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Houston falls short of qualifying mark

Bermuda sprinter Tre Houston has missed out on competing at this month’s World Championships after failing to meet the 100 metres qualifying standard.In his final chance to qualify, Houston finished fourth in the Men’s Invitational 100m at the Segicor National Open Championships in Trinidad at the weekend.Although his time of 10.40 seconds would have been a personal best, had there not been an illegal tailwind, it still wouldn’t have been fast enough to meet the 10.25 qualifying mark.“My chances for the World Championships are done but I will be on that plane to London 2012,” said Houston, who represented Bermuda at the Commonwealth Games in Delhi, India, last year.“I’m very happy with my overall performance in the 100 metres. I was looking to come out here and run rounds to see what shape I’m in. If I’d had another round I believe I would have ran 10.28 at worst.“I had a bad start but started to come through from the 70 metre mark onwards, running 10.40 with an illegal wind of 2.2. The legal wind is 2.0, so I know I’m ready to run 10.2.”Despite feeling fatigued from his 100m race earlier in the day, Houston clocked his fastest 200m time of the season, 21.20 seconds, to win the Men’s Invitational race.The UK-based athlete has now set his sights on making his mark at the upcoming Pan-Am Games, in Mexico, having failed in his mission to qualify for the Championships in South Korea.“I wasn’t all that happy with my 200 metres time because I was very exhausted trying to get my legs back from the 100,” he said.“But I’m very confident I will qualify for the Olympics at the Pan-Am Games. I’ll also be aiming to look for medals at Pan-Am because I’m in shape to make finals.”Also competing at the National Open Championships in Trinidad at the weekend was Lamont Marshall, who beat two other competitors to win his 5,000 metres race in a time of 15:19.0.Despite failing to meet the Pan-Am Games standard of 14:20.0, Larry Marshall sr. described his son’s victory as another “feather in his cap”.“The conditions were very hot and Lamont felt a bit leggy as he’s had an unusually long season,” he said.“He usually shuts down after May 24 but he carried on because he wanted to compete at the CAC Seniors and try to qualify for the Pan-Ams. Still, 15.19 isn’t a bad time and first place is first place.”Last month saw Marshall represent Bermuda for the first time at the CAC Senior Championships in Puerto Rico. He placed sixth in the 5,000m in a time of 14:53.0, and came 11th in the 1,500m in 3:55.0.