The darling of Ghana sprinting, Joseph Amoah brought the house down at the Aliann Pompey Invitational with a blistering win in the marquee men’s 100m in fine style yesterday.
Amoah produced his usual bullet start and sped away for an effortless victory, to loud applause from the crowd at the National Track and Field Centre.
The African sprint sensation clocked a meet record 10.20 seconds to win the blue riband event.
The 22-year-old was out in a flash and quickly separated himself from the field for a commanding victory over national champion, Emanuel Archibald and Winston George.
Archibald and George clocked 10.33 and 10.40s respectively.
The previous meet record (10.24 seconds) was set by Levi Cadogan at the 2017 staging.
Speaking post race, Amoah, a junior for the Coppin State track and field team said it was a pleasure running in Guyana for the first time and achieving the meet record at the fourth edition of the annual event.
He further stated that he was unsure of returning to defend his title next year, noting that his primary focus is graduating with a bachelor’s degree in accounting and then considering whether to pursue a pro career or a master’s degree. And then there’s the 2020 Summer Olympics.
“Every athlete hopes to be an Olympian, and being able to qualify for the 2020 Olympics is the thing for me,” he said. “So in the future, that’s one of the places where I want to be, but I’m just not really thinking about it right now. It’s almost a year away. Maybe after college, I’ll consider my professional career and where I can go from there. But I think that’s something I’ll think about after I’m done with my undergrad.”
Trinidad and Tobago’s duo, Kamaria Durant and Reyare Thomas finished 1-2 in the female version of the event in 11.39s and 11.53s. Guyana’s Jasmine Abrams was the other podium dweller in 11.62s. Durant returned to win the 200m to record the only sprint double of the meet in 23.21s. Thomas again finished second in 23.82s and Abrams grabbed bronze once more in 23.95s.
Other standouts from yesterday’s meet included Jamaica’s Rushell Clayton who repeated as champion in the 400m hurdles and Devaun Barrington who ran a personal best to win the men’s 800m final.
Clayton (55.25s) of Jamaica had a no nonsense approach and went ahead from the smoke of the pistol. On the homestretch her advantage ballooned with every powerful stride and she went on to win the event in ahead of Katrina Seymour (59.37s) of the Bahamas and Janeil Belille (1m:01s) of Trinidad and Tobago.
Barrington torpedoed on the homestretch to command a come from behind win ahead of front runner, Anfernee Headecker who put on a spirited display. In the end, Barrington recorded a personal best of 1:50.95s. Headecker was second in 1:52.40s, followed by Samuel Lynch in 1:55.13s.
Other winners yesterday included: Aliyah Abrams (women’s 400m), Joanna Archer (women’s 800m), Winston George (men’s 200m), Odwin Tudor (men’s 3000m), Chantoba Bright (women’s long jump) and Siddhanth Thingalava (men’s 110mh).
The organizers dubbed the meet which was a qualifier for the IAAF World Championships a success and plans are in the pipelines to make the annual fixture even bigger.
