run in the women's 200m final today after advancing in fourth spot from semi-final one in 22.92.
The heat was won in 22.50 by 100m gold medalist Kelli White in 22.50.
The fastest qualifying time was returned in semi-final two by another of the French pin-up girls, Guadelopean Muriel Hurtis. She clocked 22.41 to just edge out the dangerous Russian Anastasiya Kapachinskaya 22.43 and American Torri Edwards, 22.44.
Kemel Thompson, who is favoured to add to Jamaica's medal tally, and national champion Danny McFarlane advanced to tomorrow's men's 400m hurdles final.
Thompson won semi-final heat three in 48.33 and went forward as an automatic qualifier. McFarlane got through on time after a personal best 48.35 third place finish in semi-final one. Greek Periklis Iakovakis won the heat in a national record 48.17.
Dean Griffiths was also third in his heat but his time, 48.64, was not among the two fastest losers.
The man they all have to beat, defending champion Felix Sanchez of the Dominican Republic, cruised home in semi-final two in 48.16.
HYMAN IN SEMIS
Long jumper James Beckford is in tomorrow's long jump final. He said he had some problems but was hoping to iron these out for the medal round.
"Today I had some problems with my run-up. Tomorrow I am going to work on that and hopefully it should be okay on Friday," said Beckford who got his qualifying leap, 8.01m, on his first attempt.
Madrea Hyman also moved into tomorrow's semi-finals of the women's 1,500m, advancing on time after her eighth place finish in heat one in 4:14.17.
Decathlete Claston Bernard took ninth spot in the multi-event discipline with a season-best 8000 points.
American Tom Pappas topped the field with 8750. Czech Roman Sebrle took silver with 8634 and Kazakhstan's Dmitry Karpov third on 8374.
Ricardo Williams is the only Jamaican left in the men's 200m. Edmonton silver medallist Chris Williams and Latonel Williams are both out.
Ricardo Williams was third in his second-round heat in 20.53 behind Japan's Shingo Suertsugu, 20.24, and Dominic Demeritte of the Bahamas, 20.51.
Chris Williams has looked very flat at this meet and went out in heat two clocking 20.79 for fifth.
American Darvis Patton won in 20.40. Latonel Williams ran a good first 100m then faded to eighth in heat four won by American John Capel in 20.30.
