Athletics: Coleman puts on speed show at Boston GP

BOSTON: Christian Coleman, who won the 100 metres silver medal last year at the World Championships, cruised to victory in the men’s 60 metres on Saturday at the Boston Indoor Grand Prix.

The 21-year-old Coleman clocked 6.46 seconds as he easily beat Xie Zhenye of China, who finished in 6.54 at the Reggie Lewis Center.Last month, Coleman ran a 6.37 indoors in his season-opening race to record the fastest time in history over the distance.

“I am just trying to fine tune and stay on top of things,” Coleman said. “I have really been focusing on my start and it is paying off. “I don’t like to put a limit or specific time on how fast I can go. I just try to compete every race.”

Coleman, of the US, stumbled slightly out of the blocks but was still able to hold off a late charge from Xie, who was runner-up for the second straight year. American Noah Lyles placed third in 6.57.

Xie is rounding into form ahead of Indoor Worlds next month in Birmingham, England, as he also ran a 6.57 last week in New York.The Boston indoor meet is the fourth stop on the IAAF World Indoor Tour circuit and it comes just one week before the US indoor championships which start Friday in Albuquerque, New Mexico.

Coleman says he is looking forward to running the 60m in Albuquerque.“I wanted to come out today and execute. Make sure everything is a go for next week,” he said.Kenyan Olympic hero Edward Cheserek capped the day’s races with a solid victory in the men’s 3,000m.

Cheserek, the 2016 Olympic bronze medal winner in the 5,000m, outraced a pair of Ethiopians to win in a time of 7:38.74.Hagos Gebrhiwet finished more than three seconds behind in 7:41.79 while Dejen Gebremeskel was third in 7:42.78.

In the women’s 3,000m, American middle distance star Jenny Simpson breezed to victory in 8:40.31. The expected duel between Simpson and world steeplechase champion Emma Coburn never really materialized as Coburn finished well back in fourth at 8:43.57.