Sports
Roneil Walcott
File photo courtesy Carifta Games Grenada
Trinidad and Tobago’s medal count at the 2025 Junior Pan American Games in Asuncion, Paraguay stretched to eight on August 18, as talented 18-year-old Janae De Gannes leapt to bronze in the women’s long jump.
It was fascinatingly TT’s eighth bronze medal at the games, with cycling and swimming accounting for all of the country’s medals before De Gannes jumped a distance of 6.33 metres on her first attempt to secure a spot on the podium.
De Gannes had two other jumps over the six-metre mark as she registered a distance of 6.21m on her third attempt, to go along with a 6.17m effort on her final attempt as she made a late claim to snatch silver. Her other jumps measured 5.80m, 5.68m and 5.67m.
The gold medal was won by Colombia’s Natalia Linares who had a fantastic jump of 6.92m on her final attempt. Linares put the field on notice from her first leap into the pit as she soared to a distance of 6.66m – setting a Junior Pan Am record. Linares was a mark of consistency throughout the rounds as she also had jumps of 6.55m, 6.56m, another 6.66m mark and a 6.77m leap as she kept raising the bar. On her sixth jump, she fittingly closed off the competition in style with her 6.92m distance which will now stand as the games record.
The silver medal went to Cuba’s Rosmaiby Quesada who had her best jump on her third attempt – a distance of 6.35m.
TT will be hoping to add a ninth medal when Shaniqua Bascombe suits up in the final of the women’s 100m event at 7.40 pm on August 19. In the second of two semifinals on August 18, Bascombe had a wobbly start in lane four but surged back strongly with her drive phase to finish second in 11.17 seconds. Bascombe’s heat was won by the Dominican Republic’s Liranyi Alonso, who took off like a rocket in lane three to speed home in 11.08.
Bascombe will move on to the final with the second-fastest time as Puerto Rico’s Frances Colon won the first semifinal in 11.32 – the third-best time from the semifinals.
In the men’s 400m hurdles, Dillon Leacock was the slowest of the 15 competitors on display as he stopped the clock at 58.57 to finish seventh in the second semifinal heat. Leacock’s heat was won by Puerto Rico’s Yan Vazquez in 50.60, with Brazil’s Matheus Da Silva winning heat one in an astonishing games record time of 48.23.
In the men’s javelin, TT had a pair of representatives in Anthony Diaz and Lebron James but they finished sixth and seventh respectively. Diaz registered a 68.05m mark on his second attempt, with James’ best effort being a 67.42m mark on his final throw.
The men’s javelin event was won by Paraguay’s Lars Flaming who got the home crowd off their feet with his Junior Pan Am record mark of 81.56m on his sixth and final throw. Cuba’s Leikel Cabrera (75.82m) and Brazil’s Thiago Lacerda (69.77m) were second and third respectively.
In men’s hockey, TT salvaged seventh spot as they drubbed Paraguay 4-1 in their classification match. The young Calypso Stickmen saved their best for the first and last quarters, as they jumped out to a 2-0 lead after the first quarter and iced the game with two more goals in the fourth quarter to register the handsome win.
Adam Wyatt led the TT effort with two goals, with Wayne Edwards and Nicholas Whiteman scoring a goal apiece. Paraguay’s lone item was scored by David Villagra.
TT’s medal count:
Eight bronze medals
– 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)
