media_artricles :: 2015

TT’s best-ever Pan Am medal haul

NATIONAL quarter-miler, Machel Cedenio masterfully anchored Trinidad and Tobago to its third and final gold medal at the 2015 Pan American Games, when he defied the odds in the Men’s 4x400 metre relay final on the penultimate night of action at the CIBC Athletics Stadium in Toronto, Canada, on Saturday.

The 20-year old Presentation College, San Fernando graduate, and teammates Renny Quow, Jarrin Solomon and Emmanuel Mayers, combined to produce a mesmerising season’s best time of 2:59.60 in the final, ahead of silver medallists Cuba (2:59.84) and bronze receivers USA (3:00.21). Running out of lane eight, Quow ran a strong opening leg and was first to pass the baton off. Jarrin Solomon maintained a top three position on his lap and handed over to Mayers, who carried his team’s momentum around the track to an in-form Cedenio, now clearly a fair distance behind the race leaders. At 200m out, it seemed they were destined for bronze. However, the 2014 IAAF World Youth Championships winner had other plans, and began a forceful surge towards the finish line with approximately 100m to go. Cedenio would shift gears on the home straight and blow past a blindly confident Bahamas and Cuba to steal gold in fine style.

The national quartet became TT’s first sprint team to capture gold at the Games and also pocketed a US$9,000 from the Trinidad and Tobago Olympic Committee’s medal bonus – an integral part of their 10Golds24 Athlete Welfare and Preparation Fund. Following the race, Solomon said, “This feels real good. After all the races this week, gold and a medal bonus is nice way to top it off.”

In the semis, TT had advanced third-fastest in 3:01.58, behind the Bahamas (3:01.00) and Cuba (3:01.17). One interesting point to note is that TT clocked their season’s best time and captured Pan Am gold without the likes of IAAF world ranked number eight, Deon Lendore, and London Olympic 400m and 4x400m bronze medallist, Lalonde Gordon.

Earlier, the Men’s 4x100m relay outfit (Rondel Sorrillo, Keston Bledman, Emmanuel Callender, Dan-Neil Telesford) were controversially bumped up from their original fourth place (38.69s) finish and into third, when race winners Canada were disqualified. A protest by silver medallists USA (38.27s), third placed Brazil (38.68s) and TT was upheld, and Canada were disqualified on the grounds that a runner stepped on the line that separated lanes seven and eight..

The women’s team crashed out on Saturday, due to an unsuccessful baton exchange in the semi-finals.

In the Women’s 4x400m final however, TT’s Janeil Bellille, Ramona Modeste, Alena Brooks and Sparkle McKnight placed seventh overall in 3:33.31.

Emile Abraham, the 2007 Pan Am silver medallist placed eighth out of 30 competitors in the Men’s cycling road race with a time of 3:46:35. Venezuelan Miguel Ubeto claimed the gold in 3:46:26 while the USA’s Eric Marcotte and Boivin Guillame of Canada claimed the silver and bronze in the same time.

The 2015 TT Pan American contingent has now ended their Pan Am Games ranked 15th, with eight medals (three gold, three silver and two bronze), one more than its highest-ever Pan Am medal haul.

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