Keshorn Walcott earned bronze at the Golden Spike World Athletics Continental Tour Gold meet in Ostrava, Czech Republic, yesterday. The Trinidad and Tobago athlete landed the spear a season’s best 82.75 metres.

Walcott finished behind Germany’s Johannes Vetter, the winner with a world-leading 94.20m effort , and Grenada’s reigning world champion Anderson Peters (83.39m). Fourth spot went to Czech thrower Jakub Vadlejch (82.31m).

Walcott threw 81.49m in round one, the effort putting him in third spot behind Vetter and Vadlejch. The 2012 Olympic champion only managed 76.09m in the second round, but improved to 82.67 in round three to leapfrog his Czech rival.

Walcott remained in second spot up until the sixth and final round. Silver seemed on the cards, but Peters dug deep, producing his 83.39m effort to jump from fourth to second, nudging Walcott into bronze position. Walcott’s 82.75m throw also came in round six.

The Ostrava outing was Walcott’s first on foreign soil since the World Championship finals in Doha, Qatar on October 6, 2019. Covid-19 forced the 2016 Olympic bronze medallist to go through the entire 2021 season without competing. Walcott returned to competition at the Dwight Yorke Stadium in Bacolet, Tobago, last month, throwing 81.87m to claim victory ahead of Shakeil Waithe (79.74m).

With yesterday’s 82.75m throw, Walcott jumped from 15th to 10th on the 2021 world performance list.

At the United States Track & Field (USATF) Open in Texas, USA, on Tuesday, Ruebin Walters seized silver in the men’s 110 metres hurdles. Running into a 1.9 metres per second headwind, the T&T sprint hurdler got to the line in 13.73 seconds. American Aaron Mallett grabbed gold in 13.64.

Sparkle McKnight finished sixth in the women’s 400m hurdles. The T&T athlete clocked 57.73 seconds. Top spot went to Panama’s Gianna Woodruff (55.37).

Competing against older rivals, 17-year-old Taejha Badal finished second in her section and eighth overall in the women’s 200m. Badal got home in 24.21 seconds. The T&T sprinter also faced the starter in the 100m preliminaries, finishing 19th overall in 12.05. The top nine sprinters progressed to the championship race.

American Mikiah Brisco won the 100m final in 11.42 seconds, while the 200m title went to Bahamian Tynia Gaither (23.11).

T&T quartermiler Asa Guevara was 10th fastest in the men’s 400m in 47.07 seconds. American Michael Cherry was the class of the field, completing his lap of the track in a personal best 44.37.