Hession on form in 200m

Atheletics:Ireland's Paul Hession enjoyed one of the best victories of his career today, when winning the 200 metres at the IAAF Golden Spike meeting in Ostrava, in the Czech Republic.

In doing so he took the scalp of Brian Dzingai of Zimbabwe, who finished fourth in the Olympic final in Beijing.

Hession timed his run to perfection with his all out finish getting him up on the line to defeat the 29-year-old Dzingai by just one hundredth of a second in a time of 20.44 seconds.

The time was fractionally wind aided but easily surpassed the 20.73 he ran in Bydgoszcz last week.

With Nickel Asmeada of Jamaica in third and the big local hope, Jifi Vojtik, in fourth in 20.80, it suggests Hession can soon close in on the national record of 20.30 he set two years ago.

An hour later Hession ran the 100 metres B-race and confirmed his good form, finishing third in 10.34 seconds and surpassing the seasonal best of 10.52 he ran in Italy.

This time Dzingal got his revenge by winning in 10.24 with Jamaica’s Xavier Brown fourth in 10.35 as both of Britain’s sprinters, Christian Malcolm and Mark Lewis Francis trailed behind.

There was also a confidence booster for Derval O’Rourke when she showed some of her best form for two years when finishing fourth in a high class 100m hurdles in 12.95 seconds, easily her best time of the season and readily surpassing the 13.21 she ran in Berlin last Sunday.

Victory went to Delloreen Ennis-London, the 34 year old Jamaican in 12.79 from Michelle Perry (USA).

Usain Bolt electrified the meeting by winning the main 100 metres in 9.77 seconds, although it too was fractionally wind assisted.