Win Is Child’s Play for Jones

Marion Jones’ comeback didn’t begin as quickly as she had hoped.

Never exceptionally fast out of the blocks, she seemed to linger longer than usual after the gun went off to start the women’s 60 meters Friday night in the Verizon Millrose Games at Madison Square Garden.

Perhaps she was caught up in the moment she had been eagerly anticipating after taking all of last year off for the birth of her son. Fortunately for her, she remembered how to finish a race, coming from third place at 30 meters to win in 7.21 seconds. It was the second-slowest winning time since the event was first run here in 1990, not that she was bothered by that.

“I’m not overly pleased with the time, but I’m going to sleep well,” she said. “As long as I get a win against that field, I’m pleased.”

Boding well for her upcoming outdoor season in which the sprints are longer, Jones separated herself at the end from Angela Daigle (7.24), Inger Miller (7.27), Torri Edwards (7.28) and Allyson Felix (7.36).

“After four steps, I looked like a woman who’s been on pregnancy leave,” Jones said. “Then I kind of switched gears and said, ‘I’m Olympic champion and I better be out here dominating this race.’ ”

It was also a comeback of sorts for the venerable Millrose Games, which might not have made it to their 97th year if Pro Sports & Entertainment Inc. of Los Angeles hadn’t bought the meet last September for $1 million.

Although standing-room-only crowds in an arena that seats 16,210 for track and field were common in the not-so-distant past, the Garden has been little more than half full for the Millrose Games in recent years. There was speculation that the previous caretakers might not have brought the meet back this winter if they hadn’t been able to sell.

The new owners marketed heavily to local high schools and by the middle of this week said they had sold 12,000 tickets. They feared they might not get that many people in the arena because of an unrelenting rain Friday, so were pleasantly surprised with a crowd of 14,154.

Fewer were there at the finish because the high school events had been concluded, but it’s a start. Now comes a more difficult challenge of restoring the meet’s tradition.

The indoor meet emerged as the most prestigious in the world eight decades ago when athletes such as Paavo Nurmi of Finland would cross the Atlantic Ocean by ship to compete in the Wanamaker 1 1/2 Mile, which later became the Wanamaker Mile. Among the milers who have won that race: Glenn Cunningham, Ron Delany, Marty Liquori, Eamonn Coghlan and Noureddine Morceli.

As Africans have become increasingly dominant in the mile and its metric equivalent, the 1,500 meters, it has been more difficult to attract an elite field to New York. Houston de Souza of Brazil, a Pan American Games champion but not to be found in the world rankings, won Friday night in 4:02.93, the slowest winning time here since 1973.

The only two outstanding times were in the men’s and women’s 60-meter hurdles. Allen Johnson and Gail Devers each set a meet record in winning, Johnson in 7.43 and Devers in 7.76.

Devers led from start to finish to beat a quality field that included Canada’s Perdita Felicien, the world champion in the 100-meter hurdles outdoors. But Devers wasn’t satisfied.

“It was a sloppy race,” she said. “When I see the film, I know I’m going to be upset. I felt wild. I hit a hurdle.”

Johnson, meanwhile, was pleased even though he hit all but one hurdle.

With the Wanamaker Mile waning, the event relinquished its usual place on the schedule as the grand finale. That distinction this year belonged to a race that you might have missed if you blinked, the women’s 60.

“At the start, I was nervous,” Jones said. “I would love to have been the first event on the program, but I don’t think the meet promoter would have been too pleased with that.”

Jones said she was happy to have “the hoopla” of her return behind her and now hoped to blend in with the other athletes. That isn’t likely unless the other athletes also are contemplating competing in five events at the Summer Olympics in August.

“I’m so far removed from Athens talk it’s not even funny,” Jones said.

At least that was the case on this night. This night was about one race.

“It was so good to walk into the arena tonight and feel that buzz like real track and field fans exhibit,” she said. “The feeling was overwhelming. I just soaked it in. It’s good to be back. This is where I belong.”