Guyana’s Winston George produced a late surge in the final of the Invitational men’s 400m to finish second behind Grenadian Bralon Taplin at the Sagicor National Championships in Port-of-Spain, Trinidad last weekend.
George, who will represent Guyana at the upcoming Olympic Games in London next month, ran out of lane 8 after posting a qualifying time of 47.70s behind Stephan James.
James, though, placed seventh in the final finishing in 47.33s after having qualified for it in 47.32s.
The `A’ class final saw local champion Renny Quow being upset by another local athlete, Lalonde Gordon in a time of 45.40s.
Quow turned in 45.60s.
Guyanese female athlete, Neisa Allen, set a new personal best time of 55.46s to claim bronze in the international women’s 400m final. Allen had earlier lowered her time in the 400m, qualifying for the finals in 56.28s. Improving middle-distance athlete Cleveland Thomas also set a new personal best as he claimed silver in the men’s 1500m.
Thomas recorded his first sub- four minute time as he clocked 3:56.14s with an exceptional change of pace in the final 300m to grasp what seemed an elusive spot on the podium. The 800m heats were contested shortly after the 1500m final and although Thomas failed to qualify for the final, Wayne Harlequin made the cut as he turned in a time of 1:55.93s. Olympian and Trinidadian 100m record holder Richard ‘Torpedo’ Thompson was also upset by a local as Keston Bledman sped to 9.86s, just 0.01s behind Thompson’s record set just one year before at the very event. Bledman, who has been consistently faster in comparison to Thompson this year, was fancied to take the gold and did it in fine style, beating the Olympic silver medallist, who turned in 9.96s to cop silver.
