Archibald, Abrams take 100m titles, but miss Olympic qualification
- Bright set new PB in Triple Jump
By Akeem Greene
Emanuel Archibald lived up to the expectations that he would win the Men’s 100m at the Athletics Association of Guyana (AAG) Senior Championships, which commenced Friday evening at the National Track and Field Facility, Leonora.
The Lindener clocked 10.18 seconds to easily win the marque race ahead of Akeem Stewart (10.46s) and Nolex Holder (10.47s), who had a tight battle for second.
Archibald, who had a previous Personal Best of 10.22s, achieved in February 2018, was still unable to meet the entry standard time of 10.05 seconds for next month’s Olympic Games in Tokyo.
He expressed delight in setting a new ‘PB’ ahead of a hectic 2022 season, which has a primary focus on the World Championships and Commonwealth Games. However, he is confident that given his improved pace he has the power to leap to the qualification mark of 8.22m in the Long Jump.
The national Long Jump record holder is currently ranked 51st in the world, and this February he produced what was the world’s leading leap at 8.10 meters; it is currently ranked 29th in the world.
On the distaff side, overseas-based Jasmine Abrams clocked 11:37s to comfortably take the female title, but she too was off the qualification mark of 11.15 seconds; she ran 11.25s in the preliminaries.
Brianna Charles (11.85s) of Running Brave and Juvonaa Cornettee (11.90s) of Tytans Athletics rounded off the top three.
Meanwhile, newly-minted Powerade Brand Ambassador, Arinze Chance, looks set to win the 400m after qualifying to the final with a time of 46.56s, way ahead of the next best in Guyana Defence Force (GDF) pair of Michael James (49.94s) and Brian Roman (50.57s).
The focus for Chance in Saturday’s final will be to see whether he can push himself to run 44.90s and make the entry standard for the Olympics.
Arguably, one of the most stunning performances of the night was 20-year-old Sir Kennard Hartog upstaging favourite and seasoned campaigner, Cleveland Thomas, to win the 10,000m.
The duo had an exciting tit-for-tat battle throughout the entire race, and even in the penultimate lap, Thomas attempted to pull away, but to no avail.
Heading into the last 150m, Hartog distanced himself from the aging legs of Thomas in a classic sprint to the stop the clock at 34 minutes, 41.89 seconds for the victory, much to the thunderous cheers from fellow athletes in the stands.
Thomas clocked 34:46.36s, followed by Mauro-Rolando Cucui (35:29.30s).
In Women’s 5000m, 20-year-old Sheama Tyrell of GDF clocked 19 minutes, 49.03 seconds for a comprehensive victory. Abiola Ross, also of GDF, came second in a time of 21:57.57s followed by Delicia Tinnis (22:05.37s).
The Men’s Discuss saw GDF’s Jermain Samuels (40.58s) and Joshua Jones (38.16m) take the top two positions and Gabriel Lim (37.35m) third.
GDF continued their dominance as Jemeica Scott had a best of 33.15m in the Women’s Discuss. Annesia DeAbreu (30.57m) and Annisha Gibbons (28.66m) rounded out the top three.
As expected, the promising Chantoba Bright (13.53m) won the Women’s Triple Jump ahead of seasoned campaigner Natrina Hooper (12.61m) and Princess Brown (12.19m).
Bright, who competes in the NCAA, improved on her personal best of 13.29m, set in May of this year.
In the Men’s Triple Jump, Surinamese Miguel Van Assen took gold with a best leap of 16.53m, followed by Jamaican-based Guyanese Damon Williams (16.30m) and Police Progressive Sports Club’s Denis Roberts (14.77m).
In the Men’s 110m hurdles, GDF’s Hosea Glen won in a time of 18.59s, followed by Isaiah Lewis (19.46s) and Trevor Scotland (25.25s).
Action continues on Saturday with two 400m finals and relays being the highlights.
The event is not open to members of the public due to COVID-19 protocols.
