Monday, May 03, 2010

Neisha Bernard-Thomas sets new national 800m record

KINGSTON, Jamaica, May 1, 2010 – Grenada’s middle-distance ace Neisha Bernard-Thomas clocked the second fastest 800m time for the year when she finished behind Jamaica’s Kenia Sinclair at the Jamaica International Invitational at the National Stadium here on Saturday.

Neisha was second in 1:59.60 while Sinclair won in a meet record of 1:58.62.

It was the first time Bernard-Thomas ran under two minutes over the two-lap event and in the process clocked a personal best and new national record.

Her previous best was 2:00.09 clocked at the Beijing Olympics on August 15, 2008. Up until Saturday’s race Neisha had the world leading time for the year of 2:00.77.

Bernard-Thomas, a two-time Central American and Caribbean (CAC) Championship gold medallist, is preparing for the CAC championship in Puerto Rico in July and the Commonwealth Games in Delhi, India in October.

At the same meet, World and Olympic record holder Usain Bolt excited his home fans with a world leading and meet record of 19.56 seconds in the 200m. He pulled away from Americans Wallace Spearman (19.98) and Ryan Bailey (20.43) to win easily. His compatriot Veronica Campbell took the women’s version in 22.60secs.

There were also victories for Americans Carmelita Jeter in a world leading time of 10.94 seconds in the 100m and Tyson Gay (45.05secs) over the men’s 400m.

Jamaican Nesta Carter took the men’s 100m (10.09secs) ahead of Darvis Patton (USA, 10.23) and Richard Thompson (T&T, 10.25).

Photo credit: Bryan Cummings

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