Brooks Beasts' Josh Kerr finishes seventh over two days of racing in Grand Slam Track debut...
KINGSTON, Jamaica--Josh Kerr's (center/photo courtesy Grand Slam Track) weekend in Kingston at the inaugural meet of the four-meet Grand Slam Track series did not go as well as he expected.
Kerr finished eighth in the 800 meter run against the same seven runners he faced in Friday's 1500 meter run at the National Stadium Sunday afternoon.
In this race, it was expected that the 800 meter specialists, which included Saturday's winner and reigning Olympic champ Emmanuel Wanyonyi from Kenya, 2023 world outdoor champion Marco Arop from Edmonton, and Kansas alum and last year's world indoor champ Bryce Hoppel.
Despite having to fight the windy conditions, Arop was in command throughout the entire race, winning in a time of 1:45.13 to take the 12 points for the victory.
Wanyonyi, who had 12 points for winning the 1500 on Friday, finished second in 1:46.44 to add eight points. More importantly, he was the two-day winner of the short distance category with 20 points, along with the $100,000 prize money for two days of racing.
Kerr, who earned 4 points for his fifth place finish in Friday's 1500, only got one point for his eighth place finish in a time of 1:50.68.
His two day total of five points earned him a seventh place finish worth $12,500.
After the race, Kerr told Jonathan Gault of LetsRun.com that he'd been dealing with a hip injury that severely impacted his training for three months. Kerr said the hip issue is now behind him, but he has only had one month of real workouts leading into this race.
Courtesy of Grand Slam Track, here's the men's 800 featuring the short distance racers:
In the long hurdles category, Washington State alum CJ Allen, who finished fifth in Friday's 400 hurdles, finished seventh in the flat 400.
Allen ran 46.95 to get two points for the race, in addition to the four points from Friday's race.
Alison dos Santos, the Olympic bronze medalist, and winner of Friday's 400 hurdles, won in a time of 45.52 to take home twelve points, and sweep both events in the weekend's category and the $100,000 prize with 24 points.
Allen's two day total of six points gave him a sixth place finish and a payday of $15,000.
As Allen is classified by Grand Slam Track as a Challenger, he is not necessarily assured a spot in any of the next three meets in the series in Miami on May 2-4, Philadelphia on May 30-June 1st or Los Angeles on June 27-29th.
dos Santos was one of five competitors over the weekend picking up a perfect 24 points.
The group included Kenny Bednarek (men's short sprints), Ejgayehu Taye (women's long distance), Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone (women's long hurdles), and Melissa Jefferson-Wooden (women's short sprints).
NOTE: Grand Slam Track contributed to this report.
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