Nugent scores upset win at Racers meet

Leah Nugent held her composure to upstage pre-race favourite Janieve Russell to win the 400m hurdles at the third staging of the JN/Racers Grand Prix last night at the National Stadium.

Nugent stopped the clock in a season's best 54.67 seconds. Russell, who has clocked 53.78 seconds this season, managed 54.69 on the night, while Rhonda Whyte was third in 55.23.

"I feel like sometimes when I get the outside lanes, I put so much pressure on myself, but today, I just say, that everybody is starting from scratch, so I can't count myself out," Nugent said after the race. "I am coming back at trials (National Senior Championship) to see if I can get the win to go to the Athletics World Cup."

Russell attributed a tweak in her race execution for her sub-par performance.

"I didn't really come out here aiming to win. My coach and I are working on a race plan so that is what I did tonight. I didn't get the race plan right tonight, but we just started a week ago, so we are going to work on it," she said.