TORONTO, Canada – Guyana’s last hope of salvaging some pride at the Pan Am Games, now under way here, rests with athlete Winston George who will compete in tonight’s final of the 400 metres.Despite placing a creditable fifth in the first of two heats of the event at the York University Stadium, George’s time of 46.39 seconds was good enough to earn him a spot in the final.
The first three athletes from the two heats were automatic qualifiers while two runners with the next best times were also given qualifying berths, hence George advanced.
Dominican Republic’s Luguelin Santos, with a time of 45.72 seconds, cantered to victory in the same heat George competed in with second place going to Kyle Clemons (USA) who clocked 45.75 while Trinidad and Tobago’s Jarrin Solomon occupied the third spot with 46.16 seconds.
Machel Cedenio made it two T&T runners in tonight’s final, placing second in the other heat which was won by Costa Rica’s Nery Brenes in 45.85 seconds. Cedenio’s time was 46.06 seconds.
It was also a good day for women high jumpers from the Caribbean with the trio of Levern Spencer (St Lucia), Priscilla Frederick (Antigua & Barbuda) and Akela Jones (Barbados) occupying the three top spots from a field that included competitors from the USA, Canada and Brazil among others.
Spencer won with a leap of 1.94 metres while both Frederick and Jones were recorded at 1.91 metres. Another St Lucian, Jeanelle Schepper placed fifth with 1.88.
Guyana’s two other athletes, Adam Harris and Jenea McCammon, failed to get past the first round in their respective heats. Harris did not finish the men’s 100 metres third heat, pulling up after completing about 30 metres while McCammon ended in the eighth spot in the women’s 400 metres hurdles heat. The debutant McCammon clocked a disappointing 1:03.21 to finish at the back of the field which saw USA’s Shamier Little winning in a time of 56.08 seconds.
Harris’ heat was won by T&T’s Keston Bledman in 9.95 seconds with USA’s Remontay McClain placing second in 9.99 and Shavez Hart of The Bahamas third in 10.13.
The men’s 100 metres final was scheduled to be run last night with Canadian sensation Andre Degrasse, who is also this year’s National College Athletic Association (NCAA) double sprint champion, a hot favourite to capture the gold medal. (Frederick Halley)