Anthonique Strachan inked her name into the history books by becoming the third Bahamian female athlete to win gold at the International Association of Athletic Federations (IAAF) World Junior Championships.
The blistering 11.20 seconds, in the 100 meters (m), turned in by Strachan is the fastest time ran by a junior female athlete this season. Strachan's golden performance was done, yesterday, in front of a large crowd at the Olympic Stadium Lluis Companys de Montjuic, in Barcelona, Spain. The silver medal was reeled in by Nimet Karakus of Turkey, a time of 11.36 seconds and Brazil's Tamiris de Liz crossed the finish line in 11.45 seconds for third.
The young sprinter, Strachan, was one-one hundredth of a second shy from setting a new junior national record, which belongs to Debbie Ferguson-McKenzie. The gold medal is the third for the country at the games. Four years ago, Sheniqua Ferguson won the 200m in 23.24 seconds and Shaunae Miller captured the gold, in 2010, in the 400m. Miller's time was 52.52 seconds.
After two days of competition, The Bahamas is in a four-way tie for sixth with Germany and New Zealand. The 25-member team will look to build on the medal count, as a number of them settle into the blocks in the semi-final round today.
Tayla Carter was not able to advance into the final after finishing fourth in 11.76 seconds. She ran out of heat one with Karakus, who won in 11.58 seconds and Fany Chalas was second in 11.68 seconds. Carter is set to a run a leg on the 4x100m relay squad.
Defending champion in the 400m, Miller cruised to 52.71 seconds to win heat four in the morning session of the championships. Miller's time was the second fastest heading into the second round which takes place today at 2:35 p.m EDT. Miller was in the second heat, lane four and Rashan Brown was in the third heat, lane four. The Freeport native, Brown, clocked 54.02 seconds and won heat two of the preliminary round.
Strachan will go for the sprint double when she lines up in the 200m today. In the heats, running out of lane five, heat two got underway at 5:25 a.m. EDT this morning. Carmiesha Cox is in the first heat of the preliminary round. She and Jodean Williams of Jamaica will represent the English-speaking Caribbean in that heat. The semifinal will also take place today at 1:50 p.m EDT.
Male sprinter Teray Smith watched the final of the 100m from the stands. He was fourth in his heat, with a time of 10.44 seconds. Smith will give it another go when he lines-up in the 200m. His season's best is 20.88 seconds.
Blake Bartlett has a season's best of 20.89 seconds, in the 200m, and will run out of the second heat, lane two. Other Caribbean athletes in that race are Tahir Walsh and Deandre Rawlins of Antigua and Barbuda and the U.S. Virgin Islands respectively.
The final of the boys' 400m will take place today. O'Jay Ferguson was eliminated in the semifinal after clocking 47.02 seconds which placed him sixth in heat two.
World junior leader in the high jump event, Ryan Ingraham only needed two jumps to qualify for the final of the high jump event. He entered the competition at 2.14m and then moved onto 2.17m. The final is set for Friday.
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