The Tribune

By BRENT STUBBS

Senior Sports Reporter

bstubbs@tribunemedia.net

COMING off his sixth place in the high jump at the Herculis Grand Prix on Friday, Donald Thomas bounced back to pick up a victory with a personal best at the Gyulai Istvan Memorial in Budapest yesterday.

Leading a three-man contingent of Steven Gardiner and Jeffery Gibson from the Bahamas, Thomas soared 2.37 metres or 7-feet, 9 1/4-inches to beat out Bohdan Bondarenko from Ukraine, who did 7-8 1/2 for second. Majd Eddin Ghazal from Cyprus got third with 7-7.

Thomas’ performance was just off the Bahamas national record of 2.38m (7-9 3/4) that Troy Kemp set on July 12, 1997 in Nice, France. He dedicated it to his 97-year-old grandfather Ralph Russell from Eight Mile Rock, Grand Bahama, who during his vacation in Orlando, Florida, encouraged him to leave “the bacon” and go for the “whole hog” at the 2016 Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.

“I felt good. Training is coming along really nice,” said Thomas in an interview with The Tribune after his performance. “I had a setback in May with a small injury, so I had to work my way back to form.”

Thomas, the winner of a medal in all the major international competitions except the Olympics, said the result was significant because it’s the highest he has ever jumped.

“The competition was intense with a lot of key jumpers. I believe in time the national record will come, but I was just chasing it today,” he said. “I really just wanted to be competitive and leave healthy.

“I believe if I had pushed it to the max, I would have jumped 2.41m (7-10 3/4) today, but I relaxed after 2.37m (7-9 1/4) with the competition already in hand.”

Thomas, 32, will be heading to Panama today where he will resume his training before he makes the trek to Rio with the Olympic team that will be announced by the Bahamas Olympic Committee tomorrow.

Also at the meet, national 400m record holder Steven Gardiner clocked 45.28 seconds for third place behind Grenada’s reigning Olympic champion Kirani James, who won in 44.60 with Rio bound American Tony McQuay taking second in 45.08.

Gardiner’s time was off his season’s best of 44.46 and his national record of 44.27 that he set last year. The 21-year-old Gardiner, who has made the transition from the 200m where he was a IAAF World Junior Championship finalist, will be making his Olympic debut as he intends to improve on his second round exit at his first IAAF World Championship appearance in Beijing last year.

And Jeffery Gibson, coming off his IAAF World Championship bronze medal last year in Beijing, China, had to settle for fifth place in the men’s 400m hurdles in 50.22.

Kelsuke Nozawa of Japan took the tape in 49.26, followed by Republic of South Africa’s LJ Van Zyl in 49.78. Rasmus Magi of Estonia was third in 49.79 and Great Britain’s Rhys Williams came in fourth in 50.01.

Gibson, the 25-year-old national record holder at 48.17, has done a season’s best of 48.96. He will be heading to Rio for his debut at the Olympics as well after winning the NACAC Under-23 title and placing third in the 400m in Irapuato, Mexico, in 2012.

While the elite athletes were in action yesterday, the junior athletes will begin competition today at the IAAF World Under-20 Championship at the Zawisza Stadium in Bydgoszcz, Poland.

Shaquania Dorsett, 18, will run out of the first of six heats in the women’s 400m. She will be in lane two with a season and personal best of 52.50 seconds.

Dorsett, back at the international level after she didn’t advance out of the heats of the IAAF World Junior Championships in Eugene, Oregon in 2014, will need to either finish in the first three in her heat or post one of the next six fastest times in order to advance to the semifinal.

On the field, 17-year-old Serena Brown will contest the women’s discus throw. She will be the 10th of 14 competitors participating in Group B. Another 14 competitors are entered in Group A.

The automatic qualifying performance to get into the final is 51.50m or she will have to finish with one of the 12 best performances overall. Brown was coming of a 11th place finish at the 9th IAAF World Youth Championships in Cali, Colombia