The Tribune

By BRENT STUBBS

Senior Sports Reporter

bstubbs@tribunemedia.net

MOSCOW, Russia — It would have been the perfect birthday present for Jeffery Gibson on Thursday. However, his celebrations will now have to focus on a possible spot in the heats of the men’s 4 x 400 metre relay.

Gibson, who turns 23 on Thursday, had his share of difficulties from the first hurdle and it carried over the nine as he could run no faster than 50.51 seconds for eighth place in the last of three heats in the semifinal of the men’s 400 metre hurdles.

Gibson was the only Bahamian in action during the evening session on day four on Tuesday inside the Luzhniki Grand Sports Complex. His effort was well behind the field that produced the world-leading time by Omar Cisneros of Cuba in 47.93.

Dominican Republic’s veteran Felix Sanchez, a two-time World and Olympic champion, was second in a season’s best of 48.10, while American Kerron Clement, another world champion, picked up third in 48.21 as they earned the three qualifying spots out of the heat into the final.

“I’m a little disappointed in myself. I was hoping that I would have been able to do better than yesterday,” said Gibson, referring to his time of 50.25 that earned him a third place qualifying feat in his first round heat.

“Maybe, the season being this long and me coming up over the first hurdle on my left leg rather than my right, really threw things off a little bit for me. I tried to compensate to speed up a little bit, but I was already jumping the hurdles, so it was hard to come from the back.”

It was the second time in his two races that Gibson found himself running out of lane one.

After he misjudged the right leg to use first going over the first hurdle, Gibson said he had to try to readjust his routine for the remaining nine bars, but just wasn’t able to put it together to get back into the flow of things.

“I really don’t focus too much on the lane. I just focus on me getting around the track,” said Gibson, who was hoping to run at least another 49 seconds. “Win or lose, sometimes I know you are going to get the bad lane. The time I ran put me in that lane, so I was like ‘okay, don’t worry about the lane, worry about getting over the hurdles.’

The Grand Bahamian ran into 21st place overall in a field of 23 competitors. He admitted that after completing a long collegiate year as he ended his eligibility at Oral Roberts University, he felt the fatigue starting to settle in, but he was thrilled to have included the new national record in his performance.

“I’m glad for the season that I had and all the ups and downs,” said Gibson, who hopes to spend some quality time competing in his first love - the 400m as well where he has a PR of 48.43. “I’m really blessed and I look forward to the future in track and field. I really want to be in this game nice and long.”

Now that he’s done with the 400 hurdles, Gibson said if the coaching staff rings his bell, he will be willing and ready to answer the call as a member of the men’s 4 x 400 relay team that will run the first round on his birthday on Thursday. The final is set for Friday.

“I will step up to the plate and to the challenge,” said Gibson, who will join the relay pool that is expected to comprise of Chris “Fireman” Brown, O’Jay Ferguson, Wesley Neymour and possibly Michael Mathieu.

It’s still not certain if Ramon Miller will be physically ready to go.