Ahye sixth in 60m as T&T fails to medal indoors

T&T’s Michelle-Lee Ahye set a new national record in the semifinal stage but could only finish sixth in the 60m final, on the closing day of the IAAF World Indoor Championship, in Soport, Poland, yesterday. Ahye and Lalonde Gordon were the only two T&T athletes to make it to the final of their respective events, but neither were able to medal.

Ahye who set a new T&T mark (7.10 seconds) in the semifinal, ran one hundredth of a second slower in the final. The race was won by Jamaica’s Shelly-Ann Fraser Price in a fresh world leading mark of 6.98. Fraser Price stunned the arena to drop the more favoured Murielle Ahoure of the Ivory coast into second. Ahoure previous held the record of 7.03.

Jamaica, which closed the competition with the fifth highest medal count, was otherwise best represented in the women’s 4x400m relay, placing second with a new national record of 3:26.54. But it was the USA’s day, as their 4x400m men’s team captured gold with a world leading time of 3:24.83.

Jamaica also rewrote its national record in the men’s 4x400m with a third-placed 3:03.69 run. Again, USA took the top prize, this time breaking the world indoor record with a blistering 3:02.13, to close the tournament in style. USA took a total of 11 medals- seven gold, two silver and two bronze. 

Ethiopia’s long distance specialists helped the country claim second in the total medal count. Russia (four medals; two gold, two silver) and Britain (six medals; one gold, two silver, three bronze) finished third and fourth, respectively.

Only two of T&T’s four representatives made it to the finals of their respective events. Lalonde Gordon, world leading 400m runner placed fifth in that final on Saturday. The Czech Republic’s Pavel Maslak won the race, while Bahamian Chris Brown finished second with a personal best, 45.58. Brown, 35, became the oldest medalist at the World Indoor Championship.

Geronne Black, T&T’s other women’s 60m athlete exited after the preliminary heats after placing fifth out of seven in her heat and 31st overall. She clocked 7.45 seconds. Jarrin Solomon, also representing T&T in the 400m event was eliminated after the preliminary stage as well. 

Solomon narrowly missed out on a place in the semifinals, clocking 46.86 for a third place finish out of five runner in his heat and 15th overall.