Bershawn Jackson (centre) wins the 400-metre hurdles with a time of 48.32 seconds, as Jamaica's Adrian Finley (left) takes second and his countryman Ian Weakley finishes third during the Kansas Relays track and field meet on Saturday in Lawrence, Kansas. - AP

LAWRENCE, Kansas (AP):

Bershawn 'Batman' Jackson opened his quest for a 2008 Olympic medal with a world season-best in the 400-metre hurdles of 48.32 seconds at the Kansas Relays on Saturday.

The Jamaican pair of Adrian Finley (48.93) and Ian Weakley (49.48) finished second and third, respectively.

"That's where I belong - on top," Jackson said. "It feels great to be running fast again. Batman is back. Batman returns, once again. I am fit and back in shape. It's going to be amazing to see what I can do."

Well ahead

The 24-year-old hurdler, known as 'Batman' for his ability to seemingly fly over the hurdles, topped his own previous meet record time and won for the fifth time in six years at the Kansas Relays. He finished well ahead of the world-best mark of 48.8 seconds, running the fastest season-opening time of his career in the process.

"This is the meet right here that got my confidence back," Jackson said. "This is the turning point. I have my confidence back. I've never ran that fast of a time in my first race so it's going to be interesting to see what I can do."

Jackson, who finished fourth in the United States Olympic trials in 2004 and missed the Olympics by one spot, was injured for most of a disappointing 2007 season. He hopes to get under 47 seconds before the trials in late June.

Chris Cantwell, the indoor world champion in the shot put, faulted on four of his six throws but won the invitational shot put with a throw of 20.58 metres - well short of his meet-record toss of 21.43 set in 2006.

Something just got off

"Not good," Cantwell said of his day. "Not at all. Warming up I felt pretty good. I was ready, I don't know what happened, something just got off a little bit. In training on Thursday I threw two right around 21.75 and I warmed up today at 21.35. I thought I could have done 21.64 today, but no excuses."