Shaunae Miller of The Bahamas on her way to victory (© Giancarlo Colombo)
Olympic 400m champion Shaunae Miller-Uibo stepped down in distance at the NTC/Pure Athletics Spring Invitational in Clermont, Florida, to win the 200m in a wind-assisted 21.90 on Saturday (15).
On a day when strong tailwinds rendered many results ineligible for PBs, the wind readings for all of the women’s 200m heats were 3.0m/s or stronger. Nevertheless, Miller-Uibo’s winning time of 21.90 in her heat, aided by a 3.1m/s following wind, shows that the Bahamian is in fine form ahead of next weekend’s IAAF/BTC World Relays Bahamas 2017.
Miller-Uibo, who holds the national record at 22.05, finished 0.64 ahead of USA’s Joanna Atkins. Miller-Uibo later competed in the long jump and produced a PB of 6.29m (1.5m/s).
German duo Tatjana Pinto and Rebekka Haase won their respective 200m heats in 22.53 and 22.58, both aided by 3.0m/s following winds.
The men’s 200m races were similarly wind aided, and while the 2.9m/s tailwind meant that Danny Talbot’s 19.86 couldn’t count as a British record, the European bronze medallist’s winning margin spoke volumes.
The 25-year-old finished 0.35 ahead of Canada’s Gavin Smellie as no one else came close to challenging the 20-second barrier.
Like 200m winners Miller-Uibo and Talbot, USA’s Tori Bowie was head and shoulders above her rivals in the women’s 100m. The Olympic silver medallist sped to a 10.80 (3.3m/s) clocking to comfortably win her heat. Haase produced the second-fastest time of the day with 10.94 (4.5m/s).
Times were a lot closer in the men’s 100m. With 16 preliminary heats being followed by a round of finals, Britain’s Harry Aikines-Aryeetey topped the list with his 9.90 win (4.4m/s). China’s Xie Zhenye won his heat in 9.91 (4.1m/s), while world U20 champion Noah Lyles was also among the seven men to pick up a wind-assisted sub-10 clocking, winning his heat in 9.95 (4.3m/s).
Dutch heptathlete Nadine Visser was one of the few athletes to leave Clermont with a wind-legal performance to their name. The 22-year-old clocked a season’s best of 12.87 in the heats of the 100m hurdles with a legal following wind of 1.8m/s. The wind had picked up by the time of the final later in the day, though, and she sped to a 12.57 win (4.5m/s).
European indoor champion Andy Pozzi also impressed in the heats and finals of the 110m hurdles. He won his heat in a marginally wind-assisted 13.17 (2.2m/s) and followed it with a 13.13 (5.8m/s) win in the final.
Jon Mulkeen for the IAAF
