Gatlin, Gay and Fraser-Pryce Shine at Prefontaine Classic

The 2015 edition of the renowned Prefontaine Classic was the coming out party of several top-athletes who are favored to appear on the podium at the 2015 Beijing World Championship schedule for later this summer. Tyson Gay, Justin Gatlin, Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce and Kirani James all posted wins. The track at Hayward Field on the campus of the University of Oregon has a reputation for its fast time and the competitors took full advantage. American sprinter Justin Gatlin continued his undefeated season by running a personal best and world-leading time of 19.68 seconds in the men's 200m. Gatlin ran a controlled race and coming off the curve into the homestretch, he sprinted-away from the field, with South Africa's Jobodwana Anaso (20.04) and Jamaica's Nickel Ashmeade (20.18) a distance 2nd and 3rd. In his post-race press conference Gatlin said he wanted to run a relax race and that he was happy with his performance.

Tyson is back

After competing at the 2015 IAAF World Relays in the Bahamas and bypassing the 100m at the Jamaica Invitational in early May, Tyson Gay made his much-anticipated season debut in the 100m and posted an impressive time of 9.88 seconds to take the victory. This season, Gay is making his return to the track after serving a brief suspension for taking a banned substance. In his post-race interview, Gay, the American national record-holder (9.69), apologized to his fans for taking steroids and promised to pay close attention his future supplement intake. He also thanked the fans who stood by him during his ordeal. Gay�s 9.88 seconds performance indicates that he is in great shape and he should be in medal discussions at the upcoming World Championship. Gay’s teammate Mike Rodgers ran a season best 9.90 seconds to finish 2nd, with China’s Bingtian Su (9.99) in 3rd.

Fraser-Pryce getting ready

After a few sluggish starts to her 2015 campaign, Shelly-Ann Fraser Pryce signaled her return to form with a world-leading 10.81 second (+1.7mps) performance to win the women’s 100m ‘A’ race. The reigning Olympic and World champion finished ahead of Murielle Ahoure of the Ivory Coast who was credited with the same time as Fraser-Pryce, with America’s Tori Bowie (10.82) in 3rd. In her post race interview, Fraser-Pryce said that she was happy with her performance, and she felt that things are coming together for her. She also pointed out that she is looking forward to her next event. She is scheduled to compete in the 100m at the Rome (Golden Gala) Diamond League set for Thursday June 4.

King James

 Kirani James, from the Spice land of Grenada, captured the men’s 400m in a world-leading time of 43.95 seconds to remain unbeaten this season in the one-lap event. James finished ahead of his main rival, American LaShawn Merritt (44.51), with the Bahamas’s Chris “Fireman” Brown (44.54) in third. The Harvey Glance coached-James enters this season after a successful 2014 campaign that saw him setting a personal best time of 43.74 seconds in the 400m. James is expected to battle Merritt for the 400m title at Beijing World Championship. James had gotten the best of Merritt in their encounters so far this season and is the first to go sub-44 seconds. However, Merritt is just a shadow of himself as he is struggles to regain his top form after switching coaches. In his post-race interview, Merritt pointed out that he is now coached by Brook Johnson (Loren Seagraves is his former coach) and explained the coaching switch was due to his desire to consistently run in the low sub-43.

 Elaine “ET” Thompson proves that she belongs

Jamaica’s newest sprinting sensation this season, Elaine Thompson of the University of Technology in Jamaica (UTech), continues to have a break-out season with her second-place finish to American English Gardner in the women’s 100m “B” race. Both women were credited with running the same time of 10.84 seconds. The 23-year-old Thompson, who is coached by Stephen Francis, has run personal best times of 10.84 and 22.37 seconds in the 100m and 200m respectively this year. Thompson has shown improvement with each race that she competes in. She made an impressive introduction to the track world at the Jamaica Invitational Meet held in Kingston, last month, when she ran a then world-leading 10.92 seconds, beating a quality field including Allyson Felix and Blessing Okagbare.

Other results

Michelle Lee-Aye, the ace Trinidad and Tobago sprinter who was excelling on the circuit this season, suffered a major setback as she fell to the track after crossing the finish line in the women�s 100m. Also, Jaheel Hyde the reigning 400m Youth hurdles champion, took a step up in class and was outmatched and finished a disappointing 6th in his pet event. The Americans swept the three top spots, with Johnny Dutch (48.20) taking the victory ahead of Bershawn �Batman� Jackson (48.22) and Michael Tinsley (48.79). Other winners include France’s Pascal Martinot-Lagard (13.06) in the men’s 110m hurdles ahead of world record-holder, Aries Merritt (13.12) and David Oliver (13.14). Ethiopia’s Mohammed Aman took the men’s 800m title in 1:44.92 ahead of Botswana’s Nijel Amos (1:45.06); while the versatile Allyson Felix took the women’s 400m race in 50.05 seconds ahead of Sanya Richards-Ross (50.29) and Jamaica’s Stephanie McPherson (50.40). The American trio of Maggie Vessey (2:00.07), Jenny Simpson (4:00.98) and Tianna Bartoletta (7.11m) captured the 800m, 1500m and long jump events, respectively.  

  Written by O’Neil A. Reid (edited by Raymond Byfield).

O’Neil is the author of the book “Banned for Life, The Steve Mullings Story� and is the host of �The Sport Zone with the Professor Show� that is aired on Sunday afternoons at www.JamminSradio.com from 12:00 noon to 2:00pm. O’Neil can be reached at oreid@trackledger.com