By BRENT STUBBS

Senior Sports Reporter

bstubbs@tribunemedia.net

GLASGOW, Scotland — A “stomach virus” forced veteran Chris ‘The Fireman’ Brown to withdraw from the men’s 400 metre finals Wednesday night as LaToy Williams went on to post a fifth place finish at the 20th Commonwealth Games.

When the seven competitors came out of the tunnel in the Hampden Park National Stadium, conspicuously missing was Brown. Bahamas athletic team manager Ralf McKinney said he was “unfit to run” because of the vomiting for the past two days.

In his absence, Williams contested with the field, running in “no man’s land” in lane eight. He went out on the back stretch but, coming off the final turn, he was left behind.

Using his 6-foot, 3-inch frame, he was able to manoeuvre down the home stretch to surge into fifth place for a time of 45.63 seconds. The race was dominated from start to finish by 21-year-old Kirani James of Grenada, who added the Commonwealth title to his 2012 London and 2011 Daegu crowns by taking the gold in 44.24 for a new games record.

The 21-year-old Grenadian pulled Wayde Van Niekerk through in the fastest 400m held at the games in 44.68 for the silver, while Trinidad & Tobago’s Lalonde Gordon came through with the bronze in 44.78.

“I don’t know how they do their lane draws. I had the worst lane out there and I was one of the automatic qualifiers,” he said. “I still went out there and I gave it my best.”

For a point of reference, the winners in each heat automatically secure the lanes on the inside of the track. The remaining spots are selected based on a raffle drawn by the officials.

Despite not getting a chance to compete in the middle of the race, Williams said he was caught of guard, not knowing exactly when and where the field made their move.

“In lane eight, a lot of things catch you off guard, not being able to gauge anybody,” he said. “But I was still pleased. I came through as the fifth best quarter-miler in the Commonwealth this year. So I’m happy to finish healthy and now I can get ready for the relays.”

Williams, the Bahamas national champion, said before he left the Games Village, he got the news that Brown was not going to be able to run, so it wasn’t a surprise to him when everybody else found out.

“He’s a veteran who has won a medal in every international meet he competed in, so you have to respect him,” Williams said. “I wanted the two of us to go out there, but I had to try and take care of business in his absence.”

Brown, according to McKinney, has received constant treatment from Dr Ricky Davis in the Games Village.

He said Brown is now listed as day-to-day as they monitor his progress and the coaching staff make a decision on whether or not he will run in the 4 x 400m relay scheduled to start with the preliminaries on Friday with the final slated for Saturday.

“I spoke to him and he told me that with the medication that he got, he will see how he feels at the end of the night,” Williams said.

“Hopefully he will be okay because we would really like for him to run in the relay.”’