Baptiste to defend ISTAF Berlin 100 title

World Championships bronze medallist Kelly Ann Baptiste will be seeking to hold on to her ISTAF Berlin 100 metre title at the 71st edition of the meet at the Berlin Olympic Stadium in Berlin, Germany today. Baptiste took the last year’s race in a time of 11.15 seconds and will be looking to rebound from false-starting in her previous race at the Diamond League Zurich 100m dash on Thursday. The national record holder (10.84) is competing at the meet for the fourth straight year and was second in 2010 in 11.14 and seventh in 2009 in 11.33.  Baptiste will face former Olympic and World Championships 100m silver medallist Kerron Stewart (Jamaica), one of three Jamaicans in the field. Aleen Bailey and Samantha Henry-Robinson are the other two. Olympic 200m finalist Myriam Soumare (France) and Americans Bianca Knight and Alexandria Anderson are also in the line-up.

 

Jehue Gordon will not defend his 400m hurdles title. Gordon sped to victory in 2011 in 48.66 seconds but has ended his season after his third place finish in Zurich.  The Olympic sixth place finisher shared on his Facebook page that he is looking forward to get some rest after the 2012 season which he described as productive and positive after he set a national record of 47.96 in the Olympic semifinals. He also thanked all who supported him. Baptiste is currently fifth on the current performance list with 10.86 which she set in finishing second in her season opening meet, the Jamaican Invitational in Kingston on May 5.  The Plymouth sprint queen was third at the Lausanne Diamond League leg on August 23 in 10.93.  The 25-year-old was also fifth at the New York Grand Prix on June 9 in 11.07, won took her sixth national 100m crown on June 23 in 10.98. At London Olympics, Baptiste became the first local women’s athlete to qualify for a final, finishing sixth in 10.94.