By Akeem Greene in Chile
Guyanese sprinters Emanuel Archibald and sisters Jasmine Abrams and Aliyah Abrams are through to their respective finals at the Pan American Games in Chile after impressive performances in the heats on Monday evening at the Julio Martínez Prádanos National Stadium.
Jasmine is potentially on the cusp of securing a medal after she blazed into the Women’s 100m final with the second-fastest qualifying time.
Jasmine clocked 11.60 seconds to win Heat 2 comfortably, and only Cuban De La Caridad García (10.53s) had a faster time in the three Heats.
Jasmine ran slower than her Season Best (SB) of 11.21s, and if she comes close to that again, she will likely be on the podium in Tuesday’s final at 20.55h.
It is worth noting that Jasmine holds the national record at 11.07s.
More so, Archibald also qualified for the final despite finishing third in his heat.
Archibald clocked 10.35s, slower than his SB and Personal Best of 10.13s, but his time was quick enough to progress.
Only Dominican Alnardo Gonzalez (10.30s) and Brazilian Felipe Bardi (10.33s) produced faster times than the Guyanese, who missed the top-two automatic qualification spot in his heat.
The Men’s 100m final is at 21:03h.
Additionally, Aliyah is through to the 400m final after she clocked 51.82s to finish second in her Heat, and also heads into the final with high expectations given she has the second-fastest qualifying time, behind the native Martina Weil (51.47s).
Aliyah holds the national record at 50.20 seconds.
Meanwhile, young Keliza Smith finished seventh in Heat 1 with a time of 11.78s. It was slower than her SB of 11.67 and Personal Best of 11.37.
TABLE TENNIS
Shemar Britton is out of contention in the singles after defeat to Puerto Rican Daniel Gonzalez in the Round-of-32.
He lost 4-11, 8-11, 8-11, 11-6 and 11-3.
A day prior, he and Chelsea Edghil were knocked out of the Mixed Doubles, and according to Britton, life in his first year at Law School in Trinidad and Tobago has affected an ideal period of preparation for the Games.
Britton was ranked 21st out of the 32 players as compared to Gonzalez at 11th, and the Guyanese showed flashes of flashes of brilliance, but as he highlighted, the lack of extensive preparation curtailed his usual proficiency.
Likewise, Edghill battled an extremely experienced campaigner, the Cuban-born Yadira Silva, representing Mexico.
The 37-year-old, who participated in the 2008, 2012, and 2016 Summer Olympics, showcased that experience and exposure counts as she bettered a fellow Olympian.
Silva swept the contest 4-0 (11-4, 11-6, 11-4, 11-8).
Edghill expressed disappointment in her performance, noting that given her training, she felt she should have given a better account of herself despite the caliber of the opponent, and now she will reassess how she plans and prepares to secure a spot at the Paris 2024 Olympic Games.
