media_artricles :: 2013

Jamaal James fourth in Oxford

Jamaal James finished fourth in the men’s 800 metres event at the British Milers’ Club 50th Anniversary Grand Prix, in Oxford, England, on Saturday. Running in challenging conditions, the Trinidad and Tobago half-miler returned a time of one minute, 50.15 seconds.

“The conditions were absolutely horrendous,” James told the Express. “The wind was blowing at 15 mph at race time. To put it into perspective, Abraham Kiplagat from Kenya, 1:49.5 to win the race, and just 10 days ago he ran 1:45.71 in Budapest!”

Kiplagat, who has a personal best of 1:43.77, topped Saturday’s field in 1:49.59, beating Britons Rory Graham-Watson (1:49.68) and Guy Learmonth (1:49.72) into second and third, respectively.

James has a PR (personal record) of 1:46.88, a clocking he produced in June last year. Two Saturdays ago, the 24-year-old athlete finished third at the KBC Night of Athletics meet, in Heusden, Belgium, in 1:47.11—his fastest two-lap run this season and the third fastest of his career.

At the Savo Games, in Lapinlahti, Finland, yesterday, Mikel Thomas seemed set for gold in the men’s 110m hurdles, but hit the last barrier hard and crashed to the track.

The T&T sprint hurdler did not finish the race, his fall clearing the way for American Jeff Porter to claim the top prize in 13.52 seconds.

“Today had great potential,” Thomas told the Express, after the meet. “I was leading the race but got too close to the last hurdle. I’m fine, just scraped up. But positives, I’m almost there. Today showed great promise. Very soon I should be able to put together some great races.”

Top