Debbie runs her best time in Belem!
Debbie is seen here in the 200m as she comes off the turn behind the 2006 Commonwealth Games 100m Champion, Sherri Ann Brooks and Laverne Jones. She was able to keep her composure and turn on the jets to finsh 2nd in a personal best time of 22.76 secs. All systems are a go for Debbie to continue at this level and for her to make the US Olympic team to Beijing.
Great results from Sao Paulo for Linnie and Debbie
After a few days of great training and some rest from all the traveling that was done, Linnie Yarbrough and Debbie Dunn were able to compete very well in Sao Paulo, with Linnie producing a 2nd place in his event while Debbie finished 3rd in the 200m race. Both ran very consistent times with Linnie running 13.57 in the 110m hurdles and Debbie running 22.90 again in the 200m.
Debbie Dunn and Linnie Yarbrough prepare for the last 2 meets in Brazil
Debbie Dunn and Linnie Yarbrough have been training both the morning and evening sessions in Sao Paulo as they prepare to compete on Thursday and then on May 25th in Belem at the big Grand Prix meet there. Linnie’s focus is now on lowering his time as he was affected by the lost of his luggage when he reached Rio de Janiero. All his competition clothes and even his contact lenses were lost when he arrived so that he ran in his reading glasses and borrowed warm-up sweats to run, His luggage has not arrived and he is ready to go. Competition is getting more intense as some of the world’s best come in for the last 2 competitions and Debbie wants to be fully prepared for them.
Hot competition in the Caribbean and Brazil
CE athletes have been able to blend the excellent weather, wonderful scenes and great competition into a successful series of meets. Adam Shunk was the high jump winner in Fortaleza and Debbie was the 400m winner as well as being victorious in Rio de Janiero over the 200m distance. Come back to this site for more photos as we continue competitions in Sao Paulo and Belem. Here is a sample of some of the action and scenes from Guadeloupe to Brazil.
Debbie Dunn sets p/r in Brazil and other CE athletes perform well
After winning the 400m race in Martinique on May 8th, Debbie Dunn and 3 other CE athletes jetted off to Brazil for the competitions there. Once again, Debbie was the champion in the 400m race and not only set a new stadium record but a persona lone as well as she ran a time of 51.11 secs, bettering her old mark by one hundredth of a second.
Other CE athletes who performed well in the Martinique are Linnie Yarbrough, Philip Lagat, Henderson Dottin, Lela Nelson and Joel Williams.
Adam Shunk and Ashlee Williams both picked up 2nd places in their respective events at the first competition in Uberlandia, Brazil and Adam was the winner of the high jump today in Fortaleza with Ashlee pulling out another 2nd place finish.
Three more competitions are on tap for Brazil so stay tuned for further news.
Debbie Dunn does an excellent double in Baie Mahault, Guadeloupe
Not even the spectacular views of the French Caribbean landscape could distract Debbie Dunn from her goal of running a fast 400m race for the start of her Olympic quest
Debbie had discussed race strategy with her coach Malcolm Watts and told her agent that the goal was 50 point for her first race. She even revealed that she was so focused that she wrote her expected time on the back of her race bib/number before racing.
Debbie executed the stages of her race beautifully and finished strong for the win, but then the bad news came. Her time was hand timed and not the fully automatic time that was expected. An electrical malfunction affected the timing equipment and no automatic time was available. Results had to be gathered from the 10-12 finish line timers. While we waited for the results of the 400m, Debbie had 40 mins to rest before the 200m race.
Then we received the results of the 400m.
| 1 | 50”9 | DUNN Debbie (Usa) | Etats Unis | 000 | _HF | SEF/78 | IB | 1166 |
| 2 | 52”2 | ROBINSON Maoushaumi (Usa) | Etats Unis | 000 | _HF | SEM/81 | R1 | 754 |
| 3 | 52”3 | COUSINS Jessica (Usa) | Etats Unis | 000 | _HF | SEM/85 | R1 | 749 |
| 4 | 52”4 | ETIENNE Ginou (Hai) | Haiti | 000 | _HF | SEM/85 | R1 | 744 |
| 5 | 53”0 | GREGGS Charlette (Usa) | Etats Unis | 000 | _HF | SEF/83 | N1 | 1096 |
| 6 | 53”5 | DARDEN Dominique (Usa) | Etats Unis | 000 | _HF | SEF/83 | N2 | 1080 |
| 7 | 55”3 | WASHINGTON Demetria (Usa) | ETATS UNIS | 000 | _HF | SEF/79 | N2 | 1022 |
| 8 | 56”1 | O’KEILLY Ellakisha (Usa) | Etats Unis |
Debbie ran exactly what she had written at the back of her race number! The excitement did not last long as she had the second race to run. Again, Debbie had an excellent result, winning the race and running a personal best while doing it and defeating the 2003 World Champion and the 2006 Commonwealth Games 100m champion in the process.
| 1 | 22”88 | DUNN Debbie (Usa) | Etats Unis | 000 | _HF | SEF/78 | IB | 1150 |
| 2 | 23”00 | EDWARDS Tori (Usa) | ETATS UNIS | 000 | _HF | SEF/77 | IB | 1141 |
| 2 | 23”00 | JONES FERRETTE Laverne (Isv) | Iles Vierges Américaines | 000 | _HF | SEF/81 | IB | 1141 |
| 4 | 23”23 | BROOKS Sheri Ann (Jam) | Jamaique | 000 | _HF | SEF/83 | N1 | 1124 |
| 5 | 23”54 | MYRICKS Wyllesheia (Usa) | Etats Unis | 000 | _HF | SEF/79 | N1 | 1100 |
| - | AB | DURST Stephanie (Usa) | Etats Unis |
The “Road to Beijing” run is on! Thank you Jesus!
