Best Pan Am Games ever

JEREEM Richards earned silver in the men's 200-metre final, while the men's 4x100m relay team also finished in the runners-up spot for TT's second silver yesterday, sealing an historic outing at the Pan American Games in Lima, Peru.

Earlier in the day, veteran rower Felice Chow claimed a silver medal, making way for a successful day for the team.

The three silver medals put TTO on a total of ten medals – two gold, six silver and two bronze. They closed last night's action ranked 14th on the medal standings, with two days left in the competition. It stands as TT's highest medal count at the Pan American Games, eclipsing the tally of eight they earned, at the previous Games, in Toronto, Canada.

Last evening, Jerod Elcock stormed through the first leg for TTO in the men's 4x100m relay, before a combination of Keston Bledman, Akanni Hislop and Kyle Greaux clocked a season-best 38.46 seconds. The race started and closed well for TTO, who may have had a claim for gold if not for a minor dip in form in the two middle legs.

Brazil won in 38.27 seconds, while USA took bronze in 38.79 seconds.

During the afternoon session, Richards secured silver in 20.38 seconds, an improvement from his semi-final mark of 20.48 seconds. He finished just behind the expected winner in Alex Quinonez Martinez (20.27), who entered the final as the fastest qualifier, and ahead of bronze medallist Yancarlos Martinez of Dominican Republic, who clocked 20.44.

Between both medalling events, TTO was represented in the women's 4x100m final, which resulted in a fourth place finish – a race which Brazil also won.

TTO opened with Kamaria Durant, followed by silver medallist in the women's 100m final, Michelle-Lee Ahye, Mauricia Preito and Kelly-Ann Baptiste. They finished with a time of 43.57 seconds.

Brazil clocked 43.04 seconds for gold, followed by Canada and the United States in 43.37 and 43.39 seconds, respectively.

In the women's 200m final, TT's Semoy Hackett finished eighth and last in 23.62 seconds, in a race won by former Olympic champ Jamaican Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce in 22.43 seconds.

Rower Felice Chow bagged silver for TT yesterday morning. Chow rowed her way to a silver in the women's single sculls final in a time of seven minutes, 46.53 seconds (7:46.53), just behind Canada's Jessica Sevick who finished in seven minutes 44.51 seconds. Claiming bronze for Chile was Soraya Jadue in 7:49.89.

Dylan Carter earned TT's first swimming medal at the Games, on Thursday night.

Carter, who placed fourth in the men's 100m backstroke on Wednesday night, captured bronze in the men's 100m backstroke in a time of 54.42.

The 23-year-old finished behind winner Daniel Carr of the US (53.50) and Brazil's Guilherme Guido (53.54).

Yesterday, Carter returned to the pool to compete in the men's 50m freestyle. He finished fourth in heat four in 23.06 seconds, trailing United States' Michael Chadwick (21.95), Brazil's Bruno Guiseppe Fratus (22.02) and Uruguay's Enzo Martinez (22.77).

However, Carter's time saw him progress to last night's B final, which was scheduled for 9.37 pm (TT time).

Action will resume today with Ysabelle Lawrence playing catch-up in the women's golf individual round three. Teneil Campbell, a silver medallist in the women's time trial, along with Alexi Costa, will compete in the women's road race.

The men's hockey team will play their final match, battling for fifth place against Cuba, while Graham Chatoor competed in the men's 1500m freestyle final (one).

Akil Campbell, Tyler Cole, Jovian Gomez and Kemp Orosco will represent TTO in the men's road race final at 2 pm (TT time).

The highly-anticipated men's javelin will follow with double TT Olympic medallist Keshorn Walcott and Shakeil Waithe in action.

The men's 4x400m will go for gold in at 5.45 pm.