Sports
Roneil Walcott
Trinidad and Tobago men’s 4×400-metre quartet stumbled to an agonising fourth-place finish in their relay final at the Junior Pan American Games in Asuncion, Paraguay on August 22 after a collision with Guyana in the second leg of the race.
The TT team of Dillon Leacock, Shakeem McKay, Kyrell Thomas and men’s 400m silver medallist Jaden Marchan clocked a time of three minutes, 08.55 seconds (3:08.55) as they missed out on a podium spot.
TT’s attempt to land a 12th medal at the games was made all the more difficult after McKay stumbled into Guyanese athlete Simeon Adams on the second leg as the pair jostled for position behind the leader and eventual winner Brazil. Both athletes fell to the ground after the coming together. McKay, a fourth-place finisher in the men’s 400m final on August 20, dusted himself off and rallied on to register a 48.7 seconds split before handing over to Leacock on the third leg. Meanwhile, Guyana’s team cut a disappointed bunch as they didn’t complete the race.
Leacock and anchor runner Marchan soldiered on, with the latter running a brilliant 45.71 split as he tried to feed off the energy of the TT coaches in the stands to reel in another medal. Despite his best efforts, it wasn’t meant to be. The Brazil quartet of Matheus Da Silva, Jadson De Lima, Elias Dos Santos, and individual bronze medallist Vinicius Galeno won the gold in a games record of 3:03.76, with the Jamaican team of Kevin Bliss, Tyreece Hyman, Omary Robinson and 400m winner Jasauna Dennis snatching silver in 3:06.59. Puerto Rico took third spot in 3:07.29. The top three teams all dipped under the previous games record of 3:08.02.
Unfortunately for the TT quartet, a collision denied them what looked to be a certain medal position.
In the men’s discus final, TT’s Jaden James opened up the competition with a mark of 54.13 metres on his first attempt. James’ first throw momentarily placed him in fourth, but he was unable to better the mark as he ultimately slipped to sixth at the end of the final round. James had four other distances past the 50m mark, but was unable to crack into the top three.
Jamaica’s Racquil Broaderick was a measure of consistency and was the only athlete to go beyond 60m, seizing gold with an eventual Junior Pan Am record of 61.79m on his second effort. Broaderick also had four other attempts which soared past 60m. Broaderick’s Jamaican teammate Christopher Young ensured a one-two finish with a throw of 59.34m on his fifth attempt. Brazil’s Mateus Torres was third with a distance of 58.73m.
At the end of round two in men’s golf, Jerseem Boodram remained 30th overall out of 31 competitors.
TT’s medal count: 11 medals (one gold, two silver, eight bronze).
Gold
– Shaniqua Bascombe (women’s 100m)
Silver
– Jaden Marchan (men’s 400m)
– Women’s 4x100m (Shaniqua Bascombe, Janae De Gannes, Alexxe Henry, Sierra Joseph)
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)
