Still smarting from their defeats in the girls' under-20 100m finals on Saturday, twin sisters Sole and Sanna Frederick stormed into the final of the half-lap event when the 2025 Carifta Games continued on Sunday morning at the Hasely Crawford Stadium, Mucurapo.
After placing fifth and sixth respectively in the shorter sprint final, Sole and Sanna both won their respective 200m semifinal heats to book automatic progress to Monday's final.
Sole, the 200m silver-medallist from the 2024 games in Grenada last year was especially impressive this morning, clocking 23.22 seconds to win semifinal heat two. It was the fastest time in the round and helped pull two other athletes into the final from that heat. Bahamian Shatalya Dorsett placed second behind Frederick in 23.31 seconds and Haiti's Breanne Barnett clocked 23.83 in third as both also advanced.
Sanna, the under-20 200m gold-medallist from 2023 in Nassau Bahamas also booked automatic passage to the final, winning heat number four in 23.79 which was the fifth-fastest time in the round. Antigua's Geolyna Dowdye who placed second in yesterday's 100m final will not have a chance to win another individual sprint medal after placing second in semifinal heat four in 24.29 seconds, while fellow 100m finalist Athaleya Hinckson was third in 24.54, also failing to advance.
T&T will have at least one athlete in each of the four sprint finals after Deshaun Cole and Hakeem (boys' under-20), Alex Seepersad and Jayden Goodridge (boys' under-17) and Mikayla Granderson (girls' under-17) all made it through the semifinals.
Cole was third in semifinal number two in the boys' under-20 category, racing to the finish line in 21.35 seconds and booking a spot as one of the fastest losers. The winner of that heat was Bermuda's Miles Outerbridge in 21.08 seconds with J'Den Jackson second in 21.34.
In heat three, T&T's Hakeem Chinapoo also booked a fastest loser spot, placing second behind Jayden Green of Grenada. Chinapoo's time was 21.49 seconds while Green won in 21.07, which was the fastest overall time in the round. Ylann Bizasene of Guadeloupe was third in 21.52 but did not advance.
In the boys' under-17 division, 100m fourth-place finisher from the day before, Seepersad, won his 200m semifinal heat in 21.99 seconds for an automatic spot in the final. No other athlete from that heat progressed.
In a fast heat four, Goodridge booked a fastest-loser spot despite finishing third in 21.78 seconds. The fourth-place finisher in that race also advanced as Karmal Joseph of Grenada clocked 22 seconds flat. The winner was British Virgin Islands' Tiondre Frett while Jaydon Collins of Jamaica placed second in 21.56.
Earlier, T&T impressed in the girls' under-20 400m Hurdles, as Jenna-Marie Thomas, last year's under-17 bronze medallist placed second in her heat in 59.76 seconds to claim an automatic spot in this afternoon's final. Jamaica's Shevaughn Thomas (58.41) and Kei-Mahri Hanna of the Bahamas (1:00.16) took the two other automatic spots in first and third respectively, while fourth placed Charissa December of Guyana was a fastest loser in 1:03.07.
Natalia Eastman booked her spot as a fastest loser, placing fourth in heat one, clocking 1:03.63. Her heat was won by US Virgins Islands' Michelle Smith (56.41) with Darvinique Dean of the Bahamas third (1:00.25) and Emilie Montout of Guadeloupe third (1:03.51).
In the boys' version T&T produced two more finalists.
Jeremiah Francis placed fourth in semifinal two in 54.64 seconds behind Princewell Martin of Jamaica (52.65), Akanye Samuel-Francis of St Kitts and Nevis (53.68), and Rashad Gibson of Barbados (54.23) who all advanced.
In heat two, Robert Miller of the Bahamas (51.24), Grenada's Kyle Nedd (52.16), T&T's Cheyne West (52.20), and St Lucia's Josiah Dupre each were fast enough to get into this afternoon's final.
It was a decent start to day two for team TTO on the track as well as in the field.
Multi-discipline athlete Omari Brown continues to dominate the boys' under-17 Octathlon. After winning three out of four events on day one (100m, Long, Jump & 400m) to amass 2930 points, Brown followed up with a win in the event's 110m Hurdles race and then placed second in the high jump. That event concludes this afternoon with the Javelin throw and 1500m race.
Tyrique Vincent lost some ground in the under-20 boys' Decathlon despite winning his section of the 110m hurdles (event #6). He placed third in the Discus and fifth in the Pole Vault. The Decathlon also has two events to go in the afternoon session, which are the Javelin throw and the 1500m. Countryman Kaleb Campbell who started the day in third, placed fifth in the 110m hurdles, fouled each of his three attempts in the Discus and was eighth in the Pole Vault.
