Former Lancer Adjetey-Nelson strikes gold in India at Commonwealth Games

Photo credit Windsor Athletics

Former Lancer star Jamie Adjetey-Nelson made history on Friday by winning the men's decathlon title at the Commonwealth Games in New Delhi, India.

His finished the competition with an impressive score of 8,070 points, beating silver medalist Brent Newdick of New Zealand and England's Martin Brockman. It is the second time in his career that he has broken the 8,000 point plateau.

The 26 year-old who was Canada's representative at the Commonwealth Games, held a commanding lead after day one of competition.

He scored 4,238 points in five events on opening day to build a 124-point lead over England's Brockman, and a 163-point lead over New Zealand's Newdick.

He opened the competition by winning the 100 metres in a time of 10.87. He was the only runner to break 11 seconds in the field. He then went on to finish second in the long jump with a leap of 7.37 metres, which came on his first attempt.

Jamie then won the shot put competition with a throw of 15.00 metres and before finishing fifth in the high jump with a jump of 2.02 metres. He would close out the first day with a third-place finish in the 400 metres in a time of 49.61.

On day two, Adjetey-Nelson would add to his impressive point total with solid performances in the 110-metre hurdles, discus throw, pole vault, javelin throw and the closing 1,500.

Adjetey-Nelson began the second day by placing second in the hurdles with a time of 14.76, followed by a third place finish in the discus with a toss of 45.21m.

The former University of Windsor Athlete of the Year all but secured his gold medal in the pole vault with a personal best height of 4.70m. He bettered his previous personal best in the event by 0.20 metres to finish third.

Heading into the final two events, Adjetey-Nelson held a 172 point lead over New Zealand's Brent Newdick.

After a 61.32 metre throw in the javelin, Jamie closed out his magical two days by running the 1,500 metres in a time of 4:52.23.

Moving forward, Adjetey-Nelson will next be in action at the unofficial World Decathlon Championship in Gotzis, Austria next May. That event will feature all the top decathletes from around the world in one competition.

Later next summer, Jamie will also be pursuing a coveted berth into the 2011 World Track and Field Championships set for next August in Daegu, Korea.

Source:

Windsor Sports Info