Athletics: Hession plunders Czech gold
Thursday June 18 2009
Paul Hession's stock in world sprinting rose further when he came thundering through to win the 200 metres at the Golden Spike meeting in Ostrava in the Czech Republic, on a night when Usain Bolt electrified the meeting at the close by winning the 100m in 9.77 seconds, which was fractionally wind aided.
In claiming his victory, Hession took the scalp of highly world-ranked Brian Dzingai of Zimbabwe, who finished fourth in the Olympic final in Beijing.
Last night Hession timed his run to perfection with his all-out finish getting him up on the line to defeat the 29-year-old Dzingai by just one hundredth of a second in a time of 20.44 seconds.
An hour later, Hession was back out to run the 'B' 100 metres and here he confirmed his good form with a strong finishing third in a legal 10.34, surpassing the seasonal best of 10.52 he ran in Italy. This time Dzingai got his revenge by winning in 10.24.
Derval O'Rourke showed some of her best form for two years when finishing fourth in a high-class 100m hurdles in 12.95 seconds, easily her best time of the season, with victory going to Delloreen Ennis-London, the 34-year-old Jamaican in 12.79.
- Tom O'Riordan
