T&T’s Janae De Gannes and Sanaa Frederick picked up two more medals for T&T at the Trinbago2023 Commonwealth Youth Games (CYG), on Monday.
The local athletes excelled on both the track and field on the first day of athletics at the Hasely Crawford Stadium in Mucurapo, Port-of-Spain.
De Gannes copped silver in the women’s long jump event earlier in the evening session. The 16-year-old local jumper placed second with a leap which measured 6.07 metres to separate the Australians Delta Amidzovski, who won gold with 6.33m and bronze medallist Grace Krause with 6.01m.
Amidzovski’s winning attempt broke the Commonwealth Youth Games record of 6.27 achieved by British jumper Jazmin Sawyers in Douglas, Isle of Man in 2011.
De Gannes’ silver-medal leap was in the second round. She also had marks of 6.06m in the opening round and 5.92m, 5.86m. 5.95m and 5.84m, respectively.
T&T’s other jumper Gianna Paul’s best effort of 5.71m was good enough for seventh spot in the event. She also had marks of 5.33m and 5.47m, on her first and second attempts, and in the respective fourth, fifth and sixth rounds, 5.53m, 5.36m and 5.37m.
Frederick bagged bronze in the women’s 100m last evening at Trinbago2023.
The 17-year-old sprinter clocked 11.48 seconds to place third in the women’s 100 metres dash behind Nigeria’s Faith Okwose, who broke the CYG record of 11.46 previously held by England’s Shauna Thompson in the 2008 Pune edition in India, in the semifinal heat one with 11.42 then 11.26 in the medal race. She bettered Nigerian teammate and eventual silver medallist Justina Eyakpobeyan (11.29). Eyakpobeyan had lowered the record time in heat three of the semifinals to 11.35.
Frederick topped semifinal heat two with a time of 11.56 seconds to progress to the medal race as an automatic qualifier and with the third-fastest time again as in the earlier round.
She won heat three with a time of 11.70 seconds to advance from preliminary round heat three ahead of fellow automatic qualifiers St Lucian runner Naomi London (11.72), Botswana’s Sethunya Majama (12.24) and Malawi’s Amanda Khondowe (12.54) and fastest losers Imanella Larue of Seychelle (13.85) and Vaituutuu Jayjay of Samoa (13.93).
T&T’s other women’s sprinter Symphony Patrick was carded to face the starter in heat two but did not start.
In the men’s version of the final, Trevaughn Stewart placed eighth with a 10.79 clocking. Sprinting to gold was England’s Teddy Wilson with 10.37 while his countryman copped silver with 10.43 and Jamaican Shaquane Gordon, the bronze with the same 10.43-timing.
Stewart advanced to the final as one of the fastest losers. However, T&T’s other runner Khadeem Ryan did not reach the medal race.
Stewart got into the final with his time of 10.81 which placed him tied for eighth spot with Dwayne Fleming (10.81), earning him a place in the final. He was a third-place finisher in the semifinal heat one. Minutes later, Ryan crossed fourth in heat two in the semifinal round with an 11.02 clocking to finish 15th overall.
Earlier, Stewart and Ryan were automatic qualifiers in their respective preliminary-round heats.
Ryan was third in heat one with 11.08, following Onkarabile Ramotsisi of Botswana (11.01) and Canadian John McGowan (11.05), to the line respectively while in heat two, Stewart clocked 10.99 to finish behind England’s Teddy Wilson (10.60) and Ryan Lofstrom of Canada (10.83).
Local para-athlete Isaiah Williams placed eighth in the final of the men’s 100m -T38 event.
Williams crossed the finish line in a time of 18.91 seconds in the event which was won by Wales’ Tomi Roberts-Jones in 13.27. Australian runners Ori Drakin (13.30) and Jackson Love (13.33) filled the other two top spots, respectively.
Earlier, Williams also booked a spot in the men’s 100m -T38 final after being among the fastest losers, clocking 19.38 and placing fourth in the second semifinal heat behind eventual silver-medallist Drakin (13.69) and winner Roberts-Jones (13.73), along with England’s Vincent Forkner (14.32).
