Leford Greene emerges against local hero at the Central American and Caribbean Championships
As the second day of the 23rd edition of the Central American and Caribbean Championships concluded on Saturday, July 16, in Mayaguez, it was Leford Green who remained undeterred by the constant rain and proved his worth after ousting local performer,
Javier Culson.
After beating Culson a year ago at the same track, Green was definitely at ease this time as he was well-aware of the strengths and weaknesses of his rival. Perhaps, this was the reason that despite kicking-off with his run in a comfortable manner, he surpassed
his local competitor by the eighth hurdle and did not look back unless he overcame the 400m distance for claiming the gold medal by stopping the clock in 49.03 seconds.
This indeed was a marvellous performance by the Jamaican hurdler, which established the fact that he has got all the potential to outdo his rivals who had gathered against him on the field. The defeat for the runner-up of the Berlin World Championships was
rather unexpected, but had he not lost his rhythm, he could have ended for a place on the podium.
Marred by the earlier glitch, he was crossed by Felix Sanchez, the two-time world champion from Dominican Republic, who hit the finishing line in 49.41 seconds for marking his fastest finish of the year. His clocked effort reminded people of his performance
displayed back in 2009, at Havana. Quite expectedly, the bronze medal was claimed by Jehue Gordon from Trinidad and Tobago, who finished his race in 50.10 seconds.
Hit by an early fumble on the track, Culson, the pre-favourite for the run could only cross the finishing line for a fourth position after managing to clock 50.27 seconds. Looking rather disappointed over the mishap and revealing about how well he was prepared
for the meet, the veteran hurdler said, “I was too close passing the fourth hurdle and that made me change my rhythm. From then on, I had to pass the hurdle with my right leg, my weak one and I could not recover. Just a week ago, I ran my season’s best (48.34
seconds) and back home I ran my slowest time in three years.”
Disappointed over what happened on the track, Hector Amill, Culson’s coach said that it was not a big incident as anyone could have had a bad day. The coach himself was not sure about what exactly happened to his runner. Last week, introducing a little change
the runner’s rhythm had helped him marked his best time, but of course telling this fact will not help the player, who needs to perform well at the upcoming Daegu event.
Tags: