Marion Jones runs disappointing 100
metres
Michael Grabell (Reuters)
12 May 2001 – Princeton - Five-times Olympic medallist Marion Jones ran a disappointing time of 11.12 seconds on Saturday in her first 100-metre race of the season, notably slower than her marks during the last few years.
"Sure I'm disappointed with the time," she said in an interview after the race at the Golden Spike Tour Open. "I would have liked to run faster than that."
Jones holds a personal best time of 10.65, which she ran in 1998 -- still the fastest in nearly 13 years. The last time someone ran faster was in 1988 when Florence Griffith-Joyner set the world record at 10.49.
Despite the slow time, Jones won the race over a strong field and said she was happy overall. "I wanted to get the first 100 out of the way," she said. "I'm excited that the race went well, and now I can go home and iron out some of the kinks."
LaTasha Jenkins, who opened her season with an 11.02 last weekend, was second in a time of 11.36. Sevatheda Fynes of the Bahamas was third in 11.37.
Jones said her goal for the season was to run consistently at 10.6 and 10.7, adding that she was looking forward to competing at this year's world championships in Edmonton from
August 3-12. She said she and her coach had not yet decided which events she would run at the championships.
Also at the meeting, Leonard Mucheru of Kenya set a season best in the mile with a time of three minutes, 53.64 seconds.
Pole vaulter Lawrence Johnson, who bruised his hip during a warm-up earlier in the day, took his event in 5.85 metres and narrowly missed an American record attempt at 6.04 metres, knocking down the bar with his forearms on his final leap.
Olympic gold medallist hurdler Angelo Taylor won the men's 400 metres in 44.68 while Cheri Kenah won the women's mile in 4:31.10. Olympic bronze medallist Melissa Morrison, who was heavily favoured to win the women's 100-metre hurdles, false-started twice and was disqualified.
