National 400 metres junior champion Stephan James placed sixth in the 400-metre final at the ongoing Pan American Junior Championships yesterday in Miami, Florida while Iana Amsterdam failed to show up to participate in her events.
Eighteen-year-old James rose to prominence in Guyana over the past year and a half by winning every possible local junior 400 metres title, crowning it off with a fourth place finish, after running a personal best time in the heat, at the Carifta Games. History repeated itself for James; he lowered his personal best time in the heat at the Pan Am championships early yesterday morning, clocking 47.27s, and placing second behind American William Henry who clocked 46.90s. He then ran in the final about six hours after his preliminary personal best to clock 48.37s for the sixth position. James is expected to contest the men’s 200 metres today.
Meanwhile, Amsterdam who was set to represent Guyana in both the 100 metres race and 100 metres hurdles did not show up at the event.
Though her name was listed for both events she was unaccounted for when the results for her respective events were published on the Pan American Championships website. Amsterdam also failed to show at the World Youth Championships in Lille, France where she would have participated in the same events she registered for in the Pan American Championships.
