…Archibald clocks blistering 10.21s

IT was a less-than-ferocious day as the Athletics Association of Guyana (AAG) staged its first track and field competition of the year at the Leonora Track and Field Complex on Sunday.

The meet, sanctioned by the AAG, had a select amount of Development and Olympic qualification events, but as expected with a year hiatus, the majority of the athletes did not perform to their highest potential and it was clear to the eye.

In the pros and cons department, it was great that the association was able to successfully host a meet at the Track and Field facility under the COVID-19 guidelines.

 This proved to the National COVID-19 Task Force (NCTF) that they are capable of keeping their athletes safe from the spread of the virus and that may tip the scale in their (AAG) favour for future endeavours.

It was also a positive sign to start the season with regular synchronized timing and the meet also gave the athletes a chance to compete on the synthetic surface which will be quite important as they transition into their competition phase.

However, after Sunday’s performances, you must empathise with the athletes because we are aware of the situation, but they must remain optimistic that their performances will improve drastically in the coming months.

Sunday’s proceedings were also on the cards to be live streamed on the AAG’s Facebook page, but it was a disappointing search for the fans that looked forward to the broadcasting, since there was none.

<<The Athletes…>>

The seniors’ programme was business as usual with the events on the card open to Olympic qualifying standards. But there was no instance of an athlete staking his/her claim this early for the 2020 Summer Olympics.

The highlight of the day went to Emmanuel Archibald who ran a personal record of 10.21s in the 100m Men and painstakingly missed the qualifying standard for the 2021 Summer Olympics which is set at 10.05s. However, they have until June 29 to make the opportunities count.

Meanwhile, the junior athletes were also not at their brilliant best even though training has been taking place, but it is expected to see improvements once competitions are given a chance to unfold during the pandemic.

As for Sunday’s results, they were expected to be released to the media after all the times and attempts were finalized by the association, but up to press time on Monday, the results had not been released. Prior to that, Chronicle Sport’s attempts to contact the association went unanswered.