BY VINODE MAMCHAN

T&T sprinter Richard Thompson had an off day yesterday, finishing seventh in the 100m event at the Athletissima Grand Prix meeting in Lausanne, Switzerland.

The race was won by Jamaican Asafa Powell who clocked the second fastest 100m ever on the same Lausanne track.

Powell’s time of 9.72 equaled Bolt’s run in setting a then-world record in New York City last May.

Bolt bettered that with his gold medal-winning sprint of 9.69 in Beijing. Thompson who won the Silver medal in the 100m behind Jamaican Usain Bolt at the Beijing Olympics, came in at a disappointing 10.21. Bettering his effort was fellow Trinidadian Marc Burns who finished the race in a time off 10.06 to claim the fifth spot. Burns had finished seventh in the 100m finals in Beijing.

Another T&T sprinter Ato Stephens was also in action and finished sixth in the 400m in a time off 45.74. The winner of that event was LaShawn Merritt of the USA.

YESTERDAY’S 100M RESULTS:

100m

1. POWELL, Asafa JAM MR 9.72

2 DIX, Walter USA 9.92

3 CARTER, Nesta JAM =PB 9.98

4 FRATER, Michael JAM 10.04

5 BURNS, Marc TRI 10.06

6 COLLINS, Kim SKN 10.19

7 THOMPSON, Richard TRI 10.21

8 PATTON, Darvis USA 10.23

400m

1 LaShawn Merritt (USA) 43.98

2 Angelo Taylor (USA) 44.38

3 Gary Kikaya (COD) 45.01

5th Sanjay Ayre (JAM) 45.65

6th Ato Stephens (T&T) 45.74