Richard Thompson bolted into the sub-10 club with a 9.93 seconds triumph in the men's 100 metres final, at the Southeastern Conference (SEC) Outdoor Track and Field Championships, in Alabama, USA, on Sunday.
The Louisiana State University (LSU) senior became only the fourth Trinidad and Tobago sprinter to join the elite group of sprinters who have gone faster than 10 seconds in the century. Thompson is now second on the all-time T&T performance list, behind national record holder Ato Boldon (9.86) and ahead of Marc Burns (9.96) and Darrel Brown (9.99).
On Sunday, Thompson was just one-hundredth of a second outside Boldon's 12-year-old NCAA (National Collegiate Athletic Association) record.
"It's a great accomplishment," a satisfied Thompson told the Express, yesterday. "It's a great feeling. Two or three years ago I did not think I could run sub-10."
But following his 10-flat 100m opener, in early April, the 22-year-old sprinter knew that a 9-point run was bound to come.
"I expected to be under ten...I've been feeling really good since the 10-flat. Actually, 9.90 came up on the clock, so I thought I had broken the 9.92 NCAA record. But I wasn't focused on time at this meet, just on place."
What "Torpedo Thompson" did not expect was his 200m clocking on the running track. The former QRC student struck gold in the half-lap event in a personal best 20.23 seconds, beating American Rubin Williams (20.41) of University of Tennessee into second spot.
"That one was a big surprise. I expected 20.4/20.5."
Thompson's previous best, ahead of the championship race, was the 20.75 run he had produced in the qualifying round.
T&T/University of South Carolina athlete Jamil James was 25th overall in the 200m in 21.88 seconds.
T&T/LSU sprinter Kelly-Ann Baptiste was the class of the women's 100m field, earning gold in 11.09 seconds. And in the 200m final, Baptiste copped second spot in 22.87.
Another T&T/LSU athlete, Monique Cabral was 11th overall in the 100m (11.69) and 15th in the 200m (24.37).
Tennessee freshman Annie Alexander scored an impressive throwing double. The T&T field athlete won the women's discus with a huge 57.14 metres effort--a new national record. And in the shot put, Alexander threw the iron ball 17.24m to claim top honours.
T&T/LSU half-miler Jamaal James returned a time of one minute, 47.91 seconds to snap up silver in the men's 800m.
University of Kentucky junior Mikel Thomas finished sixth in the men's 110m hurdles final in a wind-assisted 13.70 seconds. He had clocked 13.96 in the preliminaries. Thomas was 10th fastest in the 400m hurdles in 51.99 seconds. In the women's 400m, University of Florida senior Abigail David (54.52) and South Carolina freshman Sade St Louis (57.27) were 10th and 22nd, respectively. And Jamil James clocked 47.73 seconds for 15th spot overall in the men's 400m.
