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Jamaicans score US Open sprint double

Jamaicans claimed the sprint double at the US Open athletics meet on Saturday, with Asafa Powell beating compatriot Nesta Carter in the men’s 50-meter dash and Veronica Campbell-Brown taking the women’s equivalent.

American Trell Kimmons was third in the men’s race, ahead of 2004 Olympic 100-meter champion Justin Gatlin.

This is the first time since 2004 that Powell has raced indoors, as he tries a different approach after years of disappointments at major championships. Always a fast starter, Powell was right at home at the especially short distance.

“As soon as I got out of the starting block, the race was over,” Powell said.

Campbell-Brown easily won the women’s 50 in 6.08 seconds. She is seeking to become the first woman to win three straight Olympic gold medals in the 200.

“It’s a step in the right direction,” Campbell-Brown said of Saturday’s victory. “Each race is preparation for what is to come this summer.”

Campbell-Brown finished ahead of American Jessica Young and Nigerian Gloria Asumnu.

Earlier, 22-year-old Silas Kiplagat showed he had learned well from 37-year-old Bernard Lagat. The Kenyan won the mile, beating the man who had dominated at that distance at Madison Square Garden.

Kiplagat, the silver medalist in the 1,500 in last year’s world championships, overtook the former Kenyan and now naturalized American Lagat with just under a lap to go and won in 4:00.65. Lagat was 0.27 seconds back.

Lagat won the Wanamaker Mile in the Millrose Games at the Garden a record eight times before finishing second last year. The 2007 world champion in the 1,500, Lagat now focuses on the 5,000.

“I feel like I was strong the entire way. The thing I take from this is I’m really ready now” to train to run a fast 5,000, Lagat said.

Kiplagat and other young Kenyan runners were in elementary school when Lagat won his first Olympic medal in 2000 and still look up to him. So Kiplagat was grateful for tactical advice Lagat gave him before the world meet in South Korea.

American Lolo Jones won her first race since spine surgery by taking out the 50-meter hurdle.

Jones beat a deep field, finishing in 6.78 seconds to hold off Britain’s Tiffany Porter.

“I was such a mental mess the night before,” Jones said. “Just thinking, ‘Am I healed from surgery? Am I fit? Am I in shape?’ Just to have this one under my belt and with such a tough field — it’s just a sigh of relief that all that hard work paid off.”

The heavy favorite in the 100 hurdles at the 2008 Olympics, Jones clipped the ninth hurdle, shattering her gold medal hopes in an instant. Before she could even dream about redemption at this summer’s London Games, she had to get back on the track. The 29-year-old Jones had surgery in August to fix a tethered spinal cord.

The Millrose Games are moving uptown to the Armory after nearly a century at the Garden, with the USA Track & Field-sponsored Open taking over the space.

Shigetomo wins Osaka women’s marathon

In Osaka, Japan’s Risa Shigetomo boosted her chances of going to the London Olympics by winning the Osaka International Women’s Marathon on Sunday.

Shigetomo pulled away at about the 16-mike mark and crossed the finish line in 2 hours, 23 minutes and 23 seconds for her first marathon victory.

Ukrainian Tetiana Gamera-Shmyrko was second, 1:23 behind, while Japan’s Azusa Nojiri was third in 2:24:57.

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