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National Championships - Records and Winners

Track & Field Retrospect by Bernard Linley :: 19.07.2017

At the 2017 edition of the National Championships new records were set in five events.

Three were by women (Michelle-Lee Ahye at 100m, Sparkle McKnight at 400m hurdles, and Khemani Roberts in the heptathlon) and two by men (Jereem Richards over 200m and Kareem Roberts in the high jump).

The oldest records now on the books are almost 30 years old: 3000m steeplechase (9.43.35 by Anthony Appoy in 1988) and women's long jump (6.64m by Euphemia Huggins in 1989).

Since foreign guest athletes are permitted to compete at our championships, it is normal that sometimes they finish first in races, and also record performances superior to the Championships record.

This is currently the case for nine events, noteworthy being 3.50m in the women's pole vault by Cuban Lisa Salomon in 2014, and the men's steeplechase time of 8:46.43 in 2015 by Ruben Chebonmwei of Kenya.

In 2017 no less than five men and seven women retained their title, including Ayanna Alexander who won the triple jump for the twelfth consecutive year! 

But marks better than those of our winners were achieved by foreign guest athletes from Nigeria, Ghana, British Virgin Islands, St Vincent and Grenada.

The men's events with most competitors were 200m with 39 and 400m with 28, while the women's 100m attracted 27 entries.

In contrast, there was just one competitor in the men's hammer throw, and only two each for the women's 100m hurdles and high jump.

This means that in local track and field, sprint races continue to be more popular than other events, although interest in the javelin throw has increased since Keshorn Walcott's Olympic gold medal in 2012.

See Trinidad & Tobago National Championships
See Trinidad & Tobago National Championship Records

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