THE country’s three- member athletics team have reaped rich rewards as they competed at the ongoing South American U20 Championship being held in Peru.
In the 400 metres event where Tiana Springer and Malachi Austin were vying for hardware, both booked their places in the final after fabulous runs on Friday.
Springer would finish second place in 54.84 second in the semi to advance to the final.

In the final on Saturday she was however unable to defend her title finishing third place for the bronze medal in 55.12 seconds, far off her personal best time of 52.31 earned earlier this year at the CARFITA Games. Julia Aparecida was first in 54.32 seconds for Brazil with Colombia’s Castro Velasquez second in 54.87 seconds
Malachi Austin would however show his fitness and poise with a fabulous outing in the men’s equivalent of the 400 metres race.

Austin coming out of lane 2 had to put his heels on the track to first put himself in pole position and then to hold off stern challenges from a strong field of athletes.
He passed the finish line in 47.21 seconds for the top position with Ecuador’s Ian Andrey second in 47.69 seconds and Brazil’s Vinicius Moura third in 48.29 seconds.
Sprinter Athaleyha Hinckson was the first to deliver gold in the women’s 100 metres on Friday.

After qualifying straight into the women’s semi- finals, she stormed to a place in the finals with a time of 11.98 second for first place in the semis.
In the finals also on Friday evening she bettered that time with a blistering run of 11.76 to clinch the gold in the South American Championship.
After a strong start she easily powered through the field in the final 30 metres to be unchallenged at the line for the top podium position.

Colombia’s Maturana Maria was second in 11.85 seconds and Vanessa Dos Santos of Brazil was third in 11.86 seconds.
Hinckson is also competing in the women’s 200 metres finals at the three-day event.