Jamaica retained their dominance in the world of sprinting as Kemar Bailey-Cole emerged triumphant in the 100 metre race at the 2014 Commonwealth Games in Glasgow on Monday. Adam Gemili of England finished second while another Jamaican Nickel Ashmeade came third.
The 22-year old clocked 10 seconds as he put in an impressive display of running right at the closing stages of the race. This would've pleased fellow Jamaican and world record holder Usain Bolt .
Bailey-Cole was somewhat slow at the beginning but he came into his own as the race progressed and made best use of his long strides that he is known for.
The Jamaican, in the absence of superstars Bolt, Yohan Blake and Asafa Powell, was expected to come out victorious and in the end he did so in some style.
He reckoned his performance was OK and nothing extraordinary, with the Jamaican not too pleased with the somewhat slow beginning.
"The start, it wasn't good. The rest was OK," the Guardian quoted Bailey-Cole as saying.
For England's Gemili, the silver medal is his first on the international scene. Furthermore he is not ranked among the top ten. He clocked a more than impressive 10.10 seconds behind eventual winner Bailey-Cole.
The silver medallist though wasn't focusing on the number of seconds he completes a race in.
"It's not about times, it's about position. The times will eventually come," said Gemili
Furthermore, with the Olympics in Rio two years away, he has his mind set on competitions in the future and the rest of the season.
"This is just a stepping-stone for the European Championships and then the Olympics in Rio," the English runner pointed out.
Many of the 44,000 that came to Hampden Park were right behind Gemili. For the Dartford man, turning out for England was something that he'll cherish always.
"My first time representing England - I'm so happy. That's something I'm never going to forget in my life," Gemili said.
Interestingly, four years before in the 100 metres in the Commonwealth Games in Delhi another Jamaican Lerone Clarke took home the gold while Englishman Mark Lewis Francis won the silver.