The Tribune

By BRENT STUBBS

Senior Sports Reporter

bstubbs@tribunemedia.net

WITH about two weeks to go before the focus of attention will be placed on the IAAF World Championships in Moscow, Russia, long jumper Bianca ‘BB’ Stuart and sprinter Anthonique Strachan went through a fine-tuning phrase of their training over the weekend.

The two returned to the site of the 2012 Olympic Games where they competed at the Sainsbury’s Anniversary Games in London, England, over the weekend, posting a second and third place finish respectively in their signature events in the women’s long jump and the 200 metres.

Stuart, the national long jump record holder, soared 6.46 metres or 21-feet, 21/2-inches for second place.The event was won by Bahamian descent Katrina Johnson-Thompson of Great Britain with the same distance as Stuart.

Strachan, on the other hand, got left behind coming off the curve, but she made up the difference on the straightaway to claim a third place finish in the half lap race in 22.63 seconds. American Allyson Felix ran away from the pack to take the tape in 22.41. Fellow American Shalonda Solomon was second in 22.50.

In what is a breakout season for the 19-year-old IAAF Female Rising Star winner for 2012, Strachan’s performance was shy of her season’s best of 22.32 on June 22, which is listed as the sixth best on the IAAF list that is headed by Jamaican Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce with 22.13. Strachan, who was on her way back to Auburn, was unavailable for comments.

When contacted, Stuart noted that she felt she could have done better, but she will take the second place.

“I just want to thank God for getting me through another competition healthy,” she said. “I was not very pleased with the overall result but my competitiveness allowed me to get within the top three.”

Stuart, the lone female competitor who will represent the Bahamas on the field at the World Championships August 10-18, said she just has to go back to her training in Auburn with Bahamian coach Henry Rolle and get ready to turn up the heat in Moscow.

“There isn’t much more room for adjustments at this point,” she said. “It is focusing more on the mental aspect now rather than the physical. I have been training hard for 10 long months so hopefully all of the hard work pays off in the end.”

The 25-year-old Bahamian national champion at 6.81m (22-4 1/4) produced a season’s best of 6.73m in a meet in Dakar on June 12. She’s hoping that everything will come together for another fantastic performance at the World Championships.

“I’ve been pretty consistent this entire season so hopefully I can keep the consistency going or better yet have a breakthrough. If I can do this, either way will put me in a great position to do well,” she said. “It is in my best interest to represent the Bahamas well and make all Bahamians proud.”

Both performances have left Bahamas Association of Athletic Associations president Mike Sands beaming with excitement heading into Russia.

“I have all the confidence in the coaches that they are working with and I’m sure that they are on schedule for the World Championships in the next couple weeks,” Sands said. “So I am encouraged by their performances because they are competing against people that they would expect to be competing with at the World Championships. So this gives them an opportunity to be in that comfort zone with those athletes.”

Not just those two latest performances, but on the whole, Sands said the Bahamian athletes are starting to come around.

“It’s not a matter of coaching the athletes to ensure that their workouts are geared towards fine tuning them for the championships,” he said. “It’s always a down size when you don’t have meets to compete in leading up the championships. So this is why it is so important with coaching.

“But the good thing is that any nagging injuries that the athletes may have had, they could use this opportunity to get them properly healed. So I’m comfortable that with the relationship that we have and are developing with the athletes, they will give us some fine performances in Moscow.”