A battle between Andrew Riley and Hansle Parchment in the 110 metre hurdles final brought the third day of the Jamaican athletics championships at the National Stadium to a fitting close.
Riley successfully defended his title with a season’s best 13.27 seconds Saturday, lunging to the finish line ahead of Olympic bronze medallist Parchment, who clocked 13.29. Richard Phillips was third in 13.72 seconds.
The first man in NCAA division one history to win the 110m hurdles and 100m title at the same championships, Riley was pleased with his race, calling it “my best technical race all season.”
Riley, who has been battling injuries since last year, said “this was a good run. Last year at the World Championships I was dealing with an Achilles injury and this year after getting back into training late I suffered a bad ankle sprain. I am thankful for this race though.”
The turnaround will be short, however, as both men will head for Switzerland and race against each other on Thursday in an IAAF Diamond League event.
World Championships silver medallist Warren Weir looked sharp in winning his 200m semi-final heat in 20.41 seconds, but Rasheed Dwyer’s 20.22 seconds was the fastest heat time of the evening.
Jermaine Brown (20.50) also looked impressive while Sheldon Mitchell, Jason Livermore and Everton Clarke all advanced to Sunday’s final.
Sherone Simpson, who missed out on making the 100m finals, is into the women’s 200m finals after running 23.55 seconds.
Samantha Henry-Robinson leads the qualifiers with 23.00 seconds, while Anneisha McLaughlin, Schillonie Calvert and Audra Segree are the other notable qualifiers.
Sunday’s finals in the 400 metres for men and women are set.
The women’s race will see Novlene Williams Mills who won her semi-final heat in 51.34 seconds, Stephenie Ann McPherson and former World Championships and Olympic Games silver medallist Shericka Williams.
The men’s title should be decided between Olympian Rusheen McDonald who ran 45.74 seconds and Akheem Gauntlett (45.81).
Natoya Goule won back to back women’s 800m titles, running 2:01.34 Saturday, but said she was hoping to go faster. “I wanted to go under two minutes but I started off too slow,” she said.
A collision of arms with eventual second place runner Simoya Campbell who ran a personal best 2:02.49, also threw off her rhythm she said.
Ricardo Cunningham won the men’s 800m race in 1:48.10, beating Jowayne Hibbert (1:49.35) and Adrian Tulloch (1:50.25).