Blake cruises to 100m victory

EDMONTON — World champion Yohan Blake tuned up for a Jamaican Olympic trials showdown with Usain Bolt by winning the 100 meters at the Donovan Bailey Invitational in Edmonton, Alberta, Saturday.

Blake clocked 10.05 seconds to defeat American Trell Kimmons and Jamaican Lerone Clarke. Kimmons ran 10.11 and Clarke 10.13.

Blake will face world record holder Bolt for the first time this year in the national Olympic trials in Kingston at the end of the month.

Both should advance to the London Games where they are hot picks to clash for the gold medal in the 100 final.

Jamaican Sheri-Ann Brooks swept the women’s sprints, winning the 100 in 11.05 seconds just 90 minutes after taking the 200 in a wind-assisted 22.92.

World champion Jason Richardson showed his form for next week’s US Olympic trials by claiming the men’s 110m hurdles in 13.16 seconds.

Canadian Olympic bronze medalist Priscilla Lopes-Schliep defeated a strong field to win the women’s race in 12.76. Canadian record holder Perdita Felicien was a disappointing sixth in 12.94.

Canada’s top shot putter, world silver medalist Dylan Armstrong, had the day’s top three throws including a winning 21.02 meters as he defeated American world indoor champion Ryan Whiting, who threw 20.71.

German pole vaulter Ecker retires
German pole vaulter Danny Ecker has decided to retire at the age of 34 after withdrawing from the German championships in Bochum due to injury, it was announced Sunday.

Ecker will compete one last time in an event in his home town of Leverkusen on Aug. 25.

Ecker followed in the footsteps of his mother, Heide Rosendahl, who won Olympic gold in long jump and the 4x100m relay in Munich in 1972.

He was European indoor champion in 2007 and won bronze at the world indoor championship in 1999 and at the 2007 worlds.

He never won an Olympic medal, but will be remembered for a personal best of 6m at an indoor event in Dortmund in 2001.

Lemaitre fastest in 100m
Christophe Lemaitre retained his French national 100m title with a wind-assisted 9.94sec victory Saturday to rediscover his form in perfect time for the European Championships and Olympic Games.

With the wind recorded at +2.6 m/s, the 22-year-old Lemaitre, seen as Europe’s biggest hope to break Jamaican and US sprinting hegemony, beat home Jimmy Vicaut, who clocked 10.05sec, with Emmanuel Biron taking third (10.10).

“I’m happy,” Lemaitre said. “I came in well under 10 seconds. But the wind was too strong, it’s a shame. But 9.94sec is a good time, even if I felt a little heavy over the first part of the race.”

Lemaitre, who set a French national record of 9.92sec last year, will defend his two golds (100m, 4x100m) in the June 27-July 1 European champs at Helsinki, before going on to the July 27-Aug. 12 London Games aiming for the podium.

The Frenchman finished fourth in the 100m final at the World Championships in Daegu last summer, but came home with a bronze from the 200m. “I wasn’t at 100 percent in the first part of the race. Afterwards, once I’d got going, it was good,” he said.

But Lemaitre added that his run-out was better than his most recent Diamond League outing last month when he finished third (10.04) behind Jamaican duo Usain Bolt and Asafa Powell. — Agencies