Walter Davis of USA on his way to victory in the men's Triple Jump final (© Getty Images)
True to form, the Meeting du Conseil Général NACAC Area Permit Meet on Saturday, 29 April was dominated by Americans, several of whom come over to the French Caribbean for what has become one of the leading early-season warm-weather contests. This time out, the Martinique crowd, which has taken the world's leading athletes - from Frankie Fredericks to Maurice Green to Ivan Pedroso - to heart, had good reason to cheer for one of its own.
A time of 10.19 seconds may not be a great deal to write home about, but when home is just around the corner in Lamentin, Martinique, and 10.19 is a winning time, it must be just as sweet. Maurice Greene did not face the starter, but Ronald Pognon did not let that deter him. The hometown boy made good with a tailwind of 1.2 metres per second. His performance trumped 10.23 from Bernard Williams of the USA and 10.27 from another American, Dabryan Blenton.
Bolt blasts to solo 20.08
Pognon added a runner's up finish in the 200m, running 20.53 with a wind of 1.5 metres per second. But that race belonged to another Caribbean sensation. Finally turning 20 this year, Jamaica's Trelawney-born sensation, Usain Bolt, appears set for a great season, if his early time is any indication. The holder of the World Junior Record dominated the 200m field in Martinique and crossed the line in 20.08 seconds, the fastest time in the world so far this year.
Bolt has been affected by injuries the past few seasons, but in between he has run some fantastic times, 19.99 last year and 19.93 in 2004, when he was just 17. In the absence of a major competition this year, and having already missed the Commonwealth Games through a hamstring strain, Bolt will surely hope to use this run as a platform for the remainder of the year. The athletics community will no doubt look forward to seeing Bolt get the most of his prodigious talent.
Davis pushed to 8.36 PB
Relatively pedestrian efforts had won the men's Long Jump the past two years, nobody having gone over 8.25m on either occasion. This year, though, 2004 winner Walter Davis, the reigning World Triple Jump champion indoors and outdoors, changed all that in a tremendous competition with fellow American Brian Johnson. With a steady trailing wind that peaked at 1.3 metres per second, Davis reached a winning effort of 8.36, a personal best in his second best event for a narrow three centimetre win.
Johnson established a career- and season-best mark of 8.08m earlier this month in Sacramento. He bettered that mark with a best trial of 8.33m in Martinique. Unfortunately for Johnson, he was not the only one having a career day.
World lead for Trammell as well
The 110m Hurdles is one of the most consistent races in Martinique, always producing fast times. Last year, Allen Johnson ran 13.18 in front of a crowd of over 10,000. At the time, it was the fastest time in the world. A year later, the four-time World Champion knew going in that he would be hard pressed just to repeat as Conseil Général champion, with current World Champion Ladje Doucouré and last year's second-place finisher, Terrence Trammell, in the field.
Indeed, Johnson limped to a disappointing sixth-place finish, running just 14.19 seconds, with a wind of 1.2 metres per second. It was Trammell who set the stadium alight, running 13.22 seconds to hold off Doucouré. The 22-year-old French-African ran just 13.52, but Trammell was virtually flawless. The 26-year-old American, the reigning and two-time World Indoor Champion, completed the race with the fastest time in the world so far this year, though that was not a harbinger of success for Johnson in 2005.
Women's sprints
A pair of Americans took the top two spots in the women's 100m. In her second meet back from suspension, 29-year-old Torri Edwards showed that she may be ready to rejoin the elite. With a slight negative wind of 0.6 metres per second, Edwards ran 11.29 to hold off Wyllesheia Myricks (11.48) for victory in Stade de Dillon.
After taking second in the women's 100m, Myricks also placed third in a very tight 200m race. With a wind of 1.6 metres per second on the straight, Myricks ran 23.10 for the bronze medal. Crossing the line first, in 23.01, was Laverne Jones of the USA Virgin Islands. The 25-year-old has never made it to the final of a major international meet, but her early season form suggests she may have her best year, performance-wise, in 2006. Second in Fort de France, running 23.04, was former USA indoor champion Crystal Cox.
In the women's 100m Hurdles, 29-year-old American Damu Cherry improved her season's best mark from 12.83 to 12.79, with a slight trailing wind of 0.8 metres per second. Another talented American hurdler, Nicole Denby, crossed the line in 12.85 seconds, with Belgian-born, and USA-raised Haitian Nadine Faustin stopping the clock at 13.03 seconds, just ahead of Jamaica's Vonette Dixon and France's Martinique-born Adriana Lamalle.
The women's Long Jump was close as well, but somewhat less exciting than the men's. With a positive wind of 1.0 metres per second, Viktoriya Rybalko just managed to edge Rose Richmond for victory. Richmond won here last year with a best effort of 6.73m, but this time round the American could manage no better than 6.60m, a centimetre less than her Ukrainian rival. Akiba McKinney, who has been otherwise excellent so far this season, reaching 6.83m just two weekends ago, could only manage 6.54m on this occasion, for third.
Modibo repeats over quarter mile
Defending quarter-mile champion, Trinidad & Tobago's Ato Modibo, ran faster than he did last year to win in Martinique. Aside from being an improvement from 45.74, Modibo's time of 45.35 seconds also betters the time he ran to place fourth in the semifinals at the Commonwealth Games. The 27-year-old beat out another Caribbean competitor at Dillon. Chris Lloyd, who has reset the Commonwealth of Dominica 200m national record twice in the past two weeks, ran a personal best 45.46 for second.
In a less-than-inspiring women's 400m run, Dee Dee Trotter got the better of Mary Danner as Americans took the top two positions. Trotter's 51.77 beat out Danner's 52.16 for first.
Canada’s Kwaku Boateng, Ukraine’s Viktor Shapoval and Adam Shunk of the USA all cleared 2.15m for the men’s High Jump, but it was Boateng who came away with the win, with Shapoval finishing ahead of Shunk.
One of the favourite events at the Conseil Général, the Pole Vault ended with victory for the favourite, 29-year-old Frenchman Romain Mesnil, who cleared 5.50m for the win. Russ Buller of the USA also cleared 5.50m for second.
Terry Finisterre for the IAAF
