KINGSTON – Ja­maican sprint­ers Tia Clay­ton and Ro­han Wat­son each pro­duced im­pres­sive per­for­mances on their way to win­ning the 60-me­tre events at the World In­door Qual­i­fi­er meet at GC Fos­ter Col­lege in Ja­maica on Sat­ur­day.

The ea­ger­ly-an­tic­i­pat­ed clash be­tween Clay­ton and pre-race favourite Jodean Williams of SprinT­ec nev­er ma­te­ri­alised, with the lat­ter pulling out of the fi­nal af­ter pro­duc­ing a per­son­al best 7.07 sec­onds in the pre­lim­i­nary round.

Clay­ton took full ad­van­tage of her ab­sence to win in a per­son­al best of 7.08 sec­onds, with MVP team­mate Natasha Mor­ri­son sec­ond in 7.09, Bar­ba­dos’ Kishaw­na Niles of UTech third in 7.12 and Sh­er­ic­ka Jack­son fourth in 7.14 sec­onds.

The 20-year-old Clay­ton, who was in­jured for most of last sea­son, was elat­ed with her vic­to­ry.

“This win is a con­fi­dence boost­er for me, and it feels re­al­ly good be­cause I just ex­e­cut­ed as my coach told me to.

“For me, it’s all about stay­ing healthy and in­jury-free for the rest of the sea­son,” said Clay­ton.

Mean­while, Wat­son, the for­mer na­tion­al se­nior men’s 100-me­tre cham­pi­on, con­tin­ued his strong form this sea­son by cap­tur­ing the men’s race in a sea­son’s best 6.50 sec­onds.

MVP claimed the top three places in the race with Nish­ion Ebanks sec­ond in 6.57, while Michael Camp­bell claimed third place in 6.60 sec­onds.

In oth­er re­sults, Bar­ba­dos’ Sa­da Williams, rep­re­sent­ing MVP, was an easy win­ner in the women’s 200 me­tres, clock­ing a sea­son’s best 23.44 sec­onds, with Al­li­ah Bak­er of Elite Per­for­mance sec­ond in 23.61, with Roneisha Mc­Gre­gor of UWI Mona tak­ing third in 23.64.

Adri­an Kerr won the men’s 200 me­tres in a per­son­al best of 20.47 sec­onds.

Ac­k­eem Blake of Dy­nam­ic Speed was sec­ond in 20.49, while his team­mate San­drey Davi­son se­cured third in 20.75 sec­onds.

CMC