The Tribune

By RENALDO DORSETT Sports Reporter rdorsett@tribunemedia.net THE IAAF World Championships in Istanbul, Turkey, produced medal-winning performances for Team Bahamas and also saw several athletes rise in their standing on the IAAF top lists. In the men's 400m, both Demetrius Pinder and Chris Brown improved their standings in their signature event. Grand Bahamian Pinder and Eleuthera native Brown earned an historic silver and bronze medal respectively in the 400 meters and came within the top 15 on the latest rankings released yesterday. Pinder's season's best time of 45.34s places him third on the Indoor while Brown posted the 15th fastest time of 45.90s, also a season's best. Nery Brenes of Costa Rica clocked 45.11 seconds for a new championship record to snatch the gold and earned $40,000. Pinder got the silver for $20,000 and Brown claimed the bronze and $10,000. Brenes' time also placed him atop the IAAF top list on the year thus far. In the high jump, Trevor Barry joined a plethora of competitors with the sixth highest jump on the list. An eighth place finish and a season's best of 2.31m (7-7) saw him join 18 jumpers at the same mark. The gold went to Dimintrios Chondrokoukis of Greece with 2.33m (7-7) while Russia got the silver and bronze from Andrey Silnov (2.33m or 7-7 3/4) and Ivan Ukhov (2.31m or 7-3 1/4) respectively. While Barry advanced to the final in fifth place, Donald Thomas got eliminated after he was tied with three other competitors at 2.22m (7-3 1/4) in the preliminaries. Chondrokoukis' winning jump gave him the fifth best mark. In the women's 60m, veteran sprinter Chandra Sturrup continues to improve on her times in each of the three rounds of the women's 60m. However, in the final, her best time of 7.19s was good enough for fifth. It was her first appearance on the top list for the year. Jamaica's Veronica Campbell-Brown took the gold in a world-leading time of 7.01s to place her atop the list, while Murielle Ahoure ran a national record of 7.04s for the silver. American Tianna Madison was the bronze medallist in 7.09s. In the women's long jump, Bianca Stuart suffered a strained hamstring and had to withdraw after she opened the competition with a leap of 4.71 meters or 15-feet, 5 1/2-niches. She went on to scratch the next four and opted not to take the final attempt as she ended up in eighth place. American Brittany Reese captured the gold in a championship record leap of 7.23m (23-8 3/4) and gained the top standing on the newly revised top list. Despite the setback, her jump of 6.79m back in February saw her retain a top 15 standing.