Two days after registering her personal best time and setting a new national record, Guyana's Aliann Pompey kept the Golden Arrowhead soaring by winning the women's 400-metres at the Thessaloniki athletic meet in Greece yesterday.
Speaking to Stabroek Sport by telephone from Greece yesterday, shortly after the race, Pompey who returned 51.02 seconds for the distance said she was a bit tired from her trip from Spain to Greece and so could not have returned a better time. "I arrived in Greece after 9 pm [Sunday] and so I was really tired."
Pompey said prior to the race, she had a look at the times her rivals did for the distance in other meets and no one ran faster than 51 seconds.
"I had a look at their times and saw that no one did anything better than 51 (seconds), so I was fairly confident that I would have won. So what I did, I went out really fast and just paced myself after. I didn't really extend myself," Pompey said.
On Saturday the 2002 Commonwealth Games gold medallist clocked 50.93 seconds to set a new national record at the Meeting de Madrid in Spain, erasing the 51.09 seconds she had set last month.
Ireland's Karen Shinkins placed second yesterday in 52.17 seconds, while Dimitra Dova of Greece was third in 52.31 seconds.
Helen Karagounis of Great Britain finished fourth in 52.40 seconds, while Greece's Yeoryia Koumnaki (54.25) and Paraskevi Sirou (54.27) were fifth and sixth respectively.
Pompey said yesterday's race was probably her last before the Athens 2004 Olympics.
Last month Pompey had told Stabroek Sport that after her European sojourn, she would return to New York and do some specialised workouts that will focus on her speed and speed maintenance.