The Tribune

By BRENT STUBBS

Senior Sports Reporter

bstubbs@tribunemedia.net

AS a prelude to the 2012 Olympic Games, four Bahamian athletes got a feel of the facilities as they competed in the Aviva London Grand Prix in England over the weekend.

On Friday, veteran sprinter Debbie Ferguson-McKenzie competed in her second meet since coming off an injury. On Saturday, quarter-miler Chris ‘Fireman’ Brown, triple jumper Leevan ‘Superman’ Sands and high jumper Donald Thomas all competed.

Brown had his season’s best showing when he clocked 44.95 seconds as he bounced from his third place finish at the Bahamas Association of Athletic Associations’ Scotiabank National Open Track and Field Championships in June at the Thomas A. Robinson Track and Field Stadium.

His time was good enough for second place behind Grenada’s world champion Kirani James, who won in 44.85. “The meet was pretty good. It was pretty exciting with the crowd, but the temperature was cold,” said Brown after he returned home to Atlanta. “In everything, I give God all the praise and credit for allowing me to go out there and display my talent once again.”

If his performance was any indication, Brown said he’s looking forward to a great showing in London.

“I feel pretty good. I feel confident as I’ve been all season. I’m just taking it one day at a time. To run out of lane eight and run a season’s best in that type of temperature, I feel real good and confident. I just have to go out there and run my own race and execute my race and just allow God to have his way with me.”

Brown said he’s not concerned at all after losing another national title because he knows that eventually he will have to make way for the younger guys. He said he just hopes that all of the guys are ready for the Olympics because that is where it will all count.

Fresh off his victory in his last event at the Meeting Areva in Paris Saint-Denis, France, on July 6 when he popped a season’s best of 17.23m or 56-feet, 6 1/2-inches, national champion Sands posted a second place finish in the triple jump with a leap of 16.97m (55-8 1/4). The winning jump was 17.41 (57-1 1/2) by American Christian Taylor.

“It was cold and rainy. My first jump wasn’t all that. The boys started to jump, so I figured I had to go out and jump today,” said Sands on his return to the United States. “I was in third so I had to go for it after I saw how far the guys were jumping. I fouled the last jump. One of my jumps was over 17 meters, but it was a foul.”

Sands said it was a good meet, but he’s still a bit sore and will have to get some treatment before he heads off to the Games on July 24.

“I’m on track right now to do even better things at the Games,” Sands said.

Meawhile, Thomas, still rebounding from his third place finish at the Nationals, was tied for fifth with Samson Oni after they both cleared 2.18m (7-1 3/4). It was the height for Canadian Michael Mason, who got fourth and Ro?le Prezelj, who was seventh. Derek Drouin of Canada won with 2.26m (7-5), while Great Britain’s Robert Grabarz and Tom Parsons were tied for second with 2.22m (7-3 1/4).

On Friday, Ferguson-McKenzie ran 23.89 for eighth place in the race that was won by American Charonda Williams in 22.75.

Ferguson-McKenzie, Brown, Sands and Thomas are all a part of Team Bahamas that will be competing at the London Olympics.