Despite a shaky start, Donald Thomas ended 2013 as one of the world's best high jumpers, and for the first time ever, he is The Nassau Guardian's Senior Male Athlete of the Year.
Battling injuries all year, Thomas finally got healthy at the right time, and soared to a sixth place finish in the men's high jump at the International Association of Athletic Federations' (IAAF) World Championships in Moscow, Russia. The former world champion jumped a season's best of 2.32 meters (m) - 7' 7-1/4". It matched his second best height in his eight years of jumping internationally, and was the bronze medal winning height of the previous world championships in 2011.
To put the performance in perspective, that height either matched or surpassed the bronze medal winning height in six out of the 14 world championships. The winner, Bohdan Bondarenko, from the Ukraine, cleared a height that only two others in the history of the event have topped.
He set a championships record height of 2.41m (7' 10-3/4").
As for Thomas, after watching two guys go clear on their first attempt at 2.35m (7' 8-1/2"), he decided to go after the 2.38m (7' 9-3/4") mark, which not only would have moved him into second place at the time, but also tie Troy Kemp's 19-year-old national record. He had to settle for sixth though, as he came up short on the 2.38m height.
It was an injury-plagued 2013 campaign for Thomas though. He battled a nagging back injury for most of the season, so much so, that he almost didn't qualify for the world championships.
Thomas was the final member of the 25-member at the world championships, to qualify for the biennial event. He failed to get the automatic qualifying height of 2.31m (7' 6-3/4") at the June nationals, but finally got the mark at the Ernie Sims Track Invitational in Tallahassee, Florida, in July.
Thomas competed indoors and outdoors this year, but never really got the desired results until the world championships when he soared to a new season's best - good enough for sixth best in the world. He is under new coaching management and a new training program in Auburn, Alabama. He finished 2013 as the highest ranking Bahamian on the IAAF's Top Performance List.
Thomas, who will be the only Bahamian to be defending a title at the Commonwealth Games, is hopeful that he will be able to get another crack at Kemp's national record in 2014. He is looking forward to the challenge.
Jeffery Gibson, who had a trying collegiate season, finished second in voting for The Nassau Guardian's Senior Male Athlete of the Year. He made it to the semi-finals at worlds, running 50.51 seconds, and broke Greg Rolle's 30-year-old national record, posting a time of 49.39 seconds for fifth at the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division I Championships. Gibson was also a double conference champion this year, winning the Southland Conference Indoor and Outdoor titles in the 400m and 400m hurdles respectively, in times of 47.53 seconds and 51.07 seconds. At the conference indoor championships, he was fifth in the 200m in 22 seconds flat.
Vereance Burrows, who finished 38th overall in the men's 50m free at the 15th FINA World Aquatics Championships, was third in voting for The Nassau Guardian's Senior Male Athlete of the Year, with 17 points. He swam 22.98 seconds, and his national record in the event is 22.39 seconds. Soccer player Lesley St. Fleur, who helped The Bahamas get on the doorstep of qualifying for the FIFA Beach Soccer World Championships, and Chris Brown, who was a semi-finalist at worlds, finishing 10th overall in 45.18 seconds, were tied for fourth in the voting process, with 16 points each.
Young Ryan Ingraham, 20, who joined Thomas in that high jump final in Moscow, finishing in a three-way tie for 10th overall, with a best clearance of 2.25m (7' 4-1/2"), was sixth for The Nassau Guardian's Senior Male Athlete of the Year, with 13 points. Mark Knowles, who came out of retirement to compete at Wimbledon, finished seventh, with 12 points, Lyle Sawyer, who led the Creter's Bulldogs out of Abaco to a national title in softball, was eighth, with 11 points, Meacher Major, who got a huge victory over Brazilian Roger Rosa earlier this month, was ninth, with nine points, and two-time national champion in Bodybuilding Jimmy Norius was 10th, with six points.
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