Smith leads Jamaican performances across Europe, Canada

IT WAS a busy day for Jamaican athletes, who competed across three World Continental Tour meets in Canada, Italy, and Switzerland on Tuesday.

Competing at the Spitzen Leichtathletik Silver meet in Luzern, Switzerland, World Championships in Luzern, Switzerland, World Championships-bound Jonelle Smith had the best result by a Jamaican at the meet after winning the women’s 100 metres.

A fifth-place finisher at the National Senior Championships, earning a spot on the 4x100-metre relay team for Tokyo, Smith won the event in 11.12 seconds. Italy’s Zarab Dosa (11.24) and The Bahamas’ Camille Rutherford (11.33) finished second and third, respectively. Kemba Nelson of Jamaica ended fifth in 11.36.

Sprint hurdler Kerrica Hill was at her supreme best in the women’s 100m hurdles. Hill, the two-time World U20 champion in the event, narrowly missed a spot for Tokyo after finishing a close fourth at the National Senior Championships. She bounced back with an impressive new personal best of 12.54 seconds for second place. Switzerland’s Ditaji Kambundji won in a season’s best, 12.49, while Raynith Jones of the USA took third in 12.86.

National champion in the men’s 400 metres, Rusheen McDonald, will have to wait a bit longer to secure his individual spot for Tokyo. He finished second in 45.30 seconds, behind Trinidad and Tobago’s Jaheem Richards, who won in 45.11.

Olympian Hansle Parchment, who missed out on Tokyo qualification after a subpar run at the National Senior Championships, turned the tables on two of the men who had beaten him there, finishing third in the men’s 110-metre hurdles in 13.26 seconds. National champion Orlando Bennett was fifth in 13.36, and Tyler Mason, who had finished third at Trials, was sixth in 13.41. Jason Johnson of Switzerland won the event in an impressive 13.07.

There were also top-three finishes at the meet for Christopher Taylor, Sachin Dennis, and Natoya Goule-Toppin.

Taylor, who wants to join Adrian Kerr and Bryan Lovell in the 200 metres in Tokyo, will have to wait a little longer to book his ticket.

Kerr, who was third at the Trials, secured his ticket recently in Los Angeles. Taylor, the Trials runner-up, finished third overall in 20.49 seconds — shy of the 20.16 qualifying mark. Zimbabwe’s Makanakaishe Charamba won in 20.14, ahead of Switzerland’s Timothe Mumenthaler (20.36).

Dennis was third overall in the men’s 100 in 10.21 seconds, while Goule-Toppin clocked 1:59.80 for third in the women’s 800m. Adelle Tracy finished seventh in 2:00.42.

At the Jerome Henry Classic in Burnaby, Canada – a Bronze meet – three Jamaicans secured top-three finishes. Daniel Thomas Dodd and Assinie Wilson were second in their respective events, while Navasky Anderson finished third.

Wilson clocked 49.45 seconds in the men’s 400m hurdles. Thomas Dodd registered a heave of 19.30m in the women’s shot put.

Anderson couldn’t replicate the form that saw him break his own national record a few days earlier in the 800 metres, settling for third in 1:46.82.

Olympic silver medallist and Diamond League leader in the women’s triple jump, Shanieka Ricketts, along with Michael Campbell, had third-place finishes at the Brescia Grand Prix in Italy, also a Bronze meet.

Ricketts managed third in the triple jump with a best mark of 14.56 metres. Cuba’s world leader Leyanis Pérez Hernández won the event with 14.92, while teammate Liadagmis Povea finished second with 14.84. Former national champion Kimberly Williams continued to struggle, finishing sixth with a modest 13.66.

Campbell placed third in the men’s 100m in 10.16 seconds. Krystal Sloley finished fourth in the women’s 100m in 11.17, while national high jump champion Lamara Distin had to settle for eighth in the women’s high jump with a clearance of 1.88 metres.