By Akeem Greene in The Bahamas
Tianna Springer captured the attention of a global audience with a scintillating performance to win gold in the U-17 400m final at the ongoing 50th CARIFTA Games in Nassau, Bahamas, on Saturday evening.
Against the odds of arriving in the Bahamas just mere hours before the event and having to conduct a time trial to qualify for the final.
Then, due to protest, the final was split into two and the medal positions were based on times, Springer still dug dip to ensure the Golden Arrowhead was lifted in the middle of the podium.
She capped a fine day for Guyana in which Javon Roberts and Seon Booker got silver and bronze respectively.
Running out of lane 7, by no means ideal for a 400m race, Springer came out of the final turn behind the pack but shifted gears, and stride by stride, she gained on the leaders to arouse the massive audience in the Thomas A. Robinson stadium.
Carried off in a wheelchair after her draining race, Springer received commendations from all for what was an undying effort to win gold.
Springer clocked 54.32 seconds ahead of Jody-Ann Daley (54.81s) of Jamaica and De’Cheynelle Daley (55.46s) of St. Kitts and Nevis.
She will be back in action on Sunday in the 200m heats.
More so, Roberts won silver in the Boys Under-17 1500m and he too faced a similar dilemma as Springer with a late arrival into The Bahamas.
He clocked 4:13.63 seconds to finish behind Demetire Meyers of Belize.
The Belizean ran a blistering race of 4:11.19 seconds to pull away from the pack while Joel Morgan of Jamaica clocked 4:13.18s to win bronze.
It is the second success silver for Roberts in the 1500m after success in Jamaica last year.
Roberts will also compete in the 800m on Sunday.
Likewise, Booker clocked 4:08.38 seconds to win bronze in the U-20 1500m behind Bermuda’s Kahzi Sealey (4:06.34s) and Jamaican Ainsley Campbell (4:05.54s).
Booker will also contest the 800m.
Meanwhile, Malachi Austin (49.55s) and Dejuan Grant (49.75s) were only good enough for sixth and seventh in the U-17 final while Wesley Noble Jr., who was the second-fastest qualifier to the U-20 final, clocked 48.45 seconds to finish fifth.
In the U-17 100m, Athaleyah Hinckson made it into the final but her time of 12.12 seconds, slower than her 12:06 seconds in the semi-final, meant she finished seventh.
Guyana’s Adessa Albert’s time of 12.45 seconds was not good enough to make it into the final as she finished seventh in her semi-final.
Alberts, one of the 12 late arrivals for Guyana, had to run a time trial before she qualified for the semi-final.
In the field, Deuel Europe’s best leap of 6.09m saw him finish eighth in the U-17 Long Jump.
