Star sprinter Emanuel Archibald stormed to victory in the finals of the blue riband men’s 100m final at the ongoing Central America and Caribbean (CAC) Games last night in El Salvador.
Running out of lane 2 at the Jorge ‘El Mágico’ Gonzalez Stadium, Archibald clocked 10.24s to finish atop the podium in the marquee event of track and field.
After finishing second in semifinal one of three in 10.37s, the new CAC Champion redeemed himself when it mattered most, finishing ahead of Jose Gonzalez (10.26s) of the Dominican Republic and BVI’s Rikkoi Braithwaite (10.26s) who had to settle for the silver and bronze medals.
With his heroics, Archibald became the first Guyanese to win a gold medal in the men’s 100m at the quadrennial Games.
Archibald, the national long jump record holder, springs into action in the pit today and will be looking to disturb the sand in another podium worthy performance. While Archibald enjoyed his gold medal run in the finals, Keliza Smith was the ninth fastest female following the three semi-final heats and missed out on securing a finals berth. Smith finished third in heat 2, clocking 11.67s.
Meanwhile Guyana’s other representative yesterday, Andrea Foster stopped the clock in 59.37s in the women’s 400m hurdles finishing fifth in her heat. Like Smith, Foster also recorded the ninth fastest time after the semifinal races and her campaign at the meet ended.
Track and Field action will continue today
highlighted by the men’s and women’s 400m semis, the men’s and women’s 800m semis, the men’s long jump and 5000m and the women’s javelin. (Emmerson Campbell)
