http://www.trinidadexpress.com/sports/Thomas__James_enjoying_gains_on_Road_to_London-148031565.htmlThomas, James enjoying gains on Road to London
By Kwame Laurence kwame.laurence@trinidadexpress.com Story Created: Apr 18, 2012 at 10:52 PM ECT
For any athlete, improvement is always a goal. And in an Olympic year, it is even more gratifying to better a personal best.
Among the Trinidad and Tobago athletes who have been enjoying gains in 2012 are sprint hurdler Mikel Thomas and half-miler Jamaal James. Both are campaigning in the United States.
At the start of the year, Thomas had a personal best (pb) of 13.62 seconds in the men's 110 metres hurdles, a clocking he produced in the second round at the 2008 Olympic Games, in Beijing, China. On the last weekend in March, Thomas improved to 13.48, the impressive run earning him victory in race one and second spot overall in the Texas Relays invitational men's 110m hurdles.
Thomas is fourth on the International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF) 2012 performance list, behind Americans David Oliver (13.30), Ronnie Ash (13.42) and Texas Relays winner Chris Thomas (13.45).
More importantly, though, Mikel Thomas' 13.48 seconds clocking bettered the 13.52 Olympic A qualifying standard.
Like Thomas, James is eyeing the London Olympics. The B standard in his pet event, the 800m, is one minute, 46.30 seconds, while his pb is 1:47.00, a clocking he produced back in 2007.
James has not approached his pb since, but showed signs of returning to his best form in February this year when he clocked an indoor best 1:47.66--the second fastest time of his career.
James followed up with a 1500m pb at the Sam Howell Invitation meet, in New Jersey, two Fridays ago. The T&T athlete finished 11th in 3:49.00.
