media_artricles :: 2017

Emotional St Fort wins sprint double

Trinidad and Tobago picked up two gold medals yesterday to take their final tally to 20 medals (seven gold, five silver, eight bronze) as the CARIFTA Games came to a halt yesterday in Curacao.

National Olympian Khalifa St Fort completed a scintillating sprint double in an emotional performance while clinching first place in the Girls Under-20 200m final. 

St Fort, coached by sprint legend Ato Boldon, had to dig deep but showed her class to pull away from the field with 50m to go and power across the finish line in 23.99 seconds. Coming in second was Grenadian Halle Hazard in 24.15 while Jamaica's Kasheika Cameron followed in 24.28. TT 's Shikyla Walcott was out of the podium positions in sixth place in 24.88. 

St Fort, overcome with emotion after her victory, sought out her coach Boldon who embraced his weeping apprentice saying: "You did it. You did it!" Speaking in a post-race interview, St Fort described the 200m final as the best performance of her life - a strong statement given her gold medal performance in the 100m at the 2015 Pan Am in Canada and her silver medal at the 2015 World Youth Championships in the 100m in Colombia. 

"Definitely I was a little bit worried after the 100 (win) and definitely after the 200 prelims. 

This probably was the best race of my entire career because I know I did put in 100 percent but to be able to come out here and win for Trinidad and Tobago was just amazing. 

I'm just so emotional right now," she said as her voice wavered. 

Closing off the evening's proceedings, TT 's 4x400m Under-20 men snatched gold in a mesmerising team effort that produced a thrilling finish that was just enough to beat Jamaica to first place. 

The TT quartet of Elijah Martin, Jacob St Clair, Judah Taylor and Kashief King stopped the clock at 3:09.22 with Jamaica (3:10.33) having to settle for silver and Bahamas (3:18.02) taking the bronze. 

TT enjoyed a tremendous lead going into the final leg owing to strong second and third legs from St Clair and Taylor. 

TT needed every inch of that advantage as Jamaica's anchor Christopher Taylor tried to do the impossible task of catching King. The speedy Jamaican stunningly began reeling in King slowly but surely and with 50m to go caught the Trinidadian who did not panic. The effort exerted to make up an almost 50m deficit seemed to overwhelm Taylor as King maintained his stride to regain the lead and secure the victory as Taylor stumbled to the line. 

In the Girls Under-20 javelin event, Asha James threw to bronze medal with an effort of 43.24m. 

Her compatriot Akidah Briggs was fifth with 42.27m. 

There were bronze medals for TT 's Boys and Girls U-18 teams in the 4x400 event. Joanna Rogers, Caliyah Wallace, Patrice Richards and Rae- Anne Serville crossed the line in 3:43.05 in the Girls final behind winners Jamaica (3:38.72) and Bahamas (3:41.23). 

TT 's Tyshawn Gray, Kaylon Thomson, Kiddel Carrington and Akil Boisoon clocked 3:20.85 to place third in their relay final. 

Also among the medals was Jerrod Elcock who took the silver in the Boys Under-20 half-lap final. 

Elcock sprinted across the line in 21.54, trailing Cayman Islands' Jamal Walton who won convincingly in 21.29 while Guyanese Compton Caesar was third in 21.56. 

Kymoi Noray, in the morning session, produced a silver medal throw in the Girls Under- 18 javelin, hurling the metal spear 44.98m. 

Also, Tyra Gittens earned silver in the Girls Under-20 long jump with a 6.10m leap. Jamaican Tissanna Hickling won gold with 6.22m. 

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