Jehue Gordon sped to victory in the men's 400m hurdles at the inaugural Chris Brown Bahamas Invitational in Nassau, Bahamas, yesterday.
Gordon took an early lead to win in 49.50 ahead of Eric Alejandro (Puerto Rico) 50.21 and Jameel Mason (USA) 51.60. The London Olympic sixth-place finisher improved on his 49.65 in his first one-lap hurdles race at the Falcon Games at the Hasely Crawford Stadium, Port-of-Spain on March 23. Nigeria's Commonwealth champion Ajoke Odusomu took the ladies race in 55.73, with Jamaican Ristianna Tracey in second (55.96).
Natasha Hastings (USA) won the women's 200m in 23.13 with a strong finish to upset favourite Veronica Campbell Brown (Jamaica) who led coming off the bend and had to settle for the runner-up spot in 23.18 and Porcas Lucas (USA) 23.39.
Emmanuel Callendar was seventh in the men's 200m in 21.48, as former Olympic and World champion La Shawn Merritt (USA) won in 20.34 ahead of compatriot Justin Gatlin (20.44) and Mike Rodgers (20.87). Callendar also contested the 100m late yesterday.
Meanwhile, Gordon is T&T's highest-ranked athlete on the latest IAAF world outdoor rankings. Gordon is sixth in the men's 400m hurdles with his 49.65 season opening on March 23.
Fellow hurdlers Sparkle Mcknight and Wayne Davis II are the next highest-ranked at 12th. McKnight is two places outside the top ten in the women's one lap hurdles with a personal best (PB) of 56.62 and also in the 400m flat 52.17 (PB).
Davis is at 12th spot in the men's 110m hurdles with 13.54 (+0.2) with compatriot Mikel Thomas at 14th (13.57/+1.0).
Teenager Machel Cedenio is 13th in the men's 400m flat after his 45.93 victory at the Carifta Games in the Bahamas on March 30.
The 17-year-old is joint 13th with recently engaged Jarrin Solomon (45.93). Another quarter-miler Renny Quow is 21st in the men's 200m. The 2009 World Championships 400m bronze medallist sped to 20.75 in winning in Texas on April 6.
