KINGSTON — Janieve Russell and Annsert Whyte won the women’s and men’s respective 400m hurdles title on Day 2 at the Jamaica National Championships on Friday evening.
Russell, as expected, separated herself from the field over the opening 300m and then held her form in the homestretch to win the national title in 54.18 seconds.
Leah Nugent improved on her performance from the heats to take second place in 54.70, while defending champion Ronda Whyte also ran a better race in the final to take third in 54.90.
Rushell Clayton improved her personal best to 55.08 for fourth.
In the meantime, the shocker came in the men’s race after Whyte ran on late from lane eight to upset the pre-race favourites, including Andre Clarke, who was a disappointing seventh.
Whyte, who qualified for the final with a time of 49.05, bettered that performance with a season’s best of 48.80 seconds to win the national crown.
Shawn Rowe raced home for second place in 49.04, while Kemar Mowatt rounded out the top 3 in 49.16.
Clarke, who entered the event as the overwhelming favourite, struggled to match his earlier performances this season and finished seventh with a time that was just under 50-seconds.
Commonwealth Games bronze medallist Natoya Goule successfully retained her women’s 800m national title with a quality 1:58.85 performance that was well received inside the National Stadium.
Samoya Campbell also impressed with a second place 2:00.59 seasonal best effort for second place and Fallon Ferguson (2:03.56) was in third.
Kemoy Campbell, stepping down in distance to work on his speed, paced himself to a comfortably 3:51.04 to win the men’s 1,500m, beating Thaleetio Green of University of Technology, with a personal best time of 3:52.25.
In action in the field, Tissanna Hickling of GC Foster College won the senior women’s long jump with 6.50m leap to beat Todea-Kay Willis (6.05) of Akan Track Club.
