The Tribune

By BRENT STUBBS

Senior Sports Reporter

bstubbs@tribunemedi.net

GLASGOW, Scotland — Shaunae Miller, feeling the effects of her hamstring, didn’t accelerate when she needed to and coming off the final curve, she ran out of contention for a medal in the women’s 400 metres final at the 20th Commonwealth Games yesterday.

After qualifying the day before, Miller had predicted that she should be prepared to run and she was running in memory of the late American quarter-miler Torrin Lawrence, who died in a car accident on the same day.

Just after both national champion LaToy Williams and Chris ‘Fireman’ Brown advanced to a highly loaded Caribbean flavour in their final, Miller had to settle for seventh place in 53.08 as Jamaica went on for a sweep of all three medals, leaving defending champion Amantle Montsho of Botswana looking on the outside with her fourth place in 51.10.

Stephanie McPherson stunned the field as she powered from behind on the home stretch to snatch the gold in 50.67, while Novlene Williams-Mills got the silver in 50.86 and Christine Day came through with the bronze in 51.09.

“I just want to give God thanks for giving me the strength to finish the race off healthy,” Miller said. “It was just one of those days. You win some and you lose some. I competed against such great athletes today and the Jamaicans did very well. But three rounds in three days is pretty tough, especially for me, coming off the slight hamstring injury. Either way I still gave it my all.”

Although she expected to run faster, but didn’t want to push the button and cause any serious damage, Miller said she just hopes that she can get through the season healthy so she can concentrate on getting ready for an even bigger year in 2015.

No medal in the women’s 400m, but Williams and Brown are hoping their 1-2 punch on the outside lanes - Brown in one and Williams in eight – will be able to come through in the men’s final tonight at 3:30pm EST.

The field is close to being stacked with Caribbean athletes, except Wayde Van Niekerk of the Republic of South Africa and Martyn Rooney of England intend to spoil the party, running out of lane four and five respectively.

The other spots went to Trinidad & Tobago’s Renny Quow and Lalonde Gordon in two and three, race favourite and defending champion Kirani James of Grenada in six and Jarrin Solomon, also from Trinidad & Tobago, in seven.

Williams earned an automatic berth with his second place finish in his semifinal heat in 45.44 as he and Gordon, the winner in 45.37, pulled away from Botswana’s Isaac Makwala. Williams’ time, however, was the fifth fastest.

“I feel okay. Can’t complain. I’m in the final,” said a jubilant Williams. “I was trying to stay smooth in second and I saw Lalonde come back on the outside, so I had to give it some more.

“I was trying to get an automatic qualifying, so I had to push it even more at the last part. It sounds crazy, but that’s track. That was my biggest 400m ever and now I have to prepare for what will be my biggest 400m. I have to stay mentally sound as the underdog, but I’m glad that me and Chris will be there trying to make our country proud.”

After running 45.55 for third place in his semifinal heat, Brown was sitting on pins and needles, so to speak, waiting to see if he got in. At the end of the three heats, he had the eighth fastest time to secure his spot.

“I just thank the Lord for allowing me to come out here and run. It wasn’t what I expected. It was a bit cold for me out there and I really couldn’t get warm, but I gave it my best.”

Brown, the veteran at age 35, is still looking for his first individual medal at the Commonwealth Games.

Today could be a chance for the Bahamas to win a couple of medals.

In another final scheduled to begin at 1:40pm, Ryan Ingraham will be the third jumper in the pit in the men’s high jump final, while defending champion Donald Thomas will be in the sixth spot.

Yesterday, a couple athletes missed out on their opportunities to advance to the finals in their respective events.

Dennis Bain, making his debut in the men’s 110 metres hurdles at the games, was seventh in his heat in 14.21, well above his season’s best of 13.33 and his personal best of 13.30. The 23-year-old was 18th overall.

In the men’s long jump preliminaries, both Raymond Higgs and Leevan ‘Superman’ Sands were unable to move on. In Group A, Higgs had a best of 7.61 metres on his second attempt, while Sands did 7.48 on his third attempt.

Higgs was tied with Tera Kiplangat in 12th spot overall, but the Kenyan got the final qualifying spot by virtue of having a better series of jumps. Sands, on his way back after having surgery to repair his knee that he broke at the 2012 Olympic Games, ended up 15th overall.

And Katrina Seymour, also making her comeback after almost a two-year hiatus, ran 1:01.34 in her debut in the women’s 400m hurdles. That gave her a 9th place overall.

“The race wasn’t what I wanted, but thank God I didn’t false start and I didn’t get hurt,” she said. “I went out there and tried to do what my coach told me to do and I finished the race. Being in the race with such talented women will only help me in getting back after the two-year break. The race was good. I tried to go with (Eilidh) Child (from Scotland), but after the first two hurdles, she was gone.”

Child won the heat in 55.56. There was a false start at the beginning when Josanne Lucus of Trinidad & Tobago was disqualified for a false start. Seymour said she was afraid because she thought it was her who committed the infraction.

“It kind of had me a little shaky because I didn’t want to false start,” Seymour said. “This is my first Commonwealth Games and I enjoyed it so much. I just hope that when the next one comes around, I will be ready for it.”