Michelle Lee Ahye’s niggling injury shot back into the spotlight yesterday when she was forced to pull up halfway through the ISTAF Berlin — Internationales Stadionfest Berlin women’s 100m event in Germany.
Running out of lane four, Ahye produced an okay start among the eight other competing sprinters.
However, about 40m in, the 2014 Trinidad and Tobago sprint queen began to look in discomfort as she fell behind and was then forced to limp out the remaining distance to the finish line, placing ninth overall in a time of 17.81 seconds.
Winning gold was American Candyce McGrone in 11.11s while Ivorian sprinter, Marie-Josse Ta Lou (11.21s) grabbed silver and McGrone’s compatriot, Barbara Pierre (11.31s), settled for bronze.
Since July of last year, Ahye has been unable to maintain top form since sustaining a hamstring injury at a meet in Lucerne, Switzerland. The runner was forced to pull out of the 2014 Commonwealth Games in Glasgow, Scotland and was unable to successfully defend her National women’s sprint title in June this year due to a slight injury even though she still competed.
Ahye has still produced several commendable showings over the past 12 months, with her most recent achievement of women’s 4x100m relay bronze at the World Championships.
Up to press time yesterday, it was still unclear if Ahye was seriously injured or just had a minor problem during the race.
Additionally, the only other TT athlete in IST AF action yesterday was National men’s 110m hurdles record holder, Mikel Thomas, who placed fifth overall in 13.72s.
Vying for honours out of lane four, Thomas had a good start but never seemed to capitalise as he tumbled over all ten hurdles.
Jamaican Andrew Riley (13.40s) captured the gold, followed by Bajan Shane Brathwaite (13.42s), Hungarian Balazs Baji (13.55s) and German Aleander John (13.68s) to complete the top four.