McLeod, Ricketts Secure Wins At Berlin World Challenge Meeting

Omar McLeod and Shanieka Ricketts secured victories at Sunday’s (1 Sept) ISTAF Berlin World Challenge Meeting in Germany.

McLeod ran a season-best 13.07 to top the men’s 110m hurdles field.

“I did it! Like my coach told me, I just got out and took control. Everything was good – the start, the finish and every hurdle. You could say it was a perfect race,” said McLeod after the race.

“Everything was coming together perfectly. I ran so smooth, tight over the hurdles. This was like a final rehearsal for Doha,” he added.

Pascal Martinot-Lagarde of France finished second in 13.25s and Barbadian Shane Brathwaite, third in 13.36s.

Jamaicans Orlando Bennett, 13.54 and Ronald Levy, 14.24 were 8th and 9th respectively.

Ricketts hop, skip and jump 14.63 meters to take the top spot in the women’s triple jump. Kimberly Williams, the other Jamaican in the event, 13.96m, finished 5th.

“I feel great. My best jump was 14.63m, that shows that I have a lot of consistency,” commented Ricketts.

“This was my final rehearsal for Doha. Achieving such a result after the DL final a few days ago is great, incredible. I was hoping to jump further, but we had a negative breeze (wind), and I was tired from the DL final. I really like it here, the crowd was electric and gave us a lot of support,” added Ricketts.

Jamaican Tyquendo Tracey ran 10.06 for third in the men’s 100m, won by Canadian Andre de Grasse in 9.97 seconds.

Jamaicans Jaheel Hyde, 49.67 and Romel Lewis, 50.30, both missed 400m hurdles automatic qualification for Doha 2019 World Championships. They were 4th and 5th respectively in the event, won by German Luke Campbell in 49.41.

Danniel Thomas-Dodd threw 18.02m for 4th in the women’s shot put. Canadian Brittany Crew won the event with 19.28m.