RA­BAT – World cham­pi­on Sh­er­ic­ka Jack­son set a new meet record as she stormed to a sea­son-best time to cap­ture the 200 me­tres at the Ra­bat Di­a­mond League in Mo­roc­co on Sun­day.

The 28-year-old Ja­maican clocked 21.98 sec­onds to eclipse her pre­vi­ous best of 22.25 in her home­town Kingston last month, fin­ish­ing ahead of Ba­hami­an An­thonique Stra­chan who post­ed a per­son­al best 22.15.

There was al­so a per­son­al best for Amer­i­can Tamari Davis who fin­ished third in 22.30.

Go­ing off in lane six, Jack­son was pushed by Davis in lane five over the first 100 me­tres but pulled away in the stretch, Stra­chan com­ing through in lane four to take sec­ond.

“I am hap­py about my vic­to­ry and it is not go­ing to be my last though,” Jack­son said.

“It was com­pet­i­tive at first but it was OK for me be­cause I was well pre­pared. The crowd was a lit­tle bit noisy – it’s some­thing that hap­pens in every com­pe­ti­tion, but I got used to it.

“Ra­bat is a good place, I liked every­thing, es­pe­cial­ly the or­gan­i­sa­tion.

“I would def­i­nite­ly work hard­er to get more wins and hit the World record in the next up­com­ing Cham­pi­onships.”

Fel­low Ja­maican Rasheed Broad­bell fol­lowed suit in the men’s sprint hur­dles, rac­ing to a new meet record and sea­son-best 13.08 sec­onds.

He was fol­lowed home by fel­low coun­try­man, Olympic cham­pi­on Hansle Parch­ment, who was third in 13.24, while two-time World cham­pi­on Grant Hol­loway of the Unit­ed States was sec­ond in 13.12.

Holl­away sped to an ear­ly lead and looked a good bet for the win be­fore Broad­bell pro­duced a strong surge to take the line first.

“I am hap­py about how I per­formed to­day. I am pleased to get this win,” said the 22-year-old Broad­bell.

“I man­aged to get this vic­to­ry by be­ing fo­cused dur­ing the race.

“My goal this year is to ex­e­cute well. I would like to thank the crowd here for be­ing sup­port­ive and fan­tas­tic.

“I am get­ting ready for the World Cham­pi­onship by stay­ing healthy and in good shape.”

Mean­while, Ba­hami­an Steven Gar­diner al­so con­jured up a vic­to­ry in the men’s 400 me­tres, to notch a third suc­cess for the Caribbean.

The 27-year-old reign­ing Olympic cham­pi­on and for­mer World cham­pi­on, sped to a time of 44.70 sec­onds, ahead of Amer­i­can Ver­non Nor­wood who was sec­ond in 45.11.

Ja­maican Rusheed Mc­Don­ald was third in 45.55.

“I am de­light­ed for achiev­ing the first place. The race was very quick and high­ly com­pet­i­tive,” Gar­diner said.

“The au­di­ence was fab­u­lous. I am hap­py to be in Ra­bat. I liked the weath­er and every­thing was up to the ex­pec­ta­tions, and I am def­i­nite­ly com­ing back.

“I will keep train­ing hard to get ready for the next meet­ings, and main­ly for the World Cham­pi­onship in Bu­dapest.”

In the women’s triple jump, Ja­maican Shanieka Rick­etts mea­sured a sea­son-best 14.53 me­tres, which was good enough for third be­hind win­ner Cuban Her­nan­dez Perez who leapt a world-lead­ing and per­son­al best 14.84.

Ja­maica al­so made their pres­ence felt in the women’s 400 me­tres hur­dles, Rushell Clay­ton fin­ish­ing sec­ond in 54.15 and Shi­ann Salmon claim­ing third in 54.42 – both post­ing sea­son-bests.

Amer­i­can Shamer Lit­tle clinched vic­to­ry in 53.95, al­so a sea­son-best.

CMC