By Michael Bascombe
NEW YORK, May 9, 2012 - The World 400m Champion Kirani James of Grenada will open his 2012 outdoor season next week when he competes in the IAAF World Challenge at the Colorful Daegu Championships Meeting in South Korea.
James, who ran a blistering 43.8 second-leg split for his national team’s 4x400m Relay at the Penn Relays in Philadelphia two weeks ago, is yet to face the starters in his outdoor individual 400m event.
The 19 year-old, who lifted Grenada’s first title at the IAAF World Championships in Athletics in Daegu last summer, has been preparing for end of semester examinations as a full-time student at the University of Alabama.
He had to skip invitations to compete at last weekend’s JN Jamaica International Invitational and the inaugural Cayman Invitational scheduled for Wednesday at the Truman Bodden Sports Complex.
James will instead focus on opening his season on the same track he won his first World Championship in August 2011. It’s his only competitive race this month but expected to start June competing at the Hayward Field in Eugene, Oregon at the Samsung Diamond League, scheduled for June 2.
James appears to be the only certainty in the quarter-mile for Grenada this season since Rondell Bartholomew, who skipped the indoor season, remains on the injured list and may have a late start to his outdoor campaign.
Triple Jumper Randy Lewis will jump at a small meet near his training base in Leverkusen in Germany on Saturday but will officially open his season on May 20 in Garbsen, with another meet in Wesel on May 28.
Meantime, Kurt Felix is ranked eighth among Decathletes on the IAAF Top List. Felix, who is in final year at Boise State University, pushed himself inside of the World’s Top 10 when he won the Decathlon at the Mt. SAC Relays in Azusa, California on April 19.
His career-best score of 7,972 points was a Grenada national record as well as a school record and qualification for the 2012 Olympic Games in London.
The other Grenadian athlete listed on the world rankings is Kanika Beckles. The quarter-miler, who is coached by Alleyne Francique at Texas A&M University, posted a personal best of 52.92 seconds at the Miami Hurricane Alumni Invitational in Coral Gables, Florida on April 14.
The Men’s 400m is led by American LaShawn Merritt with his 44.73 seconds clocked in Guadeloupe last Tuesday.
1 comment:
Thank you very much for the information about King James III.I am very confident in his ability and he is a true statesman. Grenada and the Caribbean wish him well. We are still looking for the 43.5 by Olympic day.
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