The Tribune

By BRENT STUBBS

Senior Sports Reporter

bstubbs@tribunemedi.net

RIO de Janeiro, Brazil: Although he had a season's best of 10.28 seconds to lead the three Bahamians in the men's 100 metres, national champion Shavaz Hart, nor Adrian Griffith and Jamial Rolle advanced out of the first round.

Running out of the hyped up heat that featured defending champion and world record holder Usain Bolt from Jamaica, Hart stumbled a bit coming out of the blocks, but managed to power back for a fifth place.

However, he was listed as 37th overall, while Griffith was 61st in 10.53 and Rolle 64th in 10.68 out of a field of 69 competitors.

"I feel like I came on pretty late," Hart said. "The start was pretty good, but I just didn't have a good drive phrase."

When asked about running against Bolt, who cruised through the line in 10.07, Hart said it was like a usual track meet.

"Obviously, more of the crowd was involved, but it wasn't any nerves on me," he stressed. "I had a good reaction, but stumbled early on. By the time I got my foot against these world class athletes, they were already out there and I made up as much grounds as I could."

Griffith, the first Bahamian to compete on Saturday, said his race was "horrible”.

He ended up in eighth place in his heat that was won by former Jamaican Kemarlery Brown, who is now competing for Bahrain, in 10.13.

"I kind of got left at the beginning, got blanked at the beginning, tried to come back on the guys, but I kind of just gave up," Griffith pointed out. "It was a long hold on the blocks before we got into the set position, but I kind of blanked out. It was a bad race."

In his heat, Rolle was never in the mix as he experienced some difficulty and, in a precautionary move, he ended up eighth as well in 10.68. The winner of the heat was Canadian Andre De Grasse in 10.04.

"In the warm up, I was feeling a little something in my hamstring, my hip attachment, so I just tried to block it out," Rolle said. "So I went there and just tried to run it out.

"But when I got to about the 40 (m) and I tried to lift, I just felt it and I just hobbled all the way through to the finish line."