Imani Matthew jumps to Carifta gold for Trinidad and Tobago

Trinidad and Tobago's Imani Matthew won this country's first Carifta gold medal, at the Thomas A Robinson Stadium in Nassau, Bahamas, on Saturday. Up to press time, TT had tallied one gold, two silver and three bronze medals.

Matthew won the boys U17 long jump final with a leap of 7.13m on his first attempt. His second attempt saw him land 7m flat. In the end, the Tobagonian was the only athlete to surpass seven metres.

Earlier on, TT earned their first medal of the track and field meet courtesy Point Fortin New Jets' Dorian Charles. Charles, 18, bagged silver in the boys’ U20 javelin as he launched the spear 61.58 metres.

Winning gold was Kaden Cartwright of the host nation with his 64.07m effort. Coming in third was Grenadian Cameron Thomas with 60.12m while TT’s Le Bron James (58.70m) placed fourth.

Later on, TT field athlete Peyton Winter, 15, threw the iron sphere 13.66m to earn the girls’ U17 shot put silver. Topping the field was Jamaican Dionjah Shaw (14.48m) while Bahamian Terrell McCoy was third with 13.31m.

And in the boys’ U20 high jump, TT's Jaidi James snagged bronze with his 1.95m leap. Jamaica bagged the 1-2 as Bandon Pottinger (2.0m) and Chavez Penn (2.0m) were tied for pole position.

In other events, TT’s Tenique Vincent just missed out on a medal in the girls’ U17 high jump. She placed fourth. Despite both Vincent and Jamaican Shanniqua Williams achieving a height of 1.65m, the latter received bronze after officials analysed the results.

Winning this event was Jamaican Asia Mckay (1.73m) while Cayman Islands’ Jah’Kylah Morton (1.70m) placed second.

Advancing to Saturday night’s girls’ U17 100m final was Tobagonian Alexxe Henry, who won her heat in 12.09s and then placed second, in 11.89s, in the semi-final. Joining her was compatriot Symphony Patrick, who also won her heat in 12.40s and squeezed into the medal race by placing fourth (12.05s) in the semis.

Henry earned bronze in the final with an 11.81 sprint, trailing Bahamian Jamiah Nabbie (11.67) and St Lucian Naomi London (11.72).

Sanaa Frederick claimed bronze in the girls U20 100m final in 11.65 seconds, behind Jamaican pair Alana Reid (11.17) and Alexis James (11.53).

Frederick had advanced out of the heats with the fastest time of 11.47s and then qualified second fastest (11.52s) in the semi-finals.

Her teammate Reneisha Andrews (12.06s) got the 11th fastest time and was unable to advance.

Jaden Clement and Makaelan Woods failed to advance to the boys' U17 400m final.

Clement finished second in the first semi-final in 50.87s while Woods finished fourth in semi-two, in 51.86s.

Also, duo Kadeem Chinapoo and Trevaughn Stewart also booked their spots in the U20 100m semi-finals. Chinapoo advanced with the seventh fastest time of 11.14 after placing third in preliminary heat three.

Stewart progressed from heat two after finishing sixth with 11.31s.

Also, Nakiel Denoon will contest for gold in the boys’ U20 400m. He runs out of lane seven. Denoon was seventh fastest (48.38s) in the prelims and then sixth fastest (48.75s) in the semis.

In the U17 400m, Cyril Sumner placed fourth in heat two (49.11) and placed 13th overall.

And in the girls’ U17 400m semi-finals, TT’s Sole Frederick and Rasheeda Cave advanced to the final as the former (57.33s) was 12th overall after placing fourth in heat one and the latter (57.33s) placed 15th, crossing sixth in heat two with 1:00.37.