Bolt’s 400 meter record tumbles

Following a positive start by the ten-man Guyanese team on Friday, the locals did not do so well on the second day of this year’s junior CARIFTA games at the George Odlum Stadium in St Lucia.

Javina Straker gave Guyana the perfect start on the games opening day by winning the girls under -17 1500 metres (4:42.89) while her team-mate Jonella Jonas took bronze (4:45.05). Also, Ricardo Martin competing in his first CARIFTA games won silver in the boys under-17 1500 metres, clocking 4:06.05.   But apart from that trio, no other Guyanese finished higher than seventh.

Sports Woman of the year Alika Morgan had to settle for that position in the girls under-20 1500 metre race in a time of 4:54.45.

That race was won by Natoya Goule of Jamaica who ran 4:27.48 and in the process smashed the CARIFTA games record 4:31.33 which was set in 1991 by fellow Jamaican Janice Turner; she also won her ninth CARIFTA Games medal.

According to the team coach Leslie Blacks, he was satisfied with the team’s performance on the opening day and boastfully spoke of how well they all ran. However, he said, things took a turn yesterday as the Guyanese could not keep up with the pace of the Jamaicans and Trinidadians.

On the second day, all the Guyanese except for Jonathon Fergundes did not make it out of their preliminary races.

Fergundes, who ran the under-20 boys 1500 yesterday, place third in the first heat in a time of 4:11.64 but in the finals he was 11th, running much slower (4:24.86).

His event also saw the games’ record being broken as Trinidadian Gavyn Nero set a new benchmark of 3:47.56, making light work of Jamaica’s Anthony Christy’s 1986 record of 3:51.05.

Guyana’s Chavez Ageday ran 11.17 seconds in the boys under 17 100 metres, which saw him placing in fifth in his heat and not making it to the finals.

Tiffany Carto (12.57 seconds) and Ianna Graham (12.68 seconds) saw them both finishing fifth in their heats which was not enough to see them through to the finals.

Meanwhile, Jamaican Usain Bolt’s 2003 400 metres games’ record (46.35) was broken by Grenadian Kerani James who clocked 45.45.

According to reports coming out of St Lucia, James won ahead of his team-mate and defending champion Rondell Bartholomew, as all the other 400-metre titles went to Jamaicans.

James, the reigning Common-wealth Youth Games champion and 2008 IAAF World Junior Champion-ship silver medallist, outran his team-mate down the homestretch to record his majestic victory.

Dethroned champion Bartholomew took the silver in a fast 45.58, also inside Bolt’s mark.

The US Virgin Islands’ Leslie Murray was third in 46.74 and Barbadian Fabian Norgrove took fourth in 47.09.

Jodiann Muir clocked 53.49 to win the U20 girls’ 400 ahead of Danielle Dowie (53.96) in a Jamaican one-two finish, T&T’s Alena Brooks getting third in 54.38 seconds.

Shericka Jackson repeated as girls’ U17 400-metre champion in a meet record of 53.48 seconds, erasing fellow Jamaican Claudine Williams’ 17-year-old mark of 53.50 seconds as she topped Bahamians Rashan Brown (53.93) and Katrina Seymour (54.17).

The Jamaicans completed the junior one-lap double when Jermaine Fyffe took the Boys’ U17 crown at 47.96 seconds ahead of Barbadian Shaquille Alleyne (48.13) and Jamaican Jovan Williams (48.85).

Fluctuating winds led to variable times in the 100-metre semi-finals but Barbadian Shekiem Greaves and the Jamaicans Kemar Bailey-Cole and Jahzeel Murphy look strong candidates for gold in the finals Saturday evening.

In the U20 heats, Bahamian Marcus Thompson won heat one in 10.60 seconds with an assisting wind of 1.5 metres per second (mps); Greaves took the second heat in 10.27 (3.3 mps) over T&T’s Kendall Bacchus (10.53); Warren Fraser of the Bahamas won heat three in 10.56 (3.7 mps); and Jamaican Kemar Bailey-Cole fought a head-wind of (-0.6 mps) to win the last heat in 10.41 seconds.

Murphy was quickest among the U17 boys in 10.39, aided by a considerable wind of 6.1 mps, after Delano Williams of the Turks & Caicos Islands won heat one in 10.83 (1.5 mps) and T&T’s Jonathan Holder took the second heat in 10.62 (3.3 mps).

The 2009 Junior CARIFTA games will wrap up tomorrow.