TRINIDAD AND Tobago sprinter Michelle-Lee Ahye placed seventh in a speed-filled women’s 60-metre final on day one of the World Athletics Indoor Championships on Friday in Belgrade, Serbia.

Ahye got to the line in a season’s best time of 7.11 seconds. However, the top six sprinters ran 7.04 seconds or faster, while champion Mujinga Kambundji of Switzerland clocked her first sub-seven-second 60m with a blistering 6.96 seconds display.

Her winning time is a new national record and puts her joint fourth on the world all-time list.

[caption id="attachment_945503" align="alignnone" width="1024"] Michelle-Lee Ahye, of Trinidad and Tobago, Briana Williams of Jamaica, and Vitoria Cristina Rosa of Brazil, from left to right, compete in a women’s 60-metres semifinal at the World Athletics Indoor Championships in Belgrade, Serbia, on Friday. AP PHOTO -[/caption]

Silver medallist Mikiah Brisco (6.99) also dipped below seven seconds while her compatriot Marybeth Sant-Price (7.04032s) sped to bronze; both clocking personal best times.

Rounding off the tightly-contested top-six were Poland’s Ewa Swoboda (7.04039s), and Jamaicans Briana Williams (7.04039s) and Shericka Jackson (7.04040s) respectively.

Additionally, TT quarter-miler Jereem Richards goes for gold in the men’s 400 metre final on Saturday. Richards will compete out of lane six against Marqueze Washington and Trevor Bassitt (USA), Patrik Sorm (Czech Republic), Benjamin Lobo Vedel (Denmark) and Carl Bengtstrom (Sweden).

In Friday’s opening qualifying round, Richards topped heat two in 46.69 and advanced to the semi-final. There, he again topped the field in an improved time of 46.15 and secured a place in Saturday’s final.

Meanwhile, TT’s Jerod Elcock begins his indoor campaign on Saturday in the men’s 60m while countryman Ruebin Walters will be the last TT athlete in action, on Sunday, in the men’s 60m hurdles.