This was the day that The Bahamas Track and Field Team was supposed to medal at the IAAF Daegu World Championships.
Donald & Trevor
Donald Thomas and Trevor Barry had made it to the final of the High Jump.
Based upon their performances they were ready.
In speaking with world record holder Javier Sotomayor of Cuba, if Donald could jump 2.34m he could win. After all, Donald won four years ago in Osaka.
At the start of the High Jump at 7:10 p.m. it was certainly an evening made for competition. It was the right wind and the right temperature.
The competition was sure to be great as Ivan Ukov of Russia had a personal best of 2.40m indoors, two had done 2.37m, one 2.36m, three 2.35m, 2.33m, one 2.32m, two 2.31m and one 2.29m. One of the 2.35m were owned by 2007 World Champion Donald Thomas and the 2.29m, the least of the PR's was owned by Trevor Barry, whose coach Keith Parker touted that he would jump 2.32m sometime this summer.
As it would happen, Donald Thomas was eliminated early. He cleared 2.20m and then failed to clear 2.25m.
Barry cleared 2.25m and decided to pass 2.29m, his personal best.
The bar was moved to 2.32m, a jump Barry had never done in competition. This was the height personal coach Keith Parker said Barry would clear sometime this summer.
At that point Barry was in the lead.
After several persons cleared 2.32m the bar was moved to 2.35m. Only Jesse Williams from the USA, and Russia's Aleksey Dmitrix cleared 2.35m.
After Barry missed all of his jumps at 2.35m all the Bahamians in the stadium had their eyes fixated on the High Jump. One by one the other contenders attempted to clear 2.35m. The last person to attempt that height was Mustaz Essa Barshim of Qatar. When he missed the Bahamians in the stadium erupted with joy. This was to be our first medal!
The Women's 200m
While the High Jump was being contested the Women's 200m semi-final was being held. That morning all three Bahaman runners made it to the semi-final. Debbie Ferguson-Mckenzie had run 22.86sec for third place while Nivea Smith had run 23.09sec for fourth and Anthonique Strachan 23.20sec for fourth place to advance to the semi-final round.
Smith was the first to contend the semi-final. She ran in heat one and finished sixth with a 23.06sec after having run a slow start.
In Ferguson-Mckenzie's semi-final heat she ran 22.85sec for fourth place in heat two. Shalonda Solomon won in 22.66sec and Jamaica's Kerron Stewart finished second in 22.77sec.
Strachan ran 23.85sec for seventh place in heat three. This was one of the slowest times of 2011 for the Austin Sealy Award winner who turned eighteen in Daegu on August 22nd.
Ferguson-Mckenzie moved on to tomorrow's final. She won a bronze medal in this event in Berlin two years ago, a bronze in Athens in 2004, and a Gold in Edmonton in 2001.
She is thirty-five years of age.
Men's Long Jump
In the morning in the Men's Long Jump Raymond Higgs jumped 7.72m in the qualifying round. Only two men did that standard or better. One was Dwight Phillips, who jumped 8.32m and the next person Mitchell Watt jumped 8.15m.
Phillips from the USA is the 2004 Olympic Champion and three time World Champion.
Automatic qualifying required a jump of 8.15m (26'9"), which was Higgs' personal best. His 7.72m placed him in twenty -fourth place.
Men's 4x400m Relay
In the Men's 4x400m relay, Ramon Miller started, Avard Moncur ran second leg, Andrae Williams the third leg, and LaToy Williams anchored. The team was considered a natural to win a medal, definitely to reach the final.
Miller ran a solid leadoff leg, passing off to Moncur, the 2001 World Champion in a good position. Andrae was unable to retain that position, and LaToy lost further ground, placing The Bahamas in fourth in 3:01.54 behind Belgium, Great Britain, and Russia, and out of the semi-final.
The Bahamas finished second in the
2005 and 2007 World Championships and were disqualified in the 2009 Championships for a violation in the exchange zone.
At the Beijing Olympics The Bahamas won the Silver medal with Michael Mathieu, Andrae Williams, Andretti Bain, and Chris Brown. Ramon Miller participated in the first round.
The National record for the event is 2:57.32 done in Helsinki by Moncur, Andrae Williams, Nathaniel McKinney, and Chris Brown. Troy McIntosh ran in the first round.
Although the day had its successes it was difficult to forget the performance of the men's 4x400m relay team. To put the successes in perspective, Golden Girl Debbie Ferguson-Mckenzie made another 200m final.
More importantly Trevor Barry improved his personal best by three centimeters, from 2.29m to 2.32m. All of this happened while his personal coach Keith Parker was at home in bed in The Bahamas with Dengue Fever, and his coach on the team Ronald Cartwright was coaching at this level for his first time. Cartwright was so sick recently that he had to be approved by the BAAA physician to travel.
The tradition of Team Bahamas winning a medal in all World Championships since 1995 in Gothenburg continued.
Possible Medalists
Debbie Ferguson-Mckenzie participates in the final of the women's 200m tomorrow (Friday), Michael Mathieu participates in the first round of the men's 200m tomorrow (Friday), Triple jumper Leevan Sands participates in the qualification round on Friday, and the women's 4x100m is run on the final day, Sunday.
Several other competitions raised the eyebrows of the fans in Daegu Stadium.
Lahinda Demus
USA's LaShinda Demus ran 52.47sec for the women's 400m hurdles, the third best time in history. Melaine Walker of Jamaica, the Beijing Olympic Champion has the second best time in history of 52.42sec. Walker finished in second place with a 52.73sec clocking.
Yargeris Savigne
In the Women's Triple Yargeris Savigne has been one of the best in recent times, winning two consecutive World Championships titles.
The Cuban's photo was on the front of the Daily Programme, and true to form she lost. Colombia's Catherine Ibarguen won the bronze medal with a jump of 14.84m, moving the South American's medal total to two.
Savigne finished with a jump of 14.43m after Mable Gay, her teammate who finished in fourth in 14.43m, and Brit Yamile' Adama who jumped 14.50m for fifth. Adama has jumped for Cuba, her native land, Great Britain, Sudan, and now is back with Great Britain again.
No USA Medalists
In the Men's 400m hurdles Brit David Green captured the event with a clocking of 48.26sec. Javier Culson from Puerto Rico won his country's second medal ever in the World's or Olympic Games when he finished second in 48.44sec.
South Africa's L.J. Van Zyl placed third in 48.80sec. Athens Olympic champion Sanchez finished fourth in 48.87.
This was an unusual competition since both Americans in the race, Angelo Taylor, who won both 2000 and 2008 Olympic Games did not medal, finishing in 49.24sec and 49.31sec, respectively.
There was one last image of the Berlin World Championships when 800m World Champion Caster Semenya of South Africa ran in a semi-final of the 800m. She finished second in 2:01.01.
We look forward to all the action in Daegu tomorrow.
Seoul, North Korea
September 1st, 2011
Daegu, South Korea
Alpheus Finlayson
Media Relations
Bahamas Association of Athletic Associations
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