Sports
Roneil Walcott
Trinidad and Tobago had another rewarding day at the 2025 Junior Pan American Games in Asuncion, Paraguay, as Jaden Marchan produced a fine run in the men’s 400-metre final on August 20 to grab silver. It was TT’s tenth medal at the games and their first silver to go along with one gold and a whopping eight bronze medals.
With an exciting women’s 100m final victory coming from Shaniqua Bascombe just 24 hours before, the anticipation heightened in the TT ranks as both Marchan and teammate Shakeem McKay progressed to the final of the men’s 400m.
Speaking to Newsday on August 20, National Association of Athletics Administration (NAAATT) president Ephraim Serrette was quite optimistic and suggested that both athletes would medal in the final.
“I expect them to medal. They have to want it. The medal is not there with their name, but they have to go and earn it. I think they are well-poised to earn it,” Serrette said, hours before the race.
McKay (45.98) and Marchan (46.24) entered the final with the second- and third-best times respectively, and TT nearly had the dream finish with two athletes on the podium but the former was just edged to bronze by Brazil’s Vinicius Galeno. It was a well-contested race throughout and Galeno and McKay seemed to have the measure of the field from the outside lanes. However, from lane four, it was Jamaica’s Jasauna Dennis who held his running form and composure to hold off his competitors to seize gold in a games record time of 45.56 seconds.
The battle for silver was an intense one and Marchan made a decisive late surge from lane five to surpass both Galeno and McKay just before the line to claim second in a personal best of 45.80.
Galeno and McKay had a battle in lanes eight and seven, with the former just robbing McKay of a podium spot alongside his TT teammate as he clocked 45.83 to take bronze. McKay finished fourth in agonising fashion in a personal best of 45.87 and his exhaustion saw him crashing into Galeno after the finish line.
Away from the track, the TT team of Chloe Fraser and Jordan lost their third and final group D match in women’s team table tennis to miss out on a spot in the quarters. After getting contrasting results against Mexico (3-1 win) and Colombia (3-1 loss) on August 19, the TT girls went down 3-1 to Ecuador’s team of Keimy Anchunda and Angelica Arellano. Fraser got her team off to a strong start as she defeated Anchunda 3-1 in the first clash.
Thereafter, the Ecuadorians took control, as Arellano tied the match with a straight-games win over Thong before the South Americans surged ahead with a straight-games doubles win over the TT pairing. In the fourth contest, Arellano put the icing on the cake as she helped Ecuador to another straight-games win with a triumph over Fraser to take the overall victory.
TT finished third in group D with four points, with Colombia and Ecuador taking the two top spots in the group.
In women’s triathlon which started at San Jose beach, Encarnacion City, TT’s Kaya Rankine-Beadle finished 26th out of 31 competitors. Rankine-Beadle finished with a time of one hour, 12 minutes and 58 seconds (1:12:58). The event was won by USA’s Naomi Ruff who clocked 59:49. Canadian Sidney Clement (1:00:06) and Brazil’s Julia Visguiero (1:00:08) took silver and bronze respectively.
TT’s medal count: Ten medals (one gold, one silver, eight bronze).
Gold
– Shaniqua Bascombe (women’s 100m)
Silver
– Jaden Marchan (men’s 400m)
Bronze
– Men’s 4×100-metre freestyle (Zachary Anthony, Nikoli Blackman, Johann-Matthew Matamoro, Zarek Wilson)
– Men’s cycling team sprint (Ryan D’Abreau, Danell James, Jelani Nedd)
– Women’s cycling team sprint (Phoebe Sandy, Makaira Wallace and Kyra Williams)
– Nikoli Blackman (men’s 50m freestyle)
– Makaira Wallace (women’s individual sprint cycling)
– Makaira Wallace (women’s keirin)
– Danell James (men’s keirin)
– Janae De Gannes (women’s long jump)
