 | Sturrup (left) lost out to White (right) |
Chandra Sturrup saw her hopes of a share of the Golden League's $1m jackpot disappear on Sunday when she slipped to defeat in the 100m in Berlin. The Bahamian was beaten into third place by US champion Kelli White, who won in a wind-assisted 10.84secs, with fellow American Chryste Gaines second in 10.86.
Sturrup, who had won the 100m at the previous three Golden League meetings in Oslo, Paris and Rome, had to settle for third in 10.88.
It was White's second victory over a high-class field in three days after winning the London Grand Prix in Crystal Palace on Friday.
Sturrup's defeat left Mozambique's Maria Mutola as the sole contender for the jackpot with two meetings left in Zurich and Brussels.
 Denise Lewis competed in the long jump |
Mutola won the 800m in 1:59.01 ahead of Austria's Stephanie Graf, while Britain's Kelly Holmes continued her comeback from injury by taking fourth place in 1:59.68. Fellow Briton Jo Fenn finished ninth in a time of 2:01.51.
"I am really sad to have lost the chance of winning the jackpot and to have failed to give my country their first victory in the Golden League," Sturrup said.
"However the positive side is that this season the whole of my race has come on in leaps and bounds from the start to the finish."
Frankie Fredericks had to settle for joint first place with American John Capel in a hotly contested men's 100m, with Jon Drummond also clocking the same time of 10.23secs.
The 35-year-old four-time Olympic silver medallist over 100 and 200m is uncertain whether he will double up at the World Championships in Paris. "Well 10.23 seconds shouldn't be good enough to win a medal, so I don't think I will run it (the 100m) unless it is just to get me some speed practice," Fredericks said.
Britain's Jason Gardener finished seventh in 10.35secs, while Maurice Greene helped a United States team to victory in the 4x100m relay in his last outing before Paris.
Another veteran, Allen Johnson, suffered his first defeat of the season in the 110m hurdles as he finished third behind the man most likely to challenge him in Paris, Latvia's Stanislas Olijars.
But the three-time world champion said he was happy with his overall form, after running 12.97secs in Paris last month - his fastest time in three years.
"I'm right back where I want to be," Johnson said.
Turkish athlete Sureya Ayhan made a storming return to the Golden League meetings by posting the fastest time in the world this year in the women's 1500m.
The European champion finished 50 metres ahead of the rest in 3min 59.58secs. Olympic heptathlon champion Denise Lewis competed in the long jump in her bid to rediscover form and fitness ahead of Paris.
Lewis, who considers the event to be one of her strongest disciplines, managed a disappointing leap of 6.06m to finish 12th, while fellow Briton Jade Johnson was seventh with a best jump of 6.37m.
MMIX
E-mail this to a friend 
Printable version 
