After getting the baton some five meters behind American Hazel Clark in The USA vs. The World Women’s Sprint Medley relay at the 2009 Penn Relays, Jamaica’s Kenia Sinclair settled into her strides and bided her time before making her familiar crucial move. On the second lap of her 800 meters leg, she kicked at the right time and sprinted away from Clark, widening the gap as she streaked to victory in a new Penn Relays record and world best time of 3.34.56 secs.
“It is very exciting to win in front of our Jamaican fans and I just went out and gave it all I had,” Sinclair said with a big smile. “We had three Olympians on the team, Sheri-Ann Brooks, Rosemarie Whyte and me, and we just wanted to have a good race. Overall the race was great.” Moya Thompson was the non-Olympian on the team.
Kenia who now has a coach pointed out that her part of the race was her first 800m of the season and that she was happy with the split time of 1.57.43 secs. “I have been running a lot of 400m in practice and my training is going good, so my time today will definitely boost
my confidence.
“I am learning to take it out faster as I am working my way to top form,” she added. “I am surprise by the record since none of our best 200m runners was on the team “Honestly I was expecting us to run maybe 3.37, but to run 3.34 seconds is very exciting.”
One week later at the May 2 Jamaica Invitational meet in Kingston, Kenia ran 2:01.02 secs. to win ahead of Clark again and Cuba’s 800m ace Zulia Calatayud. She now looks forward to running at the May 30 Reebok Grand Prix in New York and then getting ready for the Jamaica National Trials June 26 through 28.
Asked about the exploits of Bolt at the 2008 Beijing Olympics, Kenia said that the whole experience brought the Jamaican team closer. “We were all inspired by Usain’s performance.”
Looking ahead, Kenia noted that “the Olympics is a four-year deal so you have four years to prepare. The World Championship is every two years so the focus and preparation is different. I am trying to get ready for the Jamaica Trials and then the World Championship in Berlin in August,” she said.