The Star Online: Sports
The Star Online: Sports |
- Rollins storms to fourth fastest 100m hurdles time in history
- Veteran Mahut wins maiden ATP title at the age of 31
- Athletes cite worsening air condition for poor results
| Rollins storms to fourth fastest 100m hurdles time in history Posted: 23 Jun 2013 04:43 PM PDT DES MOINES (Iowa): Brianna Rollins served notice she is a force to be reckoned with by matching the fourth-fastest 100m hurdles time in history at the US Athletics Championships on Saturday. Running in her first US outdoor nationals, Rollins booked a berth at the World Championships by posting a dominant victory in a time of 12.26 seconds. The fastest time the event has seen since 1992 immediately caught the eye of world and Olympic champion Sally Pearson of Australia. "Looks like I am bringing my A++ game to Worlds this year with Brianna Rollins just running 12.26," Pearson said on Twitter. Only Bulgarian Yordanka Donkova, who set the world record of 12.21 in 1988, and compatriot Ginka Zagorcheva have run faster. "I just feel so overwhelmed, so emotional," Rollins said. "It is so amazing." The 21-year-old, who until turning professional this month was competing for Clemson University, improved on her own season-leading time of 12.39. She ran under that in both the heats and semi-finals, but both times were wind-aided. Rollins finally got a legal wind of 1.2m per second in the final and flew to an American record. Queen Harrison was a distant second in 12.43 and Nia Ali third in 12.48 to claimed the final berth for the World Championships in Moscow on August 10-18. Lolo Jones' hard luck in big events continued. The hometown favourite, who endured disappointment at the 2008 and 2012 Olympics, was fifth. Dawn Harper, who has a bye into the worlds as the Diamond League 100m hurdles winner last season, opted out of the semi-finals and final. Rollins, whose best 100m hurdles time prior to this season was 12.70, has now established herself as a contender against the likes of Harper and Pearson. It's heady stuff for an athlete who only took up running in high school "because someone told me I was fast." She opted for hurdles "because I thought it was interesting and fun to do." Rollins' scintillating performance was one of three world-leading performances on Saturday. Olympic silver medallist Brigetta Barrett won the women's high jump with a season-leading 2.04m, and said she thought she could have jumped higher but followed her coach's instructions to stand pat and keep her eyes on Moscow. Olympic silver medallist Michael Tinsley became the first man this year to break 48 seconds in the 400m hurdles, winning in 47.96. Former world champion Kerron Clement was second in 48.06 and Bershawn Jackson third in 48.09. — AFP |
| Veteran Mahut wins maiden ATP title at the age of 31 Posted: 23 Jun 2013 04:32 PM PDT HERTOGENBOSCH (Holland): Frenchman Nicolas Mahut (pic) won his first ATP title on Saturday taking the Topshelf Hertogenbosch Open event with a 6-3, 6-4 victory over favourite Stanislas Wawrinka of Switzerland. The 31-year-old, whose ranking has slipped to 240th in the world after a knee injury, was appearing in just his third final. Mahut, best known for having participated in the longest tennis match of all time with John Isner at Wimbledon in 2010, adapted best to the conditions which saw rain intervene twice in the first set, the second time at 3-3. Mahut broke Wawrinka, ranked 10th in the world, on their return and had no problem in wrapping up the set. "After all the difficulties these past months this win proves that I was right to keep going," he said. Mahut was given a wild card entry for Wimbledon, which gets under way today, and will play Czech Jan Hajek in the first round. Isner tweeted his congratulations to the Frenchman. "Congrats to @nmahut on his title in Holland! No one deserves it more than him. Well done!," wrote the American. In the women's section, Romania's Simona Halep's rich vein of form continued as she won her second successive WTA title beating Kirsten Flipkens of Belgium 6-4, 6-2. Halep, 21 and ranked 45th in the world, had won her maiden title in Nuremberg, Germany, last Sunday. For her fourth-seeded opponent, aged 27 and ranked 20th in the world, it left her without a victory in three matches with Halep. Halep, who plays Belarus' Olga Govortsova in the first round at Wimbledon, broke Flipkens on her first service game of the second set and was never troubled after that in recording her 10th successive win. — AFP |
| Athletes cite worsening air condition for poor results Posted: 23 Jun 2013 04:45 PM PDT KUALA LUMPUR: The worsening haze condition clearly affected the performances of many national athletes on the third and last day of the National Closed Athletics Championships at the National Sports Council (NSC) Training Track in Bukit Jalil. Rayzam Shah Wan Sofian, 25, went against his coach Raymie A. Bakar's advice to compete in the men's 110m hurdles yesterday. The Sabahan, who has a personal best of 13.80, could only win the event in a poor 14.05. And he even had difficulty breathing after the event. The Air Pollutant Index (API) reading at Bukit Jalil was 111 at 11am yesterday. "My coach told me not to compete but I didn't listen to him because I wanted to qualify for the Myanmar SEA Games," said Rayzam. "I should have listened to him. The haze affected my performance. "I also had difficulty breathing after the event. I was also feeling jet-lagged as I only returned from a training stint in Germany last Wednesday," added Rayzam, who won the gold medal in the 110m hurdles in the 2007 Korat SEA Games. Nauraj Singh, who won the men's high jump after clearing 2.15m, was another athlete whose performance was affected by the haze. "I had to use a face mask during the warm-up and my eyes were smarting due to the haze. "I could have done better if not for the haze," said Nauraj, who achieved a personal best of 2.16m in the Malaysian Grand Prix at the same venue to qualify for the SEA Games. The 21-year-old Nauraj, of Johor, said that although he had qualified for the SEA Games, his mission this year was to further improve on his personal best, which he hopes to do at the World University Games in Kazan, Russia, next month. National sprinter Komalam Shally, who was pipped to the gold in the women's 100m on Friday, won the 200m in 25.51 yesterday, blaming the haze for her poor time. Her time was almost a second slower than her personal best of 24.55. Komalam, who lost to Zaidatul Husnia Zulkifli in the 100m final, said that she was not too concerned with her time in the 200m as "it is not my pet event". "I didn't really prepare for the 200m as my favourite is the 100m," said Komalam. "The haze is bad today (yesterday). The conditions were not good to compete." Meanwhile, S. Kannathasan, who has qualified for the Myanmar SEA Games in the 400m, clocked 21.67 to win the men's 200m gold. Kannathasan, who will feature in the World University Games, however, failed to qualify for the SEA Games in the 200m as the qualifying mark is 21.05. |
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