Three Jamaicans win at Slovakia track meet

DUBNICA, Slovakia (CMC):

Three Jamaican athletes secured victories at the 6th Athletics Bridge EAA Permit meeting in front of a record 5,500 fans yesterday afternoon.

Olympic sprint relay gold medallist Nesta Carter, Olympic finalist Markino Buckley and Kaliese Spencer were the Jamaican winners, while Cuban Olympic champion Dayron Robles added another win for the Caribbean.

Carter, a member of the outstanding sprint relay team which won the gold medal in a world record time of 37.10 seconds at the Beijing Games, battled through a strong -3.4 m/s headwind to post 10.27 seconds to win the men's 100 metres.

Finishing second to the Jamaican was Britain's Olympic semi-finalist Tyrone Edgar, at 10.44, with Ghana's Aziz Zakari finishing third with 10.49. Barbadian Andrew Hinds was fifth in 10.59.

Continuing his busy schedule after his impressive outing in Beijing, where he finished seventh in his first major championships, Buckley posted a comfortable 49.74 to win the men's 400-metre hurdles.

He finished easily ahead of South Africa's Ockert Cilliers (50.06) and Britain's David Greene (50.37). Belize's Jonathon Williams was fifth in 50.99.

Jamaica grabbed victory number three through Spencer, who sped home ahead of a solid field to win the women's 400 metres.

She stopped the clock at 51.24 to take victory over Russian Olympic relay silver medallist Tatyana Firova, who came home in 51.38 and Bahamian Christine Amertil (52.25).

Olympic king

Jamaica's Rosemarie Whyte, a finalist in Beijing, was fourth in 52.26.

The highlight of the meeting, however, came from Cuban Olympic king Robles, who won the men's 110-metre hurdles in a fast 12.95 seconds, running into a headwind of -1.7 m/s.

American Ryan Wilson was a distant second in 13.68, with Britain's Andrew Turner taking third in 13.69.

"It was great, an excellent atmosphere in such a small city (Dubnica has 26,000) but pity about the wind, I was thinking about the world record," Robles said after his victory.