Age did not stop veterans Bernard Lagat, Chris Brown and Kim Collins from putting on sterling performances at the Sainsbury’s International in Glasgow, Scotland today. All three registered world-leading times and indicated that they will be forces to be reckoned with should they compete at the World Indoor Championships in Sopot, Poland from March 7 – 9.
The 39-year-old Lagat, who runs for the USA, is a three-time World Indoor champion intent on retaining his 3000m title in Poland. Today he showed he still has “it” by holding off a challenge from Britain’s Andy Vernon to finish in 7min, 49.83secs – the fastest time so far this year.
The Kenyan-born Legat indicated that he is motivated after proving he belongs among the elite. “That makes me think I can do this,” he said. “So now, what can I do at 39? It’s not getting any easier. I’m not getting faster. Time is getting shorter. But I still have to be motivated to do the best I can.”
Commonwealth Select team’s quarter-miler Chris (Fireman) Brown of the Bahamas is 35 but demonstrated that he could still be in the game when the season reaches full speed in the summer. He clocked a decent 45.93secs over 400m, the fastest indoor time ever done by a 35-year-old man. Brown also teamed up with compatriots Demetrius Pinder, Michael Mathieu and Ramon Miller (London Olympic mile relay gold medalists) in the 4x400m to take second place in 3:07.30 behind Great Britain (3:06.27).
Also running for Commonwealth Select, 2003 World championship Kim Collins of St. Kitts and Nevis set a personal record (PB) of 15.84secs in the 150m and later collected the team trophy.
The 37-year-old Collins recalled that the Commonwealth Select team experienced some drought after winning the first couple of times. However, “After taking the lead early [here], there’s no way we were not going to leave without the victory,” he said.
Overall, the Commonwealth Select topped the point standings with 62, ahead of Great Britain and Northern Ireland 59. The United States was third with 53 and Scotland fourth on 40.
Another world lead came from British sprinter James Dasaolu in the 60m dash. He covered the distance in 6.50 ahead of his 35-year-old countryman Dwain Chambers. However, the 26-year-old was not satisfied, noting that he didn’t think he got the first five meters right. “I don’t think I nailed it there,” said Dasaolu, whose PB is 6.48. “But it just shows that the consistent improvements I’m making in training is showing in competition. I opened up with 6.60 last year. I opened up with 6.50 today. Hopefully I’ll get a personal best.” Complete results