The Tribune

By BRENT STUBBS

Senior Sports Reporter

bstubbs@tribunemedia.net

AS they gear up for the Bahamas Association of Athletic Associations’ National Track and field Championships this weekend in Grand Bahama, two of the island nation’s elite athletes competed in the London Grand Prix Meet on Saturday.

Pedrya Seymour, rounding her way into form for her return to the international scene this year, picked up a sixth place finish in the women’s 100 metre hurdles in a time of 12.96 metres.

Jamaican Danielle Williams took the tape in a world-leading personal best of 12.32 to hold off an American duo of Nia Ali in her season’s best of 12.57 and Queen Claye, who did 12.64, in the 10 flights of high hurdles.

Earlier in the day, Seymour advanced to the final with a sixth place finish in the second of two heats in 12.92. It was Seymour’s second race in a week after she came in third in the European Athletic Classic on Tuesday in 12.78. That time was her fastest qualifier for the 2019 IAAF World Championships in Doha, Qatar in September for the 24-year-old Seymour, who surpassed her previous qualifier of 12.88.

The qualifying time for Doha is 12.98 and for good measure, Seymour has also surpassed the 2020 Olympic Games’ qualifying standard of 12.84 as she looks set for the trek to Tokyo, Japan.

Also competing in London as he too makes his way back to the international scene this year is national record holder Jeffery Gibson in his signature in the men’s 400m hurdles.

Gibson, 28, placed seventh in the final on Saturday in 49.88. The time was off his season’s best of 49.73 and his personal best of 48.17 when he set the national record with his bronze medal performance at the IAAF World Championships in Beijing, China in 2015.

To qualify for this year’s World Championships, Gibson will have to run 49.30 or faster and 48.90 to get into the Tokyo Olympics.

Twin treat

Latario Collie-Minns was also scheduled to compete in the meet, but he didn’t participate. He and his twin brother Lathone Collie-Minns are back on the international scene as the duo provided a double take at an international meeting last week. Although it wasn’t one of their better performances, just to have them both in action was a plus.

Latario Collie-Minns was seventh with his best leap of 16.51 metres or 54-feet, 2-inches on his second attempt, while Lathone Collie-Minns was ninth with 15.83m (51-11 1/4) on his third attempt.

The event was won by Mexico’s Alexsandro Melo with a distance of 17.20m (56-5 1/4) on his fifth attempt.

Both Latario Collie-Minns (17.04m/55-11) and Lathone Collie-Minns (16.99m/55-9), head into the Nationals, having already met the qualifying standard for the Qatar World Championships of 16.95m (55-7 1/2).

The 26-year-olds, however, will have to surpass 17.14m (56-2 3/4) to be eligible to compete in the Tokyo Olympics.

Other World Championship Qualifiers

Although they didn’t compete this week, there were several other athletes who have also surpassed the World Championships qualifying standards in their respective events, according to BAAA CEO May Miller.

Shaunae Miller, double national record holder, has done in both the women’s 200m in 22.09 and 400m in 49.05. The qualifying standards in both events are 23.02 and 51.80 respectively.

Miller-Uibo, 25, has also surpassed the qualifying standards for the 2020 Olympic Games in Tokyo, Japan. Those standards are 22.80 and 51.35.

Steven Gardiner, the men’s double national record holder, has also bettered the World Championships standards of 20.40 and 45.30 with his times of 20.04 and 44.45.

Gardiner, 23, has also qualified for the Tokyo Olympics where the standards are set at 20.24 and 44.90.

Both Ty’Nia Gaither (22.69) and Anthonique Strachan (22.81) joined Miller-Uibo in dipping under the 200m World Championship standard of 23.02. Gaither, 26, has also qualified for the Tokyo Olympics, while Strachan, 25, is just off the mark of 22.80.

Collegiate Samson Colebrooke, in producing the fastest by a Bahamian since national record holder Derrick Atkins in the men’s 100m, has gone under the World Championship standard of 10.10 with his silver medal performance at the NACAC Under-23 Championships in 10.01.

However, Colebrooke has decided to shut down his season after a long outing for the Purdue Boilermakers and instead will focus his attention on the 2020 Olympic Games after he also achieved the standard of 10.05.

On the field, 2007 World champion Donald Thomas has matched the World Championships standard of 2.30m (7-6 1/2). However, the 35-year-old Grand Bahamian will need to jump 2.33m (7-7 3/4) in order to book his ticket to Tokyo for another appearance at the Olympics.

Criteria for standards for Worlds

The IAAF announced that the qualifying period for the 10,000m, race walks, relays and combined events is from March 7, 2018 to September 6, 2019. For all other events, the qualifying window is September 7, 2018 to September 6, 2019.

Criteria for standards for Olympics

The IAAF has approved its toughest standards yet for the Olympic Games with athletes having two ways to qualify.

The first is to achieve the entry standard within the respective qualifying period, or secondly by virtue of his/her IAAF World Ranking position in the selected event at the end of the respective qualifying period.

The process, according to the IAAF, is designed to achieve about 50 per cent of the target numbers for each event through entry standards and the remaining 50 per cent through the IAAF world ranking system.

The qualifying period is from May 1, 2019 to June 29, 2020.

BAAA Nationals

The BAAA Nationals will return to Grand Bahama on Friday and Saturday with athletes competing in the final trials for selection to the trip to Qatar for the World Championships.

The BAAA is also planning to put on a relay challenge on Sunday to see whether or not the Bahamas can qualify its men’s and women’s 4 x 100 and 4 x 400m relay teams for the World Championships.

Despite not running at the IAAF World Relays at its new home in May in Japan, the men’s 4 x 400m team has earned a qualifying spot for the World Championships after the team of Ojay Ferguson, Teray Smith, Stephen ‘Dirty’ Newbold and Alonzo Russell clocked 3:01.92 for the silver behind Botswana and ahead of Jamaica.