From left, Simpson and Smith
FORMER NATIONAL champions Brandon Simpson and Tricia Smith were second place finishers at yesterday's Bislett Games, the third IAAF TDK Golden League Meet in Oslo, Norway.
Simpson was timed in 44.86, four hundredths of a second outside his season best in finishing behind Congo`s World indoor silver medallist, Gary Kikaya, who won in a season best 44.81 seconds.
National champion Lansford Spence, who never looked comfortable, finished sixth in 46.39 behind Sanjay Ayre, who was fourth in 45.69.
Smith had to settle for second behind Russian world leader Tatyana Lebedeva, who leapt 14.89m to remain in contention for the US$1M jackpot. Smith was second with a jump of 14.63m.
Lebedeva, and French sprinter Christine Arron are still in the jackpot runnings. Arron, the 31-year-old European 100m record holder, overcame a poor start (reaction time of 0.209) to sprint past Olympic silver medallist Lauryn Williams of the USA to win her third Golden League meeting of the season in 11.06.
Meanwhile, national 800m record holder Kenia Sinclair ran two minutes flat, which was only good enough for sixth in a strong field won by Russian world leader Tatyana Andrianova's 1:56.91 seconds.
Andrianova led a Russian sweep as Olga Kotlyarova (1:57.55) and Svetlana Cherkasova (1:57.86) were second and third.
