Trinidad and Tobago track star Marc Burns sounded a stern Olympic warning yesterday, diving under ten seconds for the second time in his career to seize silver in the men’s 100 metres dash, at the Aviva London Grand Prix, in England.

In spite of a 0.5 metres per second headwind, Burns stopped the clock at 9.97 seconds, finishing strong to grab second spot, behind Jamaica’s Asafa Powell (9.94). Another Jamaican, Michael Frater (10.00), copped third spot.

The other T&T sprinter in yesterday’s century final, Richard Thompson, was impressive too, getting to the line in 10.01 seconds to finish fourth, ahead of Norway’s Jaysuma Saidy Ndure (10.02), Jamaica’s Nesta Carter (10.04), Kittitian Kim Collins (10.17) and Briton Craig Pickering (10.21).

In the semi-final round, Torpedo Thompson topped heat two in 10.11 seconds. Carter was second in 10.17, while Burns clocked 10.19 for third spot. Powell won heat one in 10.06, finishing well ahead of second-placed Frater (10.18).

Semoy Hackett, Ayanna Hutchinson, Monique Cabral and Kelly-Ann Baptiste combined for a 43.71 seconds clocking in the women’s 4x100m relay. The T&T quartet finished fifth. USA Red got home first in 42.61, beating a combined nationality quartet (42.65), Great Britain Blue (43.09) and Belgium (43.56) into second, third and fourth, respectively. Poland (43.95) and Great Britain Red (44.31) trailed T&T to the line.

Burns has been in fine form this season, and is rounding into his best form ahead of the August 8-24 Olympic Games in Beijing, China.

Last month, the 25-year-old sprinter produced a 10.01 seconds run to strike gold at the Sagicor National Open Track and Field Championships. And twice last week, he was victorious in Europe. At the Vardinoyiannia meet, in

Rethymno, Greece, Blazing Burns was the class of the ’A’ field, winning in 10.03 seconds. And then, at the Golden Gala Golden League meet in Rome, Italy, he won in 10.14.

But none of those performances could match yesterday’s impressive dash. Drawn way out in lane eight, fast-finishing Burns stormed to the line in a fast 9.97 seconds, just one-hundredth of a second outside his 9.96 personal best. If he can overcome the problems he has been having with his start, the two-time World Championship 100m finalist could be a serious contender for century honours at Beijing 2008. See Page 70