Visitors to the nation’s sprint factory, Justin Gatlin and Blessing Okagbare, were the 100m winners here at Jamaica International Invitational, an IAAF World Challenge Meet, on Saturday night.
The men’s field, which was without the three fastest Jamaicans Usain Bolt, Yohan Blake and Asafa Powell, saw Gatlin with a very late burst to beat the field in 10.11 seconds.
Andrew Fisher, a student at University of Technology in Jamaica, who surprised the field with a very fast start, finished second in 10.21. American Walter Dix did 10.22 for 2nd place.
Earlier, in the women’s event, Nigerian Blessing Okagbare stamped her class on the field, which was without few of the likes of Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce, Camerlita Jeter and Veronica Campbell-Brown. She crossed the line in 11.19secs ahead of Jamaicans Kerron Stewart 11.32 and Carrie Russell 11.46.
Okagbare, who ran into a negative 1.7m/s headwind, said: "I am okay (with the time), I came here and wanted to stay healthy"
"I was just trying to execute, if you don't have a good race, you just have to stay focus and execute,” she added.
