Aaron Antoine and Keeran Sriskandarajah struck gold for Trinidad and Tobago, late yesterday, opening day of the 2022 Carifta Games at the National Stadium in Kingston, Jamaica.

Antoine went over the bar at 2.16 metres to top the Boys Under-20 high jump field. The winning jump is a new T&T Under-20 record.

Sriskandarajah returned a time of four minutes, 10.58 seconds to claim top spot in the Boys Under-17 1500 metres. The England-based runner enjoyed a comfortable cushion on second-placed Javon Roberts (4:12.54) of Guyana. Jamaican Yoshane Bowen (4:13.15) claimed bronze.

Kayleigh Forde clocked 4:52.14 to snap up silver for T&T in the Girls Under-17 1500m. Guyana's Attoya Harvey won in 4:45.75, with third spot going to Jamaican Kededra Coombs (4:52.19). Another T&T runner, Aniqah Bailey was fifth in 4:57.02.

Tenique Vincent opened the T&T medal account in the morning session.

Vincent cleared the bar at 1.65 metres to seize silver in the Girls Under-17 high jump. The 14-year-old athlete enjoyed first-time clearances at 1.45 metres, 1.50, 1.55 and 1.60. At 1.65, she went over on her second attempt.

With the bar raised to 1.70m, Vincent was already assured of at least silver, the competition having been reduced to just two athletes - Vincent and Jamaican Danielle Noble. Vincent knocked down the bar three times, while Noble successfully negotiated the height on her first attempt to strike gold for the host nation. The Jamaican jumper went on to clear 1.73m.

British Virgin Islands (BVI) athlete Jah'kyla Morton bagged bronze with a 1.60m clearance on her first attempt. T&T's Gianna Paul also went over at 1.60, but did it on her second try and had to settle for joint-fourth with Jamaica' Asia McKay.

Vincent outclassed rivals

Vincent did manage to jump 1.70m yesterday, but in the girls' open heptathlon. Though she is the youngest athlete in the seven-discipline event, Vincent outclassed her rivals in the high jump, the 1.70 clearance earning her 855 points.

Earlier, Vincent clocked 15.94 seconds in the 100m hurdles for 722 points. She was second after the first two disciplines with 1,577 points. Paul was third with 1,518, following a 15.83 seconds run in the sprint hurdles and a 1.64m clearance in the high jump. After press time, yesterday, Vincent and Paul competed in the heptathlon shot put and 200m.

Anthony Diaz was also on the podium for T&T, landing the spear 63.69 metres for silver in the Boys Under-20 javelin.

The gold medallist, Keyshawn Strachan was in a competition of his own, the Bahamian throwing a Championship and national record 79.89m to extend his lead at the top of the 2022 world U-20 performance list. Grenadian Cameron Thomas produced a 60.80m effort to bag bronze. T&T's Dorian Charles finished fifth with a 58.84m throw. T&T's Peyton Winter threw the iron ball 12.02m for fifth spot in the Girls Under-17 shot put. BVI's Savianna Joseph was golden at 13.54. Jamaican Natassia Burrell (13.10) and Bahamian Terrell McCoy (13.00) earned silver and bronze, respectively.

After press time, last night, Janae De Gannes competed in the Girls Under-17 100m final. The T&T athlete finished fifth in the second semifinal in 12.15 seconds to qualify for the championship race on time. Another T&T sprinter, Alexxe Henry was fourth in the opening semi in 12.24, and did not progress. In the opening round, Henry clocked 12.15, while De Gannes got to the line in 12.30.

The Boys Under-17 100m final featured Jamario Russell. The T&T sprinter topped the opening semi-final heat in 11.15 seconds. Khadeem Ryan missed out a lane in the championship race after finishing fourth in heat two in 11.33.

Shaniqua Bascombe went into last night's Girls Under-20 100m final as the fastest qualifier. The T&T athlete won the first semi-final race in a personal best 11.50. Bascombe's team-mate, Kyah La Fortune was third in the second semi in 12.27 and did not advance.

Revell Webster finished third in the second Boys Under-20 100m semi-final heat in 10.52 to qualify for the championship race. The other T&T entrant, Jaden De Souza did not progress. He was fifth in the opening semi in 10.64. In the preliminaries, Webster and De Souza clocked 10.71 and 10.89, respectively.

The 400m finals were also contested after press time, last night.

Cyril Sumner represented T&T in the Boys Under-20 championship race. Sumner clocked 48.72 seconds in the qualifying round to secure his lane. Joshua Mascall (50.61) was eliminated. Kaiyin Morris (50.19) and Kyle Williams (50.66) qualified for the Boys Under-17 final. Jenna-Marie Thomas advanced to the medal round in the girls' under-17 400m with a 59.92 seconds run. Natasha Fox, however, bowed out of the Girls Under-20 one-lap, the Jamaica-based T&T athlete getting home in 56.81.