ERIC Cray and Robyn Brown rekindled their Olympic aspirations over the weekend with runner-up finishes in the men’s and women’s 400-meter hurdles in the Johnny Loaring Classic meet at the University of Windsor Stadium in Windsor, Canada.
A six-time Southeast Asian Game 400-meter hurdles champ, Cray checked in with a time of 50.52 seconds behind Jamaican 2012 London Olympian Roxroy Cato, who bagged the gold medal in 48.8 seconds, and ahead of Canadian bronze medalist Justin Rose (51.16).
After competing in Europe last week, Brown, the reigning Asian women’s 400-meter hurdles queen, clocked 57.29 seconds behind American Deonca Bookman (55.38) while the bronze medal went to another American, Kaila Barber, (57.29).
Brown and Cray, who saw action for the country in the 2016 Rio Summer Games, are hoping the points they picked up with their strong performances will boost their spots in the World Athletics Olympic qualifying rankings after falling to Nos. 48 and 43, respectively, in the latest ratings.
A total of 40 spots are available for Paris with the cut-off date set on July 7.
Bagging bronze medals in the Taiwan Athletics Open also over the weekends is fellow Olympic hopeful Janry Ubas, who jumped 7.44 meters, and Sonny Wagdos, who settled for third with a time of 14:36.79 in the men’s 5,000-meter run.
