Gary Reed of Kamloops
Gary Reed of Kamloops won the silver medal at the World Athletics Final in Thessaloniki, Greece before a crowd of 27,500. David Lekuta Rudisha of Kenya took the gold in 1:44.85 after a tactical 53.0 second first lap of 400m. Rudisha leads the world in 2009 with his 1:42.01 clocking this season. Gary was lying in 7th spot with 200m to go but delivered a tremendous closing finish to pass world champion, Mbulaeni Mulaudzi of South Africa and Olympic champion, Yuriy Borzakovskiy of Russia. Reed improved on his 4th place at the 2009 Beijing Olympics and equaled his 2007 silver medal at the World Championships with his 1:45.23.
Priscilla Lopes Schliep and Perdita Felicien hit the line in the 100m hurdles in a blanket finish where 2nd through 5th place recorded identical times of 12.61. The world champion, Brigitte Foster-Hylton of Jamaica lead with 12.58 while Dawn Harper of the US, Delloreen Ennis -London of Jamaica were awarded the silver and bronze medal positions after prolonged inspection of the photo finish. This gave Priscilla and Perdita the 4th and 5th spots. Needless to say, this event is perhaps the most competitive event in the IAAF schedule. Priscilla took the bronze in Beijing and the silver medalat the World Championship in Berlin.
Dylan Armstrong of Kamloops struggled in the shot put recording 19.61m in 8th place behind Christian Cantwell of the US who won with 22.16m Sultana Frizell of Ottawa threw 68.07m for 6th place behind winner Betty Heidler of Germany in the women’s hammer throw. Nate Brannen of Ontario came 9th in the 1500m in 3:40.12 as William Tanui of Kenya took the gold in 3:35.04 Rudisha and Reed at WAF photo by Getty
Douglas Clement
