National athletes continue preparations for Tokyo

TT’s track and field athletes will be busy in the coming days as they continue to prepare for the 2020 Tokyo Olympics.

The Olympics, scheduled to be held from July 23-August 8, was postponed by one year because of the covid19 pandemic.

TT athletes will compete at the North American, Central American and Caribbean (NACAC) New Life Invitational meet in Florida, USA, on Saturday.

Some of the TT athletes expected to compete are Mikel Thomas (men’s 110m hurdles), Tyra Gittens (women’s long jump), Janeil Bellille (women’s 400m), Kelly-Ann Baptiste (women’s 100m), Kai Selvon (women’s 100m), Deon Lendore (men’s 400m) and Richard Thompson (men’s 100m).

Thompson earned a silver medal behind Jamaican Usain Bolt in the men’s 100m event at the 2008 Beijing Olympics.

The TT women’s and men’s 4x100m teams are also scheduled to compete.

Two-time Olympic medallist Keshorn Walcott will fine tune ahead of the Olympics at the Paavo Nurmi Games in Finland, which will be held on Monday and Tuesday. Walcott, who has already qualified for Tokyo, won gold at the 2012 London Olympics and four years later earned a bronze at the Rio Olympics.

The ten-man javelin field at the Paavo Nurmi Games will include Grenadian Anderson Peters, Rocco van Rooyen of South Africa, Kim Amb of Sweden, Marcin Krukowski of Poland and Toni Kuusela of Finland.

Walcott’s best throw of 2021 is 82.75 metres.