By Iain MacIntyre, Vancouver Sun

Abdulai jumps for joy as Christopher struggles at track competition

METRO VANCOUVER — Ruky Abdulai had a spring in her step and a song in her heart. Tyler Christopher could use a little of either these days.

Coquitlam’s Abdulai leaped a meet-record 6.60 metres to win the Harry Jerome International Track Classic long jump at Swangard Stadium in Burnaby, where the women’s mark stood for 21 years until it was broken twice in 30 minutes on Sunday.

Abdulai, who became a Canadian citizen after moving here from Ghana in 2004, was so happy with her win she grabbed a microphone and sang O Canada to officially open the 26th annual Classic.

There was no joy for Christopher, however, as the 400-metres runner from Chilliwack finished a distant second to American Lionel Larry. The 25-year-old admitted he is struggling for motivation and speed after his 2008 Olympic disaster, when the indoor world champion failed to advance past the heats in Beijing due to the flu.

On the same track where Christopher, then just out of high school, first displayed immense promise in the quarter-mile by running a 45.7-second leg in a relay during the 2002 Jerome, he clocked 45.85 seconds on Sunday. Larry won in 45.29.

In his season debut on Thursday, Christopher ran fifth in 46.2 seconds at the Festival of Excellence in Toronto. His Canadian record is 44.44 seconds.

“Yeah, it’s extremely tough,” Christopher said, crashed on a physio table after a long, slow walk across the infield. “Every day I look for that motivation. I got faster this time. Hopefully, I’ll get faster and faster every race. If for some odd reason I don’t, well, I just finished an Olympic year and I’ve got a lot more years to the next one.”

“He’s starting to rethink whether or not he should keep going with what he’s doing,” Christopher’s mom, Elaine, said after greeting her son in the finish area. “Hopefully, he’ll take a bit of a break and keep his training up. I’m hoping he just doesn’t quit altogether. But he’s been going at it since he was 17 and it’s been a long haul. Maybe he’s just tired.”

With his 2008 indoor world championship and a bronze medal at the 2005 outdoor worlds, Christopher is one of the most accomplished 400 runners in Canadian history. He was regarded as Canada’s best hope for a track medal in Beijing, then barely got out of the starting blocks.

Victoria 800 runner Gary Reed and Kamloops shotputter Dylan Armstrong have been asked innumerable times how hard it was finishing fourth at the Olympics. But they were healthy and performed admirably under pressure. They left Beijing without regrets.

After waiting his life for the Olympics, Christopher had a sick day.

“I think the recovery has been hard,” Elaine Christopher said. “I think it really hit him hard mentally. You work.....