Derick St Jean eclipsed his personal best time of 48.11 seconds in the men’s 400 meters to run 47.27 secondsSunday, but he failed to make it to the semi final round of the competition.
St Jean running in lane 8 was quick out of the blocks and looked good for the first 300 meters, before falling behind in the final 100 meters.
St Jean placed 6th in his heat which was won by Australian Steve Solomon in 45.39 seconds.
St Jean Spoke with the Dominica Olympic Committee media team following the race.
“I’m kind of disapointed, you know, I didn’t go to the final round but you know I’m happy with the time…big jump for my personal best. I mean I went out there and did my best. That’s what I said I was gonna do,” he told Garvin Richards, Press Attache with the DOC media team.
St. Jean said he took his coach’s advice and ran his own race in his assigned lane 8 on what he says is a quick track.
“ From start, I believe my legs started were pushing hard enough. You know I actually ran the first 300 good enough,” the Kalinago runner recounted.
St. Jean said the experience of running in front of a large crowd at the Commonwelath Games which he compared to the Olympics will give a boost as he moves on to other local and regional events including a couple trips to Martinique.
Congrats on giving your best effort out there. keep practicing and you will get there.
Yes! You did very well. I hope you will do even better in the Olympic Games. Keep up the hard training. You can do it. Put Dominica on the world map.
When you say 6th place it sounds far but by his time, he was less than 2 seconds from the winner. This in my book is an excellent performance. You did great and you should be very proud being able to hold your own on the international stage. Keep your head up!