St Fort, Ato part ways

TT female sprint sensation Khalifa St Fort has reportedly parted ways with her coach Ato Boldon, according to a report on the Sportsmax website yesterday.

This news was confirmed by the 45-year-old Boldon, who also coaches rising Jamaican sprint star Briana Williams.

“I wish her well, because she took as much of a chance on me as I did on her in 2014, and there was much success along the way, including TT national junior and youth 100-metre records, and medals at World U-18 and U-20 (Championships),” Boldon said, adding that the decision to end the relationship was his.

The coach explained that St Fort approached him recently saying she needed some time off.

The 21-year-old US-born St Fort, in a story on CNC3 News last evening, said, “I’ve been dealing with a really serious (tendon) injury and I’ve been really struggling with that.

That’s what made me decide to end my 2019 season.

“I didn’t decide to retire or end my career but I’m not able to sprint at the moment,” she added. “I decided to give my body the rest it needs, to not make things worse.”

St Fort also wished all the best to both Boldon and Williams.

In the five years that St Fort and Boldon were together, her 100m personal best dropped from 11.86 seconds in 2014 to 11.06 in 2017. Her 200m time dropped from 24.42 to 23.31.

She also enjoyed a measure of success for TT, as she took the silver medal in the 100m finals at the 2015 IAAF U-18 Championships and was third in the U-20 finals a year later.

St Fort also won 100-metre gold medals at the Pan Am U-20 Championships in 2015 and 2017 and had sixth-place finishes in the 100m finals at the 2018 Commonwealth Games and the NACAC Senior Championships.

The diminutive sprinter was also a member of her country’s relay teams that finished fifth at the 2016 Olympic Games in Rio and sixth at the 2017 IAAF World Championships in London in 2017. She was also a member of Trinidad and Tobago’s 4x100m bronze medal team in 2015 and became the youngest medallist since the Championships began back in 1983.