KINGSTON, Jamaica – A new generation of Caribbean track and field standouts will be in action this weekend when the 49th CARIFTA Games gets underway here at the National Stadium in the country’s capital.
Deferred in 2020 and 2021 due to the COVID-19, the Games will begin with the pandemic still swirling. Still, the three days of quality competition are expected to take precedence, with the likes of World Under-20 100 meters champion Jamaican Tina Clayton, as one of the headliners.
Also leading the parade will be four athletes who currently are ranked number one on the World Under-20 performance list and 13 who won their events when the Games were last staged in 2019.
The World number one is Bahamian javelins Keyshawn Strachan and the Jamaican trio of shot-putter Christopher Young, 100-metres hurdler Oneka Young and triple jumper Jayden Hibbert.
Confirmed to compete are 2019 CARIFTA Under-17 champions Jaleel Croal BVI (200m), Bermudian Nirobi Smith Mills (800m), Mitchell Curtis of the Bahamas (1 500m), Guyana’s Matthew Gordon (3 000m), Young in the discus and his Jamaican teammate Kobe Lawrence in the shot put.
The girls who return from winning Under-17 titles in 2019 are Anthaya Charlton of the Bahamas (100, long jump), Sheniqua Bascombe of Trinidad and Tobago (200m), Bermuda’s Caitlyn Bobb (400m), Anisha Gibbons of Guyana (javelin) and the Jamaicans Annika McDonald (high jump) and Cedrick Williams (discus).
This group will all now see action in the Under-20 age category.
All eyes, however, will be on rising stars Clayton and Strachan, who is expected to be among the Games’ brightest attractions.
In the sprint-friendly high altitude of Nairobi, Kenya, last summer, Clayton sped to victory in 11.09 seconds at the World Under-20 Championships. On April 6, she emerged victorious in a match race with CARIFTA Under-20 200 favorite Brianna Lyston at Jamaica’s Boys and Girls Championships by 0.03 seconds.
Strachan, meanwhile, has broken his country’s javelin record in almost every competition this season, and the mark now stands at 78.63 meters.
Pundits are already likening the six-foot, five-inch thrower to Trinidad and Tobago’s Keshorn Walcott and Anderson Peters of Grenada. They have won global titles in the javelin in the past.
The 18-year-old Bahamian broke Anderson’s Under-17 meet record in 2019. Later that year, Anderson won the gold medal at the senior World Championships, while in 2012, Walcott became the first Caribbean athlete to take first place in the men’s javelin at the Olympics.
The hosts have the largest contingent with 78 athletes, with the Bahamas bringing 54 of their future stars to Kingston. Trinidad and Tobago have traveled with 54 athletes, and in the British Virgin Islands, 43 athletes.
In 2019, Jamaica won 85 medals overall with 36 gold, 33 silver, and 16 bronze, while the Bahamas finished with 26 and Trinidad and Tobago with 24 medals.
Action on Day One starts at 9 am local time and climaxes with the finals of the 100 meters for boys and girls in both the Under-20 and Under-17 age categories.
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