ARINZE Chance and Aliyah Abrams did the expected and decimated their rivals to easily win the 400m finals at the Athletics Association of Guyana (AAG) Senior Championships held at the National Track and Field Facility yesterday.

The two sprinters who are based in the United States of America showed their superiority with comprehensive victories in their respective finals.

More of the attention was on Chance since he needed to run a blistering 44.90s to meet the entry standard time for next month’s Olympic Games in Tokyo.

After a breezy 46.56s in the preliminaries on Friday evening, there was a high expectation that the PowerAde Brand Ambassador would at least run a sub-46 time but he clocked 47.66s and still finished about 10 metres ahead of nearest rival Michael James (49.53s) and Courtly Bobb (50.01s).

For Abrams, she would have already qualified for the Games – the lone Track and Field athlete from Guyana to date – and the aim would have been to improve ahead of the Games.
Abrams ran a pedestrian 54.51s, a vastly slower time to her personal best of 51.13s which was achieved in June 2019, or even the season-best time of 51.46s recorded in May.

Joanna Archer (57.06s) and Collia Rowe (58.37s) completed the podium spots.
The 24-year-old, who will compete at her second Olympics, stated that she has two more meets lined up ahead of Tokyo to get closer to her best.

Meanwhile, Guyana Defence Force’s Mark Jhalu registered his personal best and a new national stadium record of 2.12m in the high jump while Natrena Hooper won the female version of the jump in 1.63m.
Earlier in the day, Cleveland Thomas won the men’s 1500m in four minutes 8.68 seconds followed by Nicholas Daw (4:10.52s) and Anfernee Headecker (4:11.68s).

Likewise, Shaquka Tyrell ensured the Tyrell sisters went home with gold as she won the women’s 1500m event in a time of five minutes 13.52 seconds, in a close finish with Aaliyah Headley (5:31.65s) while Tia Azore (5:38.58s) brought third.

Today marks the final day of the championships which will get underway from 13:00hrs.
The highlights of the day are expected to be the finals of the 200m, 800m, and the long jump events.