(Reuters) -Melissa Jefferson-Wooden won her second Grand Slam Track title on Saturday, clinching the women’s short sprints group in Miami, while Briton Josh Kerr took the men’s short distance group after a rocky start to the season.
The novel circuit continued its second of four meets in its inaugural season at the Ansin Sports Complex, as it bids to upend business-as-usual in track with super-sized purses and an enviable roster of decorated talent.
Athletes in 12 groups – men’s and women’s short sprints, long sprints, short hurdles, long hurdles, short distance and long distance – compete over two races per meet with the point totals from those runs determining the champion of each group.
The American Jefferson-Wooden won Friday’s 100 metres and took third in Saturday’s 200m in a personal best 22.15 seconds for 18 total points, edging out her Paris relay teammate Gabby Thomas (17), who finished second in the standings.
The 1500m world champion Kerr won his signature event on Friday and finished fifth in Saturday’s 800m in a personal best 1:45.01 for 16 points, two points clear of Canadian Marco Arop.
“These are going to be awesome shows that we’re doing,” said Kerr, who leaves Miami $100,000 richer after finishing a dismal seventh in Kingston last month.
“If I keep progressing the way I am, then I can come away with two more slams this year and be really proud.”
The Michael Johnson-fronted startup saw plenty of empty seats in its Kingston debut but an enthusiastic Miami crowd showed up on Saturday, as world record holder Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone breezed to a 52.07 win in the 400m hurdles.
Jamaican Ackera Nugent won the women’s short hurdles group with 18 points after she broke the tape in the 100m flat in 11.09, equaling her personal best.
Olympic gold medalist Masai Russell, who ran the second-fastest time ever in the 100m hurdles on Friday, an astonishing 12.17, finished second overall in the group standings after finishing fourth (11.40) in the flat event.
Jereem Richards from Trinidad and Tobago clinched the men’s long sprints group with 20 points as he followed up Friday’s speedy 19.86 win in the 200m with a second-place finish in the 400m in 44.32.
(Reporting by Amy Tennery in New York; Editing by Andrea Ricci)
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