Jonathan Richards and Athaleyha Hinckson powered to emphatic wins in record-breaking fashion in the blue riband 100m races yesterday, highlighting Day 4 of this year’s ‘Nationals’ currently underway at the National Track and Field Centre.
On a sunny day where several records tumbled, the fastest male and female of this year’s meet provided a reminder of their pedigree, leaving the competition behind their spikes to claim the Boy’s U-18 and Girl’s U-16 gold medals in the marquee event.
Hinckson, the District 13 standout, rocketed out the blocks and took control of the race straight out of the drive phase. Barreling down lane four, she crossed the tape in an eye-popping 11.28s to stamp her name into the record books. The previous record of 12.26s was set by Deshanna Skeete in 2017.
District 6’s Leandre Bennett (12.11s) snared the silver, while Kenetha Fraser of Linden copped the bronze medal in 12.59s.
Richards, 16, of District 3, blazed to his victory in a photo finish to win in a brisk 10.45s to replace the record set by Ezekiel Newton (10.62s) last year.
Hinckson’s teammates, Jomain Crum-Ewing (10.67s) and Ewell McDonald (10.85s), joined Richards on the podium.
Hinckson and Richards are poised to earn their second gold medal at the meet, which is celebrating its 61st edition, when they compete in 200-metre events today.
The 800-metre events also provided some record-breaking excitement for the almost-packed stadium. In a gold medal-smashing run, Javon Roberts of District 11 obliterated the U-18 two-lap record.
He finished the event in a stunning 1:57.90s, easily bettering the previous mark of 2:00.03 set by Daniel Melville in 2017.
Roberts, this year’s CARIFTA Games U-17 800m gold medalist, was just running against the clock and won the event ahead of District Four’s Jamal Sullivan (2:01.6s) and Ian Bancroft (2:03.0s).
Other medalists at the Games, which were staged in April in the Bahamas, Tianna Springer and Narissa McPherson, both of District 11, were also running against the clock, chasing meet records. However, the pair had to settle for just the gold medals.
Springer, who also won her 100-metre final, soloed in at 2:23.06s for the U-18 Girl’s event, while McPherson did the same in 2:19.57s in the U-20 two-lap race.
Elsewhere in the field, teacher Noriann King and student Isaiah Trim were also among the records.
King, the District 10 U-21 athlete, set a new discus record of 32.37m, bettering the previous mark of 19.23m set in 2017 by Marcia Tyrell.
The District Two high jumper, Trim, leaped to 1.92m to equal the Boy’s U-20 record set by Tortque Boyce in 2017.
Meanwhile, up to press time, District 3 (West Demerara) leads the track and field segment of the event by 205 points.
They are closely followed by District 10 (Upper Demerara/Kwakwani) on 189 points and District 4 (East Coast Demerara) on 150 points.
District 10, which placed second overall in the cycling and swimming segments of the event, is chasing its 20th overall title.
The penultimate day of the annual event is scheduled to get underway this morning at 10:00am.
The day’s activities are scheduled to be highlighted by the 200m and 1500m finals.
