All set! – 47th FLOW Carifta Games get cracking today
A confident Jamaican team will start the defence of the FLOW Carifta Games track and field title this morning when action in the 47th renewal of the three-day regional championships gets under way at the Thomas A Robinson National Stadium in Nassau, Bahamas.
The Jamaicans won 86 medals at last year’s event held in Curacao, including 39 gold, 28 silver and 19 bronze and have topped the medals table at the last 34 stagings of the meet — 42 times overall since it started in 1972. .
It will be a quick turnaround for most of the athletes after a tough week at the Inter-secondary Schools Sports Association (ISSA)/GraceKennedy Boys’ and Girls’ Championships last week as they seek to battle their regional opponents with less than a week’s rest.
Earlier this week, the highly regarded Kevona Davis, who intended to make her debut in the Under-20 section, was withdrawn out of concern after she was said to be suffering from a sore hamstring after he scintillating performances last week.
Ockera Myrie will replace her in the line-up in the 100m today, while Ray-donna Lee will take her place in the 200m.
Head Coach Machell Woolery told the Jamaica Observer yesterday that the coaching panel had also replaced Anthony Carpenter in the 400m with World Under-18 champion Antonio Watson, while Janielle Josephs will take the place of Shiann Salmon in the Under-20 400m.
Both Carpenter and Salmon are in The Bahamas with the other members of the team.
The organisers of the event have reverted to the Under-17 age-group after moving it up to the Under-18 for the last four events to conform to the IAAF age groupings.
However, with the International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF) scrapping the World Under-18 Championships, the decision was taken to return to the Under-17 this year along with the Under-20.
Twenty-one finals are down to be decided on today’s first day of competition following yesterday’s official opening ceremony, including the 100m and 400m in all four categories, the Under-20 boys’ discus throw and long jump, Under-20 girls’ shot put, the Under-17 girls’ high jump, and the Under-17 boys’ triple jump.
The heptathlon for the girls and octathlon for the boys will also start today.
All three rounds of the 100m will be run today with the first round in the morning session and semi-finals and finals set for the afternoon session. The 400m first round gets off in the morning and the finals end the day’s events.
Jamaica won only three of the eight sprint titles last year and hope to atone the losses starting with the 100m today. Briana Williams, who ran a World age group record 11.13 seconds three weeks ago, and who was third last year, will lead the charge in the Under-17 section.
Terrique Stennett, who ran 10.37 seconds in Class Two at Champs and Andre Bent are expected to carry the flag in the Under-17 boys’ section.
Ryiem Robertson and Michael Bentley will hope to improve on the bronze medal Jamaica won in the Under-20 boys’ section last year, while Myrie and Michae Harriott will have big shoes to fill for Davis in the Under-20 section as they seek to dethrone Trinidad’s sprint double champion Khalifa St Forte.
With boys’ team captain Christopher Taylor opting out of the 400m this season, Deshawn Morris, one of the biggest revelations of the season — winning at Carifta Trials and in Class One at Champs last weekend — and Watson will seek to maintain the high standard set by Taylor.
Charokee Young and Josephs will take on the might of the region in the Under-20 girls’ 400m, while in the Under-17 sections Daniella Deer and Garriel White are the athletes expected to contest the girls’ section, the only one Jamaica failed to win last year, while Rahiem Scott and Malachi Johnson will hope to repeat Jamaica’s gold and silver medal performances from last year.
Fresh from her 1.80m performance at Champs, Shantae Foreman, who is aiming at the Youth Olympics qualifying height of 1.85m, will start as a medal favourite in the Under-17 high jump, while Cheyanne Fearon leads the charge in the girls’ Under-17 shot put event.
The boys’ Under-20 discus throw could come down to yet another showdown between Roje Stona, the second ranked in the world at the Under-20 level, and Kai Chang, both of whom have been battling all season long.
Wayne Pinnock will be hoping to extend his hot streak after winning the Class One long jump at Champs with 7.77m and his 7.99m effort earlier in the season.
Safin Willis, the Under-18 triple jump champion from last year, will also be participating in the Under-20 long jump.