Two commanding performances by top sprinter Xavier James highlighted the annual athletics National Championships held on the weekend.

The 27-year-old's recent emphasis on his start paid dividends as he shot out of the blocks first yesterday and cruised to victory in the men's 100-metres in 10.81 seconds.

This effort matched his success on Saturday when James had the 200-metre field whipped by about the 70 metre mark. He crossed the line in 22.6 seconds ahead of Tony Bean (23.2) and Byron Weller (25.6) respectively.

"I wanted to run well and I was glad to run in front of Bermudians and hopefully be an inspiration to younger runners.

"There were a few negatives. I had a serious headwind pushing me back and on Saturday my race was more than two hours late. So, I didn't run flat out because I didn't want to risk an injury," said James who is building up to a series of championships this summer.

He has qualified for the Central American and Caribbean (CAC) Games in Grenada, the Pan-American Games in the Dominican Republic and the World University Games in Korea. In the coming weeks, he will compete in Boston, New York and Halifax as his preparation heightens.

James, now rebounding from an injury to his left ankle, is aiming to post sub-21 seconds in the 200 and 10.3 or 10.2 seconds in the 100 this season.

A number of younger athletes also turned in creditable performances in the two-day event. Among them were Pacers Track Club athletes Dante Leverock and Deanne Lightbourn. The latter won the Girls' Under-14 400 and 800 metres before running the second leg on a winning 4x100-metre relay team.

"I feel good because I got PBs (personal bests) in both races," said 13-year-old Lightbourn.

Leverock was king of the Under-12 division, wresting the sprint double as well as ruling in the sandpit.

"I feel very good because I jumped my PB in the long jump but I wasn't happy with my times in the 100 and 200. They were just okay," said the West Pembroke pupil.

The 11-year-old, who is looking forward to representing the Island regionally and internationally in the future, picked up where he left off last year as he won the same three events in the Under-10 division at last year's national meet.

Another sparkling success was Akilah Martin of Sandys Middle School. The strongly-built 13-year-old took home three gold medals in the Girls Under-17 discus, shot putt and javelin. She was particularly pleased with the latter event as she had not competed in javelin in more than a year.

However, she lamented the lack of competition, saying she was not pushed to her full potential.

Full results will appear in The Royal Gazette later this week.