Carter happy with windy 9.92

BARRANQUILLA, Colombia

Nesta Carter is hoping for a more favourable wind reading in tonight's 100m final after his 9.92 seconds effort was helped by a just over the limit 2.1 metres per second wind in his semi-final of the men's 100 metres at the Central American and Caribbean Games last night.

Carter, who has endured a plethora of problems over the past three seasons, was running under 10 seconds (legal or illegal wind) for the first time in three years.

And though the wind reading was just over the allowable 2.0 metres per second, the former Manchester High School athlete was happy.

"I feel good about it. I have run a number of races leading up to this and I knew it would help, so I am really happy," Carter said after the race. "We got a long break so the recovery helped, so I am just looking for the finals tomorrow."

He continued: "The execution, I think I nailed it this time; drive phase was perfect and the transition was pretty good too."

Carter's training partner Javoy Tucker also had something to smile about as he sped to a personal best (PB) time of 10.08 seconds to squeeze into tonight's final.

TRAIN HARDER

Tucker, whose PB was at 10.35 seconds before the championships, credits his success to perseverance.

"I didn't get the chance to go to Europe so I said to myself that I am going to train harder," Tucker said. "I am feeling extremely great because in the heats I got an illegal wind of 2.7 mps when I ran 10.09, and now it just feels excellent."

Tucker finished fourth in his semi-final.

Jonielle Smith was also dominant on the night with a comfortable win in 11.22 seconds in her semi-final.

"My execution went pretty well in that one and I controlled the race," Smith said. "I am just going to work on some recovery stuff and then come back for tomorrow."

Jura levy also qualified for the final with her 11.47 effort after finishing third in her semi-final.

The men's and women's 100m races are scheduled for 8:20 and 8:35 p.m., respectively, tonight.