By Akeem Greene in The Bahamas
Guyana ended the 50th CARIFTA Track and Field Championships with eight medals – three gold, two silver, and three bronze – as the sensational Javon Roberts and Trevon Hamer added to the tally on the final evening at the Thomas A. Robinson Stadium, in Nassau, Bahamas.
Roberts stormed to gold in the U-17 800m while Hamer leaped to bronze in the U-20 Triple Jump.
The other medalists over the three-day meet were Anisha Gibbons (Gold – U-20 Javelin), Tianna Springer (Gold -U-17 400m), Roberts (Silver – U-17 1500m), Attoya Harvey (Silver – 3000m), Ezekiel Saul (Bronze -U-17 Triple Jump) and Seon Booker (Bronze – U-20 1500m).
Last year in Jamaica, Guyana won seven medals.
Golden Run
Prior to leaving Guyana and arriving mere hours before he won silver in the 1500m on Saturday, just as he did in 2022, Roberts wanted gold in the 800m and it meant he had to set a new Personal Best.
He smashed his ‘PB’ and Season Best of 1:59.53 seconds to clock 1:56.44 seconds followed by Jamaican Delano Todd (1:57.44s) and Trinidadian Brandon Leacock (1:58.17s).
In a tactical masterclass, he hunted from the back and blazed to the front with languid strides of speed, beating his chest in jubilation as he achieved his goal of gold.
More so, Hamer, currently attending Jamaica College on a scholarship, entered the U-20 Triple Jump in third with a leap of 15.23m.
However, in overcast and windy conditions throughout the afternoon, his best leap was 14.89m behind Bahamian Laquan Ellis (14.92m) and World U-20 record holder, Jamaican Jaydon Hibbert (16.11m).
There was considerable hope for more medals from the likes of Springer, Harvey, Booker, and Ezekiel Newton but they were topped by outstanding performances.
The 400m gold medalist clocked 24.53s to finish sixth in the U-17 200m final while an unwell Harvey opted out of the 800m and Booker, who too was unwell, did not finish the race despite a fighting effort up to the final 150m.
Newton (21.22s) had to settle for fourth in the U-20 200m while Odida Parkinson (16:31.27s) finished eighth in the 5000m and Narissa McPherson, who medaled in 2022 with silver in the 1500m, ended this campaign with no medal, as she clocked 2:26.46 seconds for 11th in the U-20 800m.
DQ in 4x400m mixed relay
The technical committee indicated Guyana was disqualified from the mixed 4x400m relay due to a lane infringement.
According to World Athletics, some one-off lane infringements are now permitted but shall result in disqualification if they are repeated by the same athlete or within the same relay team at any time during the rounds of the same event.
News Room Sport was informed that the starter committed the infringements on three occasions.
The disqualification was not due to the athletes changing the order of the baton exchange as initially reported.
Guyana’s mixed relay team, comprising Narissa McPherson, Omar James, Tianna Springer, and Wesley Noble Jr. finished third but was later disqualified.
On Sunday evening, the Guyanese clocked 3:27.96s to finish ahead of the powerful Jamaicans (3:29.35s) while Bahamas (3:24.62s) and Grenada (3:27.22s) occupied the top two spots.
Safe return home
The Ministry of Culture, Youth and Sport will fund the return of the athletes and officials from The Bahamas.
The group departs Nassau on Tuesday at 07:00 hrs via a chartered flight to Trinidad and Tobago then to Guyana.
They should arrive at the Cheddi Jagan International Airport by 22:35 hrs.
Director of Sport, Steve Ninvalle, expressed that the government is extremely proud of the athletes’ accomplishments thus far.
Next CARIFTA
Grenada was voted the next host in 2024 while Trinidad and Tobago will follow in 2025.
These decisions emanated from the North American, Central American and Caribbean Athletic Association (NACAC) Congress.
It is the third occasion for Grenada to host the prestigious games after doing so in 2000 and 2016.
Trinidad and Tobago, who hosted the second edition of the Games in 1973, will host for the sixth occasion, with the previous being in 2005.
