The Tribune

By BRENT STUBBS

Senior Sports Reporter

bstubbs@tribunemedia.net

While Steven Gardiner stormed from behind to pull off a huge victory over the reigning American world champion LaShawn Merritt in the men’s 400 metres, Donald Thomas was able to soar to a season’s best for a second place finish in the men’s high jump yesterday at the Hungarian Athletics Grand Prix in Budapest, Hungary.

Gardiner, fresh off his national record-breaking performance of 44.27 seconds at the Bahamas Association of Athletic Association’s National Championships last month, clocked 44.30 seconds to set a new meet record and upset Merritt in the process.

Merritt faded into second in a season’s best of 44.43, improving on his previous time of 44.51, while Trinidad & Tobago’s Renny Quow also did a SB of 44.72 for third. His previous best this year was 44.90.

Gardiner, 19, was unavailable for comments but his coach George Cleare said he’s still a “work in progress” and the native of Abaco is just “scratching the surface” in terms of exactly how good he can be.

“In this game, nothing is guaranteed. You just have to continuously do the right things and try to make good decisions,” Cleare said. “A big part of his career is going to come down to how focused and consistent he is. He has now locked himself on the platform of the world and everybody wants to see him run.

“At the same time, he’s just 19, so we have to realise that and as adults, we have to make the right decisions and look at his long term ability, so we have to project him in the right decision because you don’t want to kill the goose that lay the golden egg because he has the ability to really, really be something special.”

Gardiner, who previously ran the 200m when he trained under the watchful eyes of Rev Anthony Williams in Moore’s Island, made a statement to the world in his comeback effort against Merritt. But Cleare said if Gardiner can stay consistent, the sky is the limit for him.

“He has twice ran under the previous national record set by a great runner in his own right, Chris Brown, and so that speaks volumes for the quality of races that he’s doing,” Cleare said. “When you look at Chris Brown, he’s one of the most respected 400m runners of all time and for Steven to under his time two meets in a row, shows the high level of running that Steven is at.

“So while we are looking for some consistency, he’s gaining some valuable experience. That’s the main thing. Coming into this meet, the main concern, other than making sure he is still healthy, is to put him in a position where he can compete and gain the necessary experience. This was the first time that he has had to come from behind in the last 50 or 60 metres, so he gave us another look at what we need to work on.”

Although he has beaten Merritt, Cleare said he still has to be focused because there are a lot of quality quarter-milers out there that he will have to contend with, including reigning Olympic champion Kirani James from Grenada, who got upset on July 5 by Isaac Makwla when he ran the world-leading time of 43.73 in La Chaux-de-Fonds.

“They’re going to make the necessary adjustment, I’m sure, as they study him and they are going to try to find ways to attack him, so it’s good when we get a chance to see what he can do under different circumstances,” Cleare said. “He’s racing against different people right now, but at the same time, he’s gaining a lot of experience.”

Gardiner, who bypassed the collegiate circuit to go directly to the professional ranks, will be back in action when he runs the 200m in Belgium on July 11.

Thomas, the only other Bahamian competing in the meet, cleared 2.34 metres or 7-feet, 8-inches in the high jump to surpass his season’s best of 2.32 that he did in Paris, France, on July 4. World leader Mutaz Essa Barshim of Qatar won the event with a leap of 2.36m (7-8 3/4). Barshim, 24, is the Olympic bronze medallist and World Championship silver medallist.

Thomas, the 2007 world champion who turned 31 on July 1, came close once again to erasing Troy Kemp’s national record of 2.38m (7-8 3/4).