MCLAUGHLIN
GROSSETO, Italy, CMC:
ANNEISHA Mclaughlin captured 200-metre silver and led four Caribbean medallists at the 10th IAAF World Junior Track & Field Championship yesterday.
McLaughlin landed her second consecutive silver medal in the event, while her Jamaican teammates Nickesha Anderson and Kay-Ann Thompson, and Trinidadian Jamil James secured bronze medals on Day 4 of the big world meet for athletes 19 years-old and under.
In the women's 200 metres, American Shalonda Solomon sped to a championship record win in 22.82 seconds ahead of McLaughlin and Anderson, with Trinidad and Tobago's Kelly-Ann Baptiste denied a bronze by the photo-finish camera.
McLaughlin, second in the half lap sprint as well at the 2002 World Juniors at home in Jamaica, clocked 23.21 for her best time this year, a season hampered by injury.
Anderson (23.46) and CAC junior gold medallist Baptiste clocked the same time in the bronze medal rush with the edge going to the Jamaican CARIFTA champion.
CHAMPIONSHIP RECORD
James produced a strong finish to snatch third in the men's 200 metres in 21.00 seconds, behind Italian star Andrew Howe, who ran a championship record and Italian junior record 20.28 seconds in an impressive victory, adding to the long jump gold he won earlier this week.
South African Leigh Julius, who ran a strong turn, got second in 20.88 as Howe delighted the home fans with a performance that went beyond even his own expectations.
"I was aiming at the podium but before these championships, the world junior title in the 200 metres was not on my mind," he said.
"I am without words. I could not believe it," said California-born Howe after seeing his winning time on the electronic scoreboard.
He admitted: "I would not have believed I could run the Italian junior record six months ago."
Thompson lowered Jamaica's national junior record to two minutes 02.67 seconds in her third place finish in the women's 800 metres.
En route to eclipsing Inez Turner's 13-year-old mark of 2:02.68, Thompson led at the halfway stage with a 58.95 400-metre split time, as Natalya Koreyvo struck gold in a Belarus national junior record 2:01.47, and Romania's Simona Barcau (2:02.23) took silver in a personal best time.
Trinidad and Tobago-born Kerron Clement, who confirmed only last month that he would switch his allegiance to the United States, registered a huge win in the men's 400-metre hurdles in a career-best and championship record 48.51 seconds, pulling his American teammate Brandon Johnson (48.62) and Saudi Arabia's Ibrahim Al-Hamaida (48.94) to personal best and area junior records, respectively.
Antigua and Barbuda's reigning CARIFTA Games and CAC Junior champion Ayata Joseph advanced to the triple jump final at 15.76 metres, as Ukraine's Viktor Kuznetsov (16.39) and Dzmitry Dzetsuk (16.25) of Belarus skipped into the final with big efforts.
Jamaicans Keisha Brown and Monique Morgan both clocked 13.60 seconds for fifth place finishes in their respective semi-finals and narrowly missed reaching the women's 100-metre hurdles final, that American Ronetta Alexander won with authority in 13.28 seconds.
Entering the last two days of competition, the English-speaking Caribbean has secured seven medals, two silver and five bronze. Six have been won by Jamaica.
