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Perhaps Christopher Morales Williams will look back on Tuesday as a day of learned lessons.
The Canadian sprinter went out hard off the line in the men’s 400 metres at the 68th Ostrava Golden Spike and led the field of eight by about five metres through the first half.
Fourth at the top of the straightaway, Morales Williams began to rock side-to-side while fading over the final 100 metres to place third in 45.10 seconds at the World Athletics Continental Tour Gold meet in the Czech Republic.
The 20-year-old ran a season-best 45.02 to victory on June 2 in Rovereto, Italy, after opening his outdoor season in the distance in 45.16 at the Doha Diamond League meet in Qatar.
Morales Williams, from Maple, Ont., boasts a 44.05 personal best from last May 11 at the Southeastern Conference Outdoor Track & Field Championships in Gainesville, Fla.
WATCH | Morales Williams earns 3rd-place finish in men’s 400m in the Czech Republic:
Christopher Morales Williams of Maple, Ont., finished in third place in the World Athletics Continental Tour’s Golden Spike meet 400-metre race in Ostrava, Czech Republic, with a time of 45.10 seconds.
Last season, the five-foot-10 athlete competed in two Diamond League competitions after winning an NCAA title during his sophomore season at the University of Georgia.
He placed sixth at both meets, in Monaco on July 12 and eight days later in London.
On Aug. 6, Morales Williams clocked 45.25 in the third and final semifinal heat of his Olympic debut in Paris.
Belgium’s Daniel Segers, 24, took Tuesday’s race in a 44.63 PB, 36-100ths of a second faster than two-time Olympic bronze medallist Samuel Reardon of Great Britain, who was second in a 44.99 SB after battling hamstring injuries in recent months.
The meet record of 44.16 by now-retired American sprinter LaShawn Merritt has stood since 2014.
Lumb gains valuable ranking points in 1,500m
Kieran Lumb, the other Canadian competing in Ostrava, placed fifth in the men’s 1,500 metres.
His time of three minutes 36.14 seconds is 21-100ths faster than his June 15 effort at the Portland Track Festival in Oregon, where the middle-distance runner was 10th. Lumb opened his outdoor campaign in the distance clocking 3:34.25 in Renton, Wash.
The 26-year-old Vancouver native has yet to automatically qualify for a spot at the Sept. 13-21 World Athletics Championships in Tokyo by running the 3:33.00 entry standard. Lumb entered Tuesday’s race 49th in the world rankings quota among the 56 athletes to be selected for the 1,500.
In the men’s 200, 17-year-old Gout Gout set an Australian record in his first senior race abroad, stopping the clock in a personal-best 20.02 seconds to beat Cuba’s Reynier Mena by about one metre.
Gout, who entered the race ranked 21st in the world, gained ground on Mena downt the straightaway and overtook him in the final metres.
WATCH | Late-charging Gout prevails over Mena in men’s 200m:
Making his international debut at the Golden Spike meet in Ostrava, Czech Republic, Australian teenager Gout Gout set a new area record, winning the 200-metre race with a time of 20.02 seconds.
Gout, who won the 200 in a non-legal 19.84 at the Australian championships in April, topped his previous PB of 20.04 from last December when he broke Peter Norman’s 20.06 national mark that had stood for 56 years.
In April, Gout was confirmed for Australia’s world championship team.
He is scheduled to race the 200 in Diamond League action at the Herculis EBS Meeting competition on July 11 in Monaco.
WATCH | Full replay coverage of the 68th Ostrava Golden Spike meet:
Watch the Ostrava Golden Spike, from the Czech Republic, part of the 2025 World Athletics Continental Tour Gold meetings.
Fraser-Pryce set for her final Jamaican championships
Jamaican track icon Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce will compete in her final national championships when they begin this week, the three-time Olympic gold medallist said, winding down one of athletics’ most decorated careers.
The 10-time world champion previously announced her comeback to the track for 2025, in what was widely expected to be her final year of competition, saying she had “unfinished business.”
The 38-year-old told reporters at a Nike event on Monday the Jamaican national championships that start Thursday would be her last.
“It’s one of those moments that I am looking forward to. You know why? Because I have absolutely nothing to lose and all to gain,” said Fraser-Pryce, who won back-to-back 100m Olympic titles in 2008 and 2012.
The qualifying event for this year’s worlds comes after a disappointing final Games in Paris, when she missed her 100 semifinal after sustaining an injury in the warmup.
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