In the men’s 400m, the second track event of the day, Michael Blackwood, the Jamaican competing under the Americas colours, confirmed that he is the man of the moment in the one-lap race.
Not only did Blackwood comfortably win the race but he also set a new personal best of 44.60. Today’s is 26-year old Blackwood third notable victory in three weeks after his convincing performances in the ISTAF Berlin and the IAAF Grand Prix Final.
European champion Ingo Schultz was second in a season’s best of 44.86 and added an extra 8 points to the 9 points Annus secured previously. In third came Kuwait’s Fawzi Al-Shammari who clocked 45.14 and secured 7 very important points for the Asian team.
Running in lane 3, US champion and Olympic silver medallist Alvin Harrison – the fastest of the two twins – was in the lead for most of the race and entered the home straight with a three-metre lead on Schultz. With 80 metres to go, he suddenly seemed to run out of steam and was easily overtaken by Schultz, Blackwood and Al-Shammari.
Harrison even lost the fourth place to Mauritius’ Eric Milazar at the tape, the African clocking 45.41 against 45.46 for the American.
