http://www.trinidadexpress.com/index.pl/article_sports?id=161152565
Brown vs The RestKwame Laurence klaurence@trinidadexpress.com
Saturday, May 26th 2007
Trinidad and Tobago track star Darrel Brown is the favourite for men's open and invitational 100 metres gold at the 2007 Hampton International Games.
Brown will face the starter at 6.45 this evening, at the Hasely Crawford Stadium, Mucurapo, in a race he is expected to win. On May 5, the 22-year-old athlete clocked 10.02 seconds in winning his 2007 century opener, at the Jamaica International Invitational, in Kingston. He followed up that victory with a 10.13 seconds triumph six days later, at the Qatar IAAF World Super Tour 2007 meet, in Doha.
Brown is second on the 2007 IAAF performance list-behind Bahamian Derrick Atkins (9.98)-thanks to his 10.02 run in Jamaica.
The last time Brown competed at home, he clocked a personal best 9.99 seconds in finishing second to compatriot Marc Burns (9.96) in the 2005 Sagicor National Open Track and Field Championship men's 100m final. That race was the first-ever legal sub-10 100m dash in T&T. With the right conditions, another sub-10 run could be witnessed at Hampton 2007.
Among the sprinters expected to do battle with Brown at the Crawford Stadium today are Jamaicans Chris Williams and Marvin Anderson and Americans DaBryan Blanton, Mickey Grimes and Preston Perry.
Of the five, Grimes has the best PR (personal record)-9.99 seconds. However, he produced that clocking back in 2003, and has managed a legal 2007 best of just 10.37. Last Saturday, though, with a 2.1 metres per second wind at his back-just above the 2.0 legal limit-the 30-year-old sprinter clocked 10.19 seconds to finish second at a meet in Florida, USA.
Anderson's best clocking this season is a personal best 10.15. Blanton has run 10.17 in 2007, Williams 10.18 and Perry a personal best 10.30.
Brown is also expected to compete in tomorrow's men's 200m event. Jamaican Usain Bolt, T&T's Kevon Pierre, Dominica's Chris Lloyd and American Kyle Farmer are listed to face the starter in the half-lap race as well.
Quality performances are expected in today's women's 100m dash. Reigning Commonwealth Games 100m champion Sheri-Ann Brooks, of Jamaica, T&T's Fana Ashby and British Virgin Islands sprinter Tahesia Harrigan head the list of entries, which also includes Ivory Coast athlete Cynthia Niako.
Also on the day one programme are the men's and women's 400m events, as well as the men's 800m.
The men's one-lap race is expected to feature Grenada's two-time world indoor champion Alleyne Francique, Bahamian Andrae Williams, American Obra Hogans and T&T's reigning world junior champion Renny Quow, who clocked a personal best 45.62 seconds in finishing second at the Felix Sanchez Invitational, in the Dominican Republic, a fortnight ago.
The women's 400m field includes Americans Demetria Washington, Angel Perkins and Licretia Sibley. And in the men's 800m, T&T's Sherridan Kirk tackles Puerto Rican David Freeman and Haiti's Moise Joseph.
Starting time at the Crawford Stadium today and tomorrow is 1.30 p.m.