Jamaica Invitational

[LiamRiley]

The Jamaica Invitational will be held this evening (5th May - Kingston is 6 hours behind GMT) and there are plenty of high profile early season appearances.

The men's 100m is an obvious highlight: Usain Bolt takes on Caribbean rivals in the form of Nesta Carter, Daniel Bailey and Richard Thompson, among others. Will Yohan Blake's world-leading mark of 9.90sec be threatened? The women's side is similarly loaded, with Carmelita Jeter, Kerron Stewart and Kelly-Ann Baptiste the leading names. Yohan Blake and Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce will be competing in the 200m races.

British interest lies in the hurdles and jumps. Andy Turner and Tiffany Porter will come up against Antwon Hicks and Priscilla Lopes-Schliep, respectively. Shara Proctor appears in a competitive women's long jump alongside Brittney Reese and Janay DeLoach. Christine Ohuruogu and Larry Achike are other Brits to watch out for.

The US/JAM themed men's 400 hurdles should be worth watching, with Bershawn Jackson and Michael Tinsley going head to head with Leford Green and Danny McFarlane. Jermaine Gonzales has Renny Quow, Calvin Smith and a slew of Jamaicans to compete against in the men's 400 flat.

This meet is being broadcast on the internet, but I'm unsure if this is location-restricted for European viewers.
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Read the starting line-ups here

[Guto Nyth Bran]

[quote="LiamRiley"]
This meet is being broadcast on the internet, but I'm unsure if this is location-restricted for European viewers.
quote]
Sadly, http://www.livestream.com/tracksonsportsmax is limited to North America and the Caribbean outside Jamaica

[Kermit]

I've just signed up to the facebook page http://www.facebook.com/SportsMax it asked for my service providers so let's hope it works!

[Ecosse]

I've just signed up to the facebook page http://www.facebook.com/SportsMax it asked for my service providers so let's hope it works!

I just did the same. I've now got the error message the 'channel owner has prohibited viewing from this location' so its not looking promising! Can normally get these world challenge meetings on firstrowsports but it appears that the it's only showing the Kawasaki event.

Hoping there's somewhere else I can watch it!

[Ecosse]

http://jaaa.tv/ Costs $1.99 one off payment from here. Can't really begrudge that considering how much folk pay for boxing! Half decent stream too.

[Ecosse]

Christine came from way behind to take third, hopefully indicating that there's more to come.Here's the race:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XoqWOYdS2UQ

The same user has also uploaded the men's 100m and 200m and the women's 100m. Starting to think I shouldn't have paid that $1.99 and just watched them today!

[SteveK26]

Thanks for the link Ecosse.
I agree that Christine came from a long way behind to finish third. Considering the time of year I think the Olympic Champion will take great heart from that run. For the first time in years I now truely believe she can break 50 seconds again.

[jjimbojames]

Very promising by TBO. SRR must be slightly worried - her race plan looked good, she just got beaten - and had the best lane! There was no tying up for going out too strong, as we've often seen. If TBO had been a few metres closer with 100m to go, she would have been right in the mix

12.65 for Tiff Porter - to finish 3rd! Going to take at least a 12.5-low to be rostrum bound but she's capable

13.50 for 3rd for Andy Turner and 16.26m for Larry Achike for 2nd

[usedtoit33]

I'm really pleased by TBO's 50.93. Like someone said above, after the relay I was expecting a 51.5, so 50.9 is a really pleasant surprise! Good running from Tiff too, especially for this time of the season. Clearly Lopes-Schliep is back in very good form as well,

Still no results on the site from the wLJ, so no idea how Shara Proctor got on.

[jjimbojames]

used - scroll down - they are there!

Shara DNS. Comp won by Reese with 6.56m

[LiamRiley]

Bolt's run of 9.82 bodes well for his season. Last time he was in this kind of form in May was in 2008, when he posted 9.76 in Kingston then broke the world record in New York with 9.72.

Asafa Powell is notable by his absence, and Tyson Gay is an unknown factor coming off hip surgery last year. At this stage, Yohan Blake looks the most likely candidate to spoil the big man's Olympic defence.