Makusha takes maiden pro win

Folksam Grand Prix meet in Karlstad, Sweden, on Tuesday night, when he swept to victory in the men’s 100-metre race.
Makusha, who turned professional last month after spending the last three years on an athletics scholarship at Florida State University in United States, won the men’s 100m “A” final at this meet in 10.11 seconds.
The Zimbabwean’s winning time was an Area Record in Karlstad.
According to reports from Karlstad, Makusha led home a quartet of Jamaicans – Jacques Harvey, Dexter Lee, Kenroy Anderson and Winson Barnes – as he recorded his first victory as a professional track and field athlete.
Makusha collected US$787 for winning the race.
Harvey was second in 10.30s, Lee took third in 10.36s, Anderson was fourth in 10.4s and Barnes, fifth in 10.48s.
Tuesday night saw Makusha making his second appearance on the international stage as a professional, a month after he announced his decision to forego his senior season at Florida State University and compete professionally.
The 24-year-old sprinter and long jumper, who was unearthed at Mandedza High School at Seke in Zimbabwe, made his professional debut at last Saturday’s Hungarian Grand Prix in Budapest where he competed in the 100m race.
And Makusha surprised all and sundry at this meet where he took a credible second place, coming home behind one of the world’s top sprinters Asafa Powell in a good time of 10,16 seconds.
Powell won the race in 9,86 seconds.
After running at the Hungarian Grand Prix, Makusha headed out to the Swedish city of Karlstad for Tuesday night’s Folksam Grand Prix where he came up against four other top Jamaican sprinters – Harvey, Lee, Anderson and Barnes – in the meet’s men’s 100m “A” race.
And the Makusha showed no ghost of inferiority complex against the seasoned Jamaican sprinters whom he showed a clean a pair of heels, winning the race in 10,11 seconds.
Makusha improved on the mark of 10,16 that he set at the Hungarian Grand Prix last Saturday and his performance on Tuesday night at Karlstad puts him in good stead ahead of this year’s World Championships which are set to run from August 27 to September 4 in Daegu, South Korea.
Meanwhile, Jamaicans Rasheed Dwyer and Carrie Russell scored wins in the men’s 200 metres and women’s 100 metres, respectively, at the Folksam Grand Prix in Karlstad on Tuesday night.
Dwyer won the 100m B final in 10,33 seconds before returning to win the 200m in a season-best 20,54 seconds ahead of compatriot Kenroy Anderson (20,59) with Zimbabwe’s Brian Dzingai third in 20,75 seconds, while Omar Brown finished sixth in 20,96 seconds.
Michael Mason was fifth in the men’s 200m “B” final in 21-86.
Russell powered to victory in 11.27 in the women’s 100m “A” final.
Her MVP Track Club teammate Anneisha McLaughlin was fifth in a season-best 11,54.
In the women’s 100 metres hurdles, there was bad luck for Natasha Ruddock.
The former St Jago High student fell in the event but got up to finish sixth in 16.50 seconds.
The event was won in 13,12s by American Nichole Denby.
In other results, American Joel Brown clocked 13.58 seconds to win the men’s 110-metre hurdles, Mukhtar Mohammed did 1.45.90 to top the 800m, Sweden’s Caroline Kluft, a former World and Olympic heptathlon champion, won the long jump with a best of 6,58m, while her countrywoman Emma Green cleared 1,92m to beat her rivals in the high jump.