8th IAAF World Youth Championships Update: Day 5 (FINAL DAY)

The final day of competition was short with just one session of events.

Left: Denzel Pratt. Right (front to back): Pennerman, Kerr, Rolle, & Deluze. Photo Courtesy Kermit Taylor/ Bahamas Athletics

Throws

Denzel Pratt went into the javelin finals, fist Bahamian ever, and was only able to muster together a throw of 64.20m. this toss was good enough to get him an 11th place finish. Winning the event was Matija Muhar of Slovakia with a toss of 78.84m, Morbert Rivasz-Toth of Hungry silver 78.27m, and Pablo Bugallo of Spain bronze 76.63m.

Relays

Bahamas World Youth boys relay team finished the medley race in a season best time of 1 minute 52.97 seconds for 5th. The team was comprised of Keanu Pennerman, Ian Kerr, Kinard Rolle and Henri Deluze. Winning the event was Jamaica in a NEW WORLD YOUTH WORLD RECORD time of 1 minute 49.23 seconds for the GOLD, USA 1:50.14 silver, and Japan 1:50.52 for the bronze.

Now that the World Youth Championships have come to an end, Team Bahamas will head back home where some of its member will continue training for the upcoming Junior Pan Am Championships August 23rd-25th in Medellin, Columbia. We here at Track Side Bahamas extend our congratulations to the WYC team for a great job done!

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8th IAAF World Youth Championships Update: Day 4

Relays got underway at the championships, as Team Bahamas made strides on the track and on the field in Day 4 in Donetsk, Ukraine.

From left to right: Jenae Ambrose, Kadiesha Hield, Mesha Newbold & Drexel Maycock. Photo Courtesy Kermit Taylor/ Bahamas Athletics

Relays

The Bahamas' girls Medley Relay was the first of the team to compete on the track for the morning session of Day 4, July 13th, 2013. The young runners were able to finish 5th in heat 3 of the event with a time of 2 minutes 13.63 seconds. This result was good enough to rank them 12th in the world, but just shy of making the finals scheduled for tomorrow.The USA girls lead qualifiers, 2 minutes 07.13 seconds. The boys squad had a different fate. They were able to finish 2nd in heat 2 of their preliminary round with a time of 1 minutes 53.38 seconds. That team will advance to the finals ranked 6th overall. Leading the boys finalists is Japan with a time of 1 minutes 52.18 seconds.

Sprints

Jenae Ambrose once again got a second chance in a semifinal, this time coming in the girls 200m. Running blind from lane 8, Jenae finished 6th in heat 2 of 3 semifinals. her time of 25.05 seconds was not enough to advance her to the finals, and she ends her quest for a 200m championship ranked number 19th in the world.

Jenae Ambrose. Photo Courtesy Kermit Taylor/Bahamas Athletics

The boys side saw Ian Kerr finishing just off pace in a time of 21.91 seconds into a gusty headwind of -2.5. Kerr finished 5th in heat 2 of the boys 200m, ranking him 14th overall, and not advancing him to the finals. Janeko Cartwright went in the following heat. Janeko did not have a good race as he suffered some injuries and did not finish (DNF) the race.

Ian Kerr. Photo Courtesy Kermit Taylor/Bahamas Athletics

Janeko Cartwright. Photo Courtesy Kermit Taylor/ Bahamas Athletics

Jumps

The boys high jump competition lived up to the excitement it had promised. Laquan Nairn of Team Bahamas leaped to a huge personal best of 2.16m. The winning jump of the competition came from that of Sanghyeok Woo of Korea 2.18m, just 2 centimeters high than the Bahamian. The drama unfolded as Laquan was in a 3 way tie fo the bronze medal when it came to the clearance of the 2.16. CARIFTA gold medalist Christoff Bryan won the bronze medal as Nairn and Olesksandr Baranniko of Ukraine and more knockdowns. Laquan is now ranked the 5th best youth high jumper of 2013.

Laquan Nairn. Photo Courtesy Kermit Taylor/Bahamas Athletics

Throws

In the qualification rounds of the boys discus throw Drexel Maycock went in Group A. He ended the competition with no mark. He was just unable to get his mark down, and get a fare throw in.

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8th IAAF World Youth Championships Update: Day 3

History has been made as Team Bahamas competed at the WYC today, Day 3 of competition.

From left to right: Denzel Pratt, Kawain Culmer, & Xavier Coakley. Photo Courtesy Kermit Taylor/ Bahamas Athletics

Throws

Coached by women's national record holder, Lavern Eve, Denzel Pratt made history as he is the first Bahamian male to advance to a finals at the World Youth Games in a throwing event. En route of this accomplishment, Denzel threw a personal best of 70.88m. This was good enough for him to go into the finals ranked 10th of the finalist who advanced. He also set a NEW JUNIOR NATIONAL RECORD, breaking Kevin Smith's record of 69.94m set back in 1989.

Hurdles

Xavier Coakley was not far off from his PR as he finished his semifinal in the boys 110m hurdles. He was 6th in semifinal 3 with a time of 13.93 seconds. That was just enough for him to finish 16th overall, had he ran his personal best as he did at the junior trials in Nassau, he would've advanced to the finals. Nonetheless, he had a great competition in both the 400m and 110m hurdle races.

Jumps

St. Augustine's athlete Kawain Culmer had the triple jump qualification rounds today. Culmer is the younger brother of the women's national record holder in the high jump, Kenya Culmer. Kawain was able to get a personal best of 14.96m to finish 9th in of qualification Group B, and 14th overall. This means he was just two spot shy of being another Bahamian to advance to a finals at the Games.

Sprints

Jenae Ambrose. Photo Courtesy Kermit Taylor/ Bahamas Athletics

The 200m for girls saw Loushanya Neymour and Jenae Ambrose in action. Jenae went in heat 7 and finished 3rd in a time of 24.40 seconds. This time was good enough for her to advance to tomorrow's semifinals. 

Loushanya Neymour. Photo Courtesy Kermit Taylor/Bahamas Athletics

Loushanya's time of 25.08 seconds was only good enough for 5th in heat 3, and does not advance her to the next round of competition. 

On the boys side of the 200m, both Bahamian competitors advance to the semifinals. Ian Kerr was first up for the young men, and finished 2nd in heat 3 with a time of 21.68 seconds. Second competitor Janeko Cartwright won heat 6 in a time of 21.57 seconds. These athletes are ranked 8th and 14th heading into the next round, out of 24 athletes.

Ian Kerr. Photo Courtesy Kermit Taylor/ Bahamas Athletics

Janeko Cartwright. Photo Courtesy Kermit Taylor/ Bahamas Athletics

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8th IAAF World Youth Championships Update: Day 2

Though day 2 brought some athletes of Team Bahamas' meet to an end, we also saw some of those athletes advancing to the semifinals and finals of their respective events.

Throws

Breshae Woods had the qualification rounds of the girls shot put in session one of today's competition. She had a best throw of 13.27m. That throw was only good enough to rank her 24th in group A, and does not advance her to the finals. Woods finishes the meet as the 47th youth in the world of 56 competitors.

Breshae Woods. Photo Courtesy Kermit Taylor/ Bahamas Athletics

Hurdles

Hurdler Xavier Coakley was able to advance to the semi finals of the boys 110m hurldes with a pretty good performance. Xavier was 5th in preliminary heat number 2. His time time that helped him to advance was 14.05 seconds. In session two of today, Coakley also went on to compete in the boys 400m hurdles semifinals. He finished 6th in semifinal 1 with a time of 53.78 seconds, and does not advance to the finals.

Xavier Coakley. Photo Courtesy Kermit Taylor/ Bahamas Athletics

Jumps

Laquan Nairn got underway with his second event of the meet in the boys high jump. Nairn cleared the automatic qualifying height of 2.09m. This attempt was cleared on his second attempt at the height and as a result, Nairn goes into the finals ranked number 6 on the count of knockdowns.

Laquan Nairn. Photo Courtesy Kermit Taylor/ Bahamas Athletics

Sprints

The boys 400m semifinals took place, and competitor Janeko Carwright had another personal best performance. Janeko finished 3rd in semifinal 2 with a time of 47.23 seconds. The top two of each semifinal automatically advanced to the finals, and because of his time Cartwright was unable to advance to the finals of the event.

Janeko Cartwright. Photo Courtesy Kermit Taylor/ Bahamas Athletics

Sprinter Jenae Ambrose didn't have the race she had planned. In the semifinal 1 of the girls 100m, Jenae finished 7th in a time of 12.02 seconds. This time was slower than her prelims time of 11.99 seconds ran yesterday and does not advance her to the finals.

Jenae Ambrose. Photo Courtesy Kermit Taylor/ Bahamas Athletics

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8th IAAF World Youth Championships Update: Day 1

Team Bahamas got underway in a slow fashion as day one of the Championships got started in Ukraine.

Sprints

In the boys 400m Kinard Rolle finished 5th in heat 5 with a time of  49.51. Unfortunately,  his time was not good enough to advance him to the next round. On the other hand, Doris Johnson sprinter Janeko Cartwright won heat 7 with a personal best time of 47.25, and advances to the next round and keeps the hopes of making the finals alive. Kadeisha Hield, in the girls 400m, was 6th in heat 7 with a time of 57.63, and ends her quest for the quarter mile. She now shifts her focus on the 200m.

Jumps

Carifta long jump champion Laquan Nairn ended up 13th overall in the boys long jump with a leap of 7.33m. The automatic qualifying distance was 7.35m, and had Laquan finished 12th he would have made the finals. That distance was the exact distance that the next competitor leaped to advance.

Hurdles

Xavier Coakley did not disappoint in the boys 400m hurdles as he went on to finish 2nd in heat 1. Xavier's time was 54.11 seconds, and set him up for a good lane draw in the semifinals. D'mitry Charlton was 5th in heat 3 in a time of 56.09 seconds, but his competition ended there. The girls 400m hurdles saw Talia Thompson  and Mesha Newbold in action. Talia finished 7th in heat 2 and Mesha 6th in heat 4. Their times were 1:04.43 and 1:05.72 respectively.  As expected, a time of 1:02 or better was needed to make it to the semifinals.

Sprints

Makeya White was the first Bahamian female to compete in the girls 100m. She ended up 5th in heat 2 with a time of 12.62 seconds. The second competitor was the compact Jenae Ambrose who was 2nd in heat 6. Her time of 11.99 seconds easily advances her to the next round of competition. In the boys 100m heats, Ian Kerr was 3rd in heat 3 in a time of 11.04 seconds, and Keanu Pennerman 3rd in heat 4 11.21 seconds. Neither of the young men will advance to the next round. Kerr, however, will now concentrate on the 200m heats.

Team Bahamas is not done yet, so stay tuned to our Facebook and Twitter pages for live updates, and we will have a daily update on this very blog.

HAPPY 40TH INDEPENDENCE DAY BAHAMAS!!!

Photo Courtesy Kermit Taylor/ Bahamas Athletics
Track Side Bahamas © 2013