By Gary Smith
Caribbean Net News Sports Correspondent
Email: gary@caribbeannetnews.com
In this the fourth edition of Caribbean Net News track and field year in review, sports correspondent Gary Smith takes a look at the region's hurdlers in the just concluded athletics season.
Traditionally there is always some good news to reflect on at the end of year in the hurdles and this year was not the term that broke the trend. By far, the hurdling events enjoyed the most success, next to the sprinting department, of course.
Olympic champions, Jamaica’s Melaine Walker and Cuba’s Dayron Robles highlighted their respective category with some dominant performances that saw them even being crowned Olympic before the gun went off inside the Bird’s Nest stdium in Beijing
Solid year brings Olympic title and world record
After unfortunately missing out at winning the gold medal at the World Indoor Championships in March because a mix up at the start line, Dayron Robles returned to dominate the outdoor season and proved that he was bang on form as he effortlessly smashed the world record in 110m hurdles.
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Cuba's Dayron Robles
AFP PHOTO |
Running virtually alone from the gun at the Ostrava Golden Spike Grand Prix meeting in June, Robles opened up a huge gap on his rivals to lower Liu Xiang’s world previous record mark from 12.88 seconds to 12.87seconds.
So huge was the victory margin, the second place finisher, American Terrence Trammell staggered in at a distant time of 13.21.
Robles performance set up a huge showdown between himself and Liu, but when the defending Olympic champion failed to recover from an injury and had to pull out in the first round in Beijing, the Cuban eased home to win the Olympic title in 12.93.
The 22-year-old ran eight of the top eleven fastest times for the outdoor season and also posted nine of the 11 fastest times of the winter season. His year and career best of 7.33 is the second-fastest performance ever indoors just behind Great Britain’s Colin Jackson -- whose best still stands at 7.30.
Wignall adds another Olympic final to resume
The next best man in the sprint hurdles department was Jamaica’s Maurice Wignall, who again battled hard to add another Olympic Games final to his resume.
Although never considered a serious threat to the front runners with a best time of 13.36 for the season, the Commonwealth Games champion survived a patchy season to finish sixth in the 110m finals.
He also took fellow countryman Richard Phillips with him to the finals. Phillips finished seventh. His fastest for the year was 13.43.
The year also saw a huge improvement for the Cayman Island’s Ronald Forbes, who lowered his personal best significantly from 14.35 to 13.59. He also ran a respectable 7.58 seconds indoors.
McFarlane came back to lead the way
The longer version of the discipline also received recognition for Caribbean athletes, who were led by Jamaica’s veteran Danny McFarlane.
McFarlane's return to scene after deciding to end his career boosted the regional representatives outing throughout the entire season.
The 2004 Athens Olympic silver medallist ran toe-to-toe and neck-to-neck with his younger rivals, who at times had to dig into their reserves to overpower the Jamaican. Despite falling short of winning his second Olympic 400m Hurdles medal, McFarlane was by far the most impressive and consistent runner for the region.
The Jamaican finished the season with a best time of 48.30secs, only .30secs off his personal best, but notably, it was his fastest in four-years and ties with his fourth fastest ever, since switching to run the distance in 2003.
Another good outing came from his fellow countryman Markino Buckley, who also made the Olympic finals and finished seventh. His best was a time of 48.50, achieved in the semi-final stages of the competition in Beijing.
Isa Phillips (48.78) and Jamaican countryman Adrian Findlay (48.93) were the other Caribbean men to run below 49-seconds.
WOMEN”S REVIEW
On the female side, there was no question as to who the top performer was – Jamaica’s Melaine Walker, who used an early season defeat as inspiration to conquer the world.
Walker almost perfect
The early defeat back in February was the only hiccup in an almost perfect season for Walker. The Jamaican matured significantly to earn the overwhelming favourite position to win the Olympic title when news broke that her Australian season blighter, Jana Rawlinson, would not take part in the event because of injuries.
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| Jamaica's gold medalist Melaine Walker |
The former sprinter went on to win the Olympic title in an Olympic record on her way to chalking up 15 successive victories in the process.
She outlasted all her rivals with her special final 50m kicks, which proved a handful for even those who tried to separate themselves from the Jamaican from the get go. Walker’s Olympic title saw her becoming Jamaica’s second Olympic champion over the distance, following the footsteps of Deon Hemmings, who won the title at the 1996 Games in Atlanta.
Interestingly, the 2009 season is also expected to be another thriller, with Rawlinson promising to spoil the Walker party and the Jamaican promising to be ready for whatever her Australian rival has to offer.
"Next year we are going full gung-ho mainly because Melaine Walker has come out (and won the Olympic)," Rawlinson was quoted as saying earlier this year.
Notably, Walker has never defeated Rawlinson in their nine clashes, but the Jamaican's personal best of 52.64 seconds to win the Olympic title, is far more advanced than the Aussie’s 53.22.
Walker was rewarded for her fruitful season when she was honoured as Jamaican female athlete of the year.
Another noteworthy Caribbean competitor in the event this season was Jamaica’s world championships fourth place finisher Nickiesha Wilson, who surprisingly did not make the Olympic finals after being one of the top runners all season.
Wilson stopped the year with a time of 54.45, which is some way off her career best of 53.97. This past collegiate season she, however, won the intense battle with arch rival Nicole Leach for the 400 metres hurdles title.
She announced after the Olympics that she would give up her collegiate eligibility and turn professional.
Sprint hurdles headache
Every year the female sprint hurdlers give the region something to look forward to and this campaign was no exception. There were a host of top performances in the women’s 100m, but the heartbreak came in Beijing, when Jamaicans Delloreen Ennis-London and Brigitte Foster-Hylton just missed winning a medal by 0.01 seconds.
Both Ennis-London and Foster-Hylton came close with respective times of 12.65secs and 12.66secs, but were pushed down to fifth and sixth, after two other athletes ran 12.64 and other clocked 12.65 also.
Nonetheless, the pair recorded a good year, with Foster-Hylton finishing as the third best competitor for the season with a year's best of 12.49 and Ennis-London, sixth best with 12.54.
Juniors win medals too...
In the junior category, Jamaica’s Shermaine Williams won a silver in the 100m hurdles in 13.48, with Cuba’s Belkis Milanés taking the bronze in 13.49. Jamaica’s Keiron Stewart won a bronze in the men’s 110m hurdles.
Cuban Amaurys R. Valle won bronze in the men’s 400m hurdles 49.56, while Janeil Bellille ran Trinidadian national junior record of 56.84 to take silver in the women’s race. |
