Breen continues good form in Tokyo

Australian sprinter Melissa Breen has finished second in the 100m at the IAAF meet in Tokyo as she continues to push her case for further funding.

Australia's Melissa Breen has continued to push her case for major funding after finishing second at the International Association of Athletics Federations World Challenge meet in Tokyo on Sunday.

She clocked 11.45 seconds to finish behind American Tianna Bartoletta in the women's 100m at the Seiko Golden Grand Prix.

The 23-year-old broke Melinda Gainsford-Taylor's 20-year-old Australian record earlier in the year but was rewarded with just $4000 from Athletics Australia.

The funding was just a third of what she was expecting and officials said they wanted her to run close to her Australian record time more consistently before investing more money.

Bartoletta, an Olympic gold medallist from the 2012 Games, won the event in 11.18.

In the men's former Olympic champion Justin Gatlin overcame strong headwinds to sprint to his second 100m victory in as many weeks.

He broke away from the pack halfway through to clock 10.02 seconds with fellow American Mike Rodgers second at 10.11 and Christophe Lemaitre of France third at 10.31 at the third leg of the second-tier tour organised by the IAAF.

"It felt windy but after I got past the 50 mark, I just wanted to stay relaxed," said the 2004 Athens Olympic champion, who won his first 100m of the season in 10.11 seconds eight days ago at the Jamaican Invitational, another World Challenge event.

Gatlin, who grabbed the bronze at the 2012 London Olympics and finished second to Jamaica's world record holder Usain Bolt at last year's world championships, said he would just try to go faster and "put together a good race" this season.

He is aiming to "get the balance between having a good start like today and finishing hard like I did in Jamaica".

"I want to work on my start and get my feet under me more and build up momentum" like Bolt does, the 32-year-old said.

"I want to be able to go out there and do the same thing and I think I'll be an even more worthy opponent."


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Source: AAP


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