Olympic gold medallist Keshorn Walcott set a new national record for the fifth time in less than a year when he won the Javellin event at the Diamond League Meeting Athletissima in Lausanne, Switzerland yesterday.Walcott's throw of 90.16m was a meet record as well as the second furthest throw in the world this year behind Kenyan Juklius Yego's 91.39m in Brimingham, England last month. It was a significant improvement over his previous personal best of 86.43m, also set in Birmingham.
Speaking to the Guardian yesterday, president of the National Association of Athletic Administration Ephraim Serrette credited Walcott's coach Ismael Lopez Mastrapa for bringing out the best in his athlete."Keshorn was outstanding," he said. "It appears that his programme is working well as he continues to improve. He is peaking at right time with the Pan Am games just a few weeks away and the World Championships coming up."
Meanwhile, national sprint champ Keston Bledman clocked 10.03 to place fifth in the Men's 100m, finishing behind USA's Justin Gatlin (9.75), Jamaican Asafa Powell (9.92) and Americans Tyson Gay (9.92) and Mike Rodgers (9.92).Serrette said he felt Bledman had some room for improvement.
"He needs to work on his start. When you are at that level you pay for the slightest mistake," he said.The event saw three big name rivals in action with Gatlin easily beating his two big-name rivals by clocking 9.75 seconds.
Results
100M
1 Justin Gatlin, US, 9.75
2 Asafa Powell, Jamaica, 9.92
3 Tyson Gay, US, 9.92
4 Michael Rodgers, US, 10.03
5 Keston Bledman, T&T, 10.03
6 Kim Collins, Saint Kitts and Nevis, 10.08
7 Isiah Young, US, 10.11.
Javelin
1 Keshorn Walcott, T&T, 90.16
2 Vitezslav Vesely, Czech, 87.97
3 Tero Pitkamaki, Finland, 87.44
4 Julius Yego, Kenya, 85.50
5 Jakub Vadlejch, Czech , 85.15
6 Ari Mannio, Finland, 80.80
7 Thomas Roehler, Germany, 80.73
8 Hamish Peacock, Australia, 79.49.
400 Hurdles
1 Bershawn Jackson, US, 48.71
2 LJ Van Zyl, SA, 48.92
3 Denis Kudryavtsev, Russia, 49.01
4 Javier Culson, PR, 49.33
5 Michael Tinsley, US, 49.42
6 Kariem Hussein, Switzerland, 49.44
7 Quincy Downing, US, 49.96
8 Jehue Gordon, T&T, 50.07.