Sprinter James grabs bronze at world juniors

JAMIL JAMES captured the first medal for Trinidad and Tobago yesterday at the IAAF World Junior Championships in Grosseto, Italy. James finished third in the men’s 200 metres while Tobagonian Kelly-Ann Baptiste, after a photofinish, was placed in fourth position in the women’s equivalent. In the men’s half-lap, American-born Italian Andrew Howe, who earlier claimed gold in the men’s long jump, cruised to victory in a new championship record time of 20.28 seconds, erasing the previous mark of 20.44. Howe, in lane five, had an excellent start and never relinquished his lead, with South African Leigh Julius in lane six taking the silver medal in 20.88 and James, in lane seven, third in 21.00. The other places were taken up by Canadian Hank Palmer (21.13), Britons Julian Thomas (21.13) and Rikki Fifton (21.17), Ghana’s Samuel Adade (21.20) and Colombia’s Daniel Grueso (21.45).

American Shalonda Solomon, in lane five, stormed to a superb win in the women’s 200, turning on the turbo in the final 50 metres to blow away the Jamaican Anneisha McLaughlin, who had matched her stride for stride around the bend, and pull away to stop the clock at 22.82 —  like the men’s final, this time was a new championship record. McLaughlin, although unable to match her American rival in the closing stages, held on for silver (in lane six) in 23.21, but the real race was on behind for the bronze medal between Caribbean rivals Nickesha Anderson of Jamaica, and Baptiste running in adjacent lanes (three and four respectively). As they flashed across the line, it was impossible to separate the two, but after examination of the photo-finish, Anderson was awarded the bronze, and both women given the same time of 23.46. Completing the top eight were American Shana Cox (23.63), German Maike Dix (24.01), Nigerian Seyi Omojuwa (24.11) and France’s Auralie Kamga (24.17). Annie Alexander will be vying for TT’s second medal today in the women’s shot put final. Alexander was second in Group “B” with a throw of 15.34 metres, which came in the second of her three attempts (her other distances were 14.21m and 15.06m).

But Alexander will have to improve considerably in order to gain a piece of silverware, as her effort yesterday was ranked tenth amongst the 12 finalists. National and regional junior long jump champ Rhonda Watkins failed to advance to today’s final as she finished tenth out of 11 participants in Group “B” yesterday. The 16-year-old Watkins recorded distances of 5.82, 5.62 and 5.92 metres respectively. The men’s 4x400-metre and women’s 4x100m relay teams will also be involved in semi-final action today as they aim to qualify for tomorrow’s finals. The 4x400 quartet of Simeon Bovell, James, Marcus Duncan and Stam Waithe were to face the starter’s gun in lane seven in heat three; with challenges from Croatia (lane two), Poland (lane three), South Africa (lane four), Italy (lane five) and Australia (lane six). In the 4x100, the foursome of Wanda Hutson, Baptiste, Monique Cabral and Abigail David were drawn in lane three of heat three, with Japan in lane two, USA lane four, Germany lane five, Italy lane six and Switzerland lane seven.