Hodge, the 17-year-old sprinting sensation from the British Virgin Islands (BVI) sped to a personal best 11.12 to win the 100m dash beating Germany’s Gina Luckenkemper, who finished second in 11.14. Celera Barnes was third in 11.16.
Hodge shaved 0.07 off her previous best of 11.18 that she ran at Florida State University on March 25 this year.
Clearly recovered from the rolled ankle that caused her to miss out on the 2023 Carifta Games in the Bahamas, Hodge would return later to win the 200m in a windy 22.76 (2.5m/s) ahead of Angie Annelus 23.20 and Rebekka Haase 23.24.
Richards, the Commonwealth Games 200m champion, in his first race in the event this season, won in an impressive opener of 20.40. Second overall in the race run in time-trial format was Jona Efoloko, who ran 20.56 while Hartmann Joshua was third overall in 20.62.
Hodge’s clubmate at Celerity Athletics 18-year-old Issamade Asinga raised eyebrows with a windy 10.83 (2.6m/s) to beat World 200m champion Noah Lyles (9.92) and Kendal Williams (9.98), who were second and third, respectively.
The time that was her fastest-ever wind-legal outdoor opener, eclipsed the previous best in the world this year of 22.17 set in Texas by Gabrielle Thomas on March 27 and would have sent shivers down the spines of potential 200m finalists at this summer’s Olympic Games in Tokyo.
The extraordinary Bahamian was also more than a half-second faster than second-placed Quanera Haynes, who clocked 22.68. Lynna Irby was third in 22.75.
The next fastest Caribbean athlete was Jamaica’s Natalliah Whyte who finished fourth in 23.28, a time slower than the 22.88 she ran in Miami on March 20.
In the men’s event, Trinidad and Tobago’s Jereem Richards, the 2019 Pan American Games silver medalist, lost out on a second-place finish by 0.001s to the USA’s Josephus Lyles. Both were given 20.37. However, Lyles was time given a time of 20.361 to Richards’ 20.362.
None of that mattered to Erriyon Knighton, who won the race in 20.31.
Trinidadian quarter-miler Machel Cedenio finished fifth in 20.84 while Antigua and Barbuda’s Cejhae Green was sixth in 20.86.
Meanwhile, Jamaica's Akeem Bloomfield, who opened with a 20.75s run in the 200m last month, ran 45.78 to finish second in the 400m won by Matthew Hudson-Smith in 45.51. Musa Isah was a distant third in 46.68.
In the 110-metre hurdles won by Nicholas Anderson in 13.49, Jamaica’s oft-injured Andrew Riley was second in 13.60 while Wellington ZaZa was third in 13.74.
The Bahamas' Devynne Charlton won the women's sprint hurdles in a wind-aided 13.08.
