By BRENT STUBBS

Chief Sports Editor

bstubbs@tribunemedia.net    

AS the 2024 Olympic Games fast approaches, Bahamian athletes are starting to fine tune for the competition in Paris, France, with two of them going head-to-head again in the women’s 100 metres hurdles.

The showdown for the duo took place at the 2024 Holloway Pro Classic on Friday in Gainesville, Florida.

In the marquee event of the day, Denisha Cartwright pulled off a fourth-place finish in 12.79 with Charisma Taylor coming through in eighth in 13.08.

American Grace Stark clinched the victory in 12.58 with world record holder Tobi Amusan coming in second in 12.60 and American Masai Russell getting third in 12.66.

While Stark also had the fastest qualifying time in the preliminaries of the event earlier in the day of 12.42, Taylor and Cartwright also advanced with times of 12.78 and 12.82 respectively.

Missing from the line-up was Bahamian world indoor record holder Devynne Charlton, who will lead a three-woman field with Cartwright and Taylor in the event in Paris.

Taylor also had double duties during the meet as she contested the women’s triple jump, finishing third with her best of 44-feet, 8 3/.4-inches or 13.63 metres on her sixth and final attempt. She also did marks of 44-5 1/4 (13.54m), 43-9 1/4 (13.34m) and 44-4 (13.51m) on her first three attempts before she scratched her fourth and fifth tries respectively. 

Winning the event with a leap of 46-2 1/2 (14.08m) on her third attempt was American Keturah Orji. She was followed closely by fellow American Jasmine Moore with 14-6 1/2 (14.06m) on her second try.

Also on the field, Kaiwan Culmer was sixth in the men’s triple jump with his best of 52-2 1/2 (15.91m) on his third. Culmer opened with 51-2 1/4 (15.60m), fouled his second, fourth and fifth before he closed out the competition with 51-10 (15.80m),

American Russ Robinson took the title with 55-5 3/4 (16.91m) on his first; Jamaican O’Brien Wasome got second with 54-2 (16.51m) on his fourth and American Sean Dixon-Bodie was third with 54-1 1/4 (16.49m) on his third. American Christian Taylor, who is on his farewell tour after he dominated the event as both the Olympic and world champion, was fifth with 52-11 1/2 (16.14m) on his sixth attempt. 

And Commonwealth Games champion LaQuan Nairn ended up seventh in the men’s long jump with his best mark of 23-8 (7.21m) on his third try. He scratched the first two and the fourth and finished off with 17-5 1/4 (5.31m) and 23-3 1/2 (7.10m) on his fifth and sixth.

Nairn competed against a field loaded with only Americans, led by Jeremiah Davis with the win with 26-3 3/4 (8.02m) on his second try. Will Williams was second with 22-1 1/2 (6.74m) on his fifth and Jalen Seals was third with 25-3 1/2 (7.71m) on his third as well.

Back on the track, Bahamian Camille Rutherford had to settle for seventh 1147 in the women’s 100m. Nigeria’s  Flavor Ofill won in a photo finish in 11.07 over American Candace Hill. Trinidad & Tobago’s Leah Bertrand was third in 11.18.