media_artricles :: 2015

Alvin Daniel: Cedenio can beat Kirani James

MACHEL CEDENIO, the 19-year-old 400 metre runner whose athletic career is already glittered with success at the relatively tender age of 19, has the makings of an Olympic 400 metre champion. That is the opinion of Alvin Daniel, one of TT’s celebrated quarter-milers of a bygone, but not forgotten era.

Daniel’s pronouncement on Cedenio did not come in the wake of the lanky southerner’s performances at the recently-concluded Pan American Games in Toronto; weeks before, he had told Newsday it was his conviction that Cedenio would win 400 gold at the upcoming IAAF World Championships in Beijing.

Not surprisingly, his opinion hadn’t changed when Newsday called him yesterday for comment.

“He’s young, and he’s already been having a lot of success,” Daniel said, listing some factors he felt would weigh in the athlete’s favour in Beijing. “The big names (in the 400m) have a lot at stake; he (Machel) has been exposed to big events at an early age; he’s hungrier and he has nothing to lose.”

Daniel, who ran at the 1992 Games in Barcelona, was quite clear on what the rising quarter-miler needs to do to beat the World and Olympic champion.

“I have him down to beat Kirani James. It’s just a matter of race- planning. Anytime a quarter-miler can finish so fast, he’s a threat.

“But he has to stay with Kirani. Once it comes down to the home stretch, he’s going to beat him. He finishes very fast for a quarter- miler.”

Cedenio showed just how fast he can finish when he turned possible bronze into gold for TT in the final 50 metres of the 4x400m final at the Pan Am Games on Saturday night.

His performance had track fans buzzing for days with his blistering pace on the anchor jaw-dropping.

Daniel should know about the art of running 400s. In the late ‘80s and early ‘90s, he was part of TT’s formidable 4x400 metre relay quartet that was spearheaded by Ian Morris, a two-time Olympic finalist, and included Neil De Silva and Patrick Delice.

He also had the distinction of whipping his Jamaican 400m rivals in their own backyard (the National Stadium in Kingston) for four successive years.

The Point Fortin native was also excited about the prospect of Cedenio running with a full-strength TT mile relay team. “If (Deon) Lendore is running, Cedenio, (Renny) Quow and (Lalonde) Gordon... the only team I can see to challenge them is America.”

That comment prompted Newsday to seek his opinion on Gordon, who has been inconsistent over the distance since winning bronze medals in both the 400 and the 4x400 metre relay in the London 2012 Olympics.

“Lalonde, that is just his style,” Daniel responded. “I find he has a lot of talent, but he stays back too long, makes his move too late. You don’t let your main challengers go past you- stay as close as possible.”

Daniel’s picks for the relay final in Beijing was Gordon, Lendore, Cedenio and Quow (not in any specific order), with Jarrin Solomon as reserve.

The World Championships open in Beijing on August 22; the Men’s 400m final will be run on August 26, and the mile relay final will close the programme on the final night, August 30.

Top