Brown beats Bolt for regional junior award

HAVANA: The Dominican Republic’s irrepressible 400-metre hurdles world champion Felix Sanchez has topped Kim Collins, of St Kitts and Nevis, in the poll as best male athlete for the Central American and the Caribbean Athletics Confederation (CACAC). Sanchez and Mexico’s Ana Guevara snatched the top awards for the second consecutive year, as a result of a survey carried out by experts from the region. Sanchez and Guevara, the world 400-metre champion, continued their undefeated campaign, both claiming Pan American Games titles in Santo Domingo and World Championships gold in Paris. They were also chosen as the best Latin American sportsman and woman of 2003, according to a poll organised by the Latin American news agency Prensa Latina.

Trinidad and Tobago’s Darrel Brown and Cuba’s Yudelkis Fernandez copped the junior awards. With 45 points, the California-based Sanchez defeated world 100-metre champion and CAC championship gold medallist Collins (36). Third place went to Cuba’s triple jumper Yoandri Betanzos (17), who was Pan American champion in Santo Domingo and silver medallist in Paris and he was followed by Brown (14), runner-up to Collins in Paris, where he improved the world junior record to 10.01. The fifth spot went to Jamaican Germaine Mason (7), a high jump revelation this season. He claimed the Pan American gold with a personal best of 2.34 and made it to the World final in Paris. Guevara became the first woman to run 400 metres under 49 seconds since the 1996 Atlanta Olympic final. Her personal best (48.89) placed her as the eighth fastest one-lap runner of all time.

Her superb performance earned her 44 points, enough to prevail over Cuba’s World hammer champion Yipsi Moreno (37), Jamaica’s Paris silver medallists, 100-metre hurdler Brigitte Foster (22) and 400-metre runner Lorraine Fenton (16). For the male junior award, Brown (29) prevailed over Jamaican 17-year-old star Usain Bolt (22), who equalled the 200-metre World Junior record with a 20.13 run in Barbados and added the World Youth title in Sherbrooke to his log. The 18-year-old Fernandez won the long and triple jump gold medals at the Pan-American Junior Champs in Barbados. She tallied 25 points to lead Jamaican World Youth 200-metre champion Aneisha McLaughlin (17) in the poll.