VIDEO: Murielle Ahoure demolishes top-class field to win indoor 60 meters at Birmingham GP

Olympic sprint champion Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce was upstaged in her first appearance at an indoor meeting, finishing second behind Murielle Ahoure in the 60 meters at the Birmingham Grand Prix on Saturday.

The race was hyped as the resumption of the rivalry between Fraser-Pryce and world 100 champion Carmelita Jeter, but Ahoure powered clear to win in a personal-best time of 6.99 seconds.

"My goal is obviously the world championship outdoors, so we've just been training for the 100 meters," said Ahoure of the Ivory Coast, who finished seventh in the Olympic final last year. "It's so cool to come out here in the middle of training and drop a time like this, it's crazy. It tells me it's going to be a really, really good year."

Fraser-Pryce ran 7.09, with Jeter coming fourth in 7.18 behind her compatriot from the United States, Barbara Pierre.



U.S. sprinter Michael Rodgers ran a season-best time of 6.53 seconds to win the men's 60, holding off Nesta Carter of Jamaica. Antoine Adams of St. Kitts and Nevis was third.

Mo Farah, the Olympic champion at 5,000 and 10,000, gave the home fans something to cheer by pulling clear in the final lap to win the 3,000 in 7 minutes, 42 seconds.

Farah, one of the stars of the track at the London Games, will not compete at the European indoor championships in Goteborg, Sweden, from March 1-3, instead focusing on running in the New Orleans half-marathon on Feb. 24. He said on Saturday he would be stepping up in distance and aiming to run his first full marathon in London next year.

"I think practice will make perfect," Farah said. "The more practice you can do you can get it right."

Genzebe Dibaba of Ethiopia attempted to light up one of the biggest indoor meets of the year by breaking the world record in the women's 1,500 but came up short by 2.5 seconds after a solo run from halfway.


(foxnews.com)