The Bahamas at the World Indoors. Saturday, March 8 marked the 27th anniversary of The Bahamas winning a medal at the inaugural International Association of Athletics Federations' (IAAF) World Indoor Championships in Indianapolis, Indiana.
That Sunday afternoon a 22-year-old Frank Rutherford made Bahamian track and field history as the first Bahamian to win a medal in a global event, that is either the world championships or the Olympic Games. What this started was a myriad of global events, world championships or the Olympic Games, that Bahamian track and field athletes would win medals in, leading athletics historian Micheal Preisinger to proclaim, 'The Bahamas - Small Country, Great Athletes'!
This was certainly true on Saturday March 8, 2014 when quarter-milers Chris Brown and Shaunae Miller caused the Bahamian flag to be flown high in Sopot, Poland, on the occasion of the 15th IAAF World Indoor Championships.
Brown won the silver medal in the 400 meters (m) in 45.58 seconds, setting a personal best at the age of 35, the best performance ever for an athlete that age, and adding to his medal stash which was already the most ever for any male athlete in the 400m indoors, a bronze in Moscow in 2006, bronze in Valencia in 2008, gold in Qatar in 2010, and another bronze in Istanbul in 2012.
It was the best of times!
Teenager Shaunae Miller captured the bronze medal in a time of 52.06 seconds in her race, far off her best of 50.88 seconds done in Fayetteville, Arkansas on March 9, 2013. She had run just one 400m indoors this season in a time of 52.34 seconds but had two magnificent runs in the 300m in the New York Armory.
Brown's outdoor best is the 44.40 seconds Bahamian national record he ran on June 1, 2008 in Oslo at the Bislett Games, and Miller's outdoor best is 50.70 seconds, ran on June 7, 2013 at the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Outdoor Championships in Eugene, Oregon.
It should be noted however that not everybody participates in indoor events. The United States of America's (USA) LaShawn Merritt, the 2008 Olympic Champion and 2009 and 2013 World Champion, does not. After his disappointing run in Moscow last year, Grenada's Kirani James, Olympic and World Champion, decided not to run this year. Also, Great Britain's 2008 Olympic Champion and 2013 World Champion Christine Ohuruogo and Botswana's Amantle Montsho didn't participate in the women's 400m. Ohuruogo did anchor the 4x400m relay though.
60m dash
Off his new national record in January, Warren Fraser made it to the semi-final with a time of 6.61 seconds for second in his heat. In the semi-finals, he placed fifth with a clocking of 6.59 seconds, not advancing to the final. That wasn't a bad day at work for Fraser.
Adrian Griffith, our second male sprinter, ran 6.69 seconds for fourth place in his heat, not advancing to the semi-finals.
In the case of Sheniqua Ferguson who won her world junior gold and bronze medals in Poland in 2008, she tied her season's best in the 60m with a 7.31 seconds clocking in the heat, placing fourth and advancing to the semi-finals. In the semis, she finished fifth, dropping her season's best to 7.25 seconds.
Each of these sprinters and high jumper Ryan Ingraham were experiencing their maiden voyages to the world indoor championships and we look forward to seeing them in Portland in 2016.
The worst of times
Donald Thomas went into the championships with a 2.33m (7' 7-3/4") performance this year. The young Ryan Ingraham had a season's best of 2.24m (7' 4-1/4").
In an event filled with great performances this season, Thomas, the sixth place finisher at last year's Moscow World Championships, was unable to clear the beginning height of 2.16m (7' 1"). Only one other athlete failed to register a height, Peru's Arturo Chavez.
Ingraham, a finalist in Moscow and 2012 World Junior bronze medalist, jumped 2.21m (7' 3-1/4") to place 15th in the qualifying round. Sopot was not an inspiring performance for any of these athletes. Thomas and Ingraham went in as possible medalists.
Men's 4x400m relay
The Bahamas has never won a medal in this event in the IAAF World Indoor Championships. The closest we were was in 2004 in Budapest, Hungary when anchorman Timothy Munnings was knocked by a Russian, fell down and got back up to finish in fifth place.
Two years ago, neither Demetrius Pinder nor Chris Brown participated in the semi-finals of the relay since both had advanced to the final. There were insufficient athletes left to field a team. In January in Birmingham, the team from London running together for the first time since their upset of the USA at the London Olympics, finished second to a Great Britain squad, in 3:07.30, a new national record.
This year, Brown did not participate in the heats and there were four additional athletes, Ramon Miller, Michael Mathieu, LaToy Williams and Andretti Bain. Bain had not participated on a team for many years. They started the race with the slowest reaction to the gun, .386 seconds, and finished in fourth place in their semi-final heat, in 3:09.79. Therefore, they didn't advance.
Two years ago, the group talked about setting a new world record. It was not to be, especially without Demetrius Pinder. The USA set that world record in the final event of the championships, with a time of 3:02.13.
Forward to The Bahamas
With the performances of Chris Brown and Shaunae Miller, The Bahamas finished tied for 20th in the medal standings. This is just the beginning of the 2014 international season and in two months the world gathers in The Bahamas for the inaugural IAAF World Relay Championships. Based upon the performance of the Bahamian team in Sopot, those who are responsible for putting together the very best team for May 24 and 25 for the world relays have their work cut out for them.
As former Prime Minister Lynden Pindling said many years ago, words to this effect: "Look up, the world is watching."
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