Machel Cedenio was on fire in the NGC NAAA Open Track and Field Championship men’s 400 metres final at the Hasely Crawford Stadium in Port of Spain, yesterday. With no one in the field to challenge him, the US-based quarter-miler took on the clock, and came away with a season’s best 44.52 seconds run. Cedenio’s golden effort was just seven-hundredths of a second slower than the Championship record he had established in 2016.

By the halfway mark, Cedenio had a huge lead. And when the 23-year-old came off the final turn, he had some 10 metres of daylight to spare on his closest challenger. Cedenio increased his lead on the home straight, the 44.52 run moving him into eighth spot on the 2019 world outdoor performance list.