Trinidad and Tobago add three medals to CAC Games tally

Trinidad and Tobago added three more medals to its Central American and Caribbean (CAC) Games tally in San Salvador, El Salvador on Wednesday night.

Swimmers Dylan Carter and Nikoli Blackman splashed to a silver medal each in the men’s 50m backstroke and 200m freestyle events respectively while cycling trio Nicholas Paul, Kwesi Browne and Zion Pulido pedalled to bronze in the team sprint.

Their performances carried TT’s medal haul to seven.

In the 50m back final at the Polideportivo de Ciudad Merliot, Carter touched the wall in 25.55 seconds, swimming out of lane one. He was beaten to the line by gold medallist Lamar Taylor of the Bahamas. He clocked 25.08s. Bagging bronze was Mexican Diego Camacho in 25.68s.

In the earlier qualifier, Carter was third fastest in 26.47s, in heat one of lane four. He finished behind heat US Virgin Islands heat winner Maximillian Wilson (26.13s) and Colombian Omar Pinzon (26.23s) respectively.

This was Carter’s fourth medal of the Games having won gold in the 100m free on Saturday, 4x100m bronze with Blackman, Zarek Wilson and Graham Chatoor on Sunday and gold again on Tuesday, in the 50m fly.

Blackman also struck silver in the 200m butterfly in one minute and 50.41 seconds (1:50.41). He was bettered by Mexican winner Jorge Iga (1:47.97) and beat into third place Iga’s compatriot Hector Ruvalcaba (1:50.92).

In his qualifier race nine hours earlier, Blackman was second fastest (1:56.27) in heat three but was way off eventual heat winner Iga.

Both Carter and Blackman return to the pool on Thursday to contest heat five of the 50m freestyle. They swim alongside each other in lane four and five respectively from 11.41 am (TT time).

In the team sprint third-place ride, TT’s trio trumped Cuba to grab CAC bronze. In the qualifying event earlier on, Paul, Browne and Pulido (1:02.599) was the third fastest of the five competing nations while Cuba (1:02.706) was fourth.

The three cyclists are expected to return to competition on Thursday, from 1.05 pm, for the opening round of men’s sprint qualifying.

After press time on Wednesday, TT remained in contention for two more potential podium places as Chatoor lined up in lane two of the men’s 800m free final and Wilson in lane eight of the 100m fly. Earlier, Wilson advanced to the final by placing third in 55.53s, in heat two.

Swimmer Cherelle Thompson also vies for a spot in two finals on Thursday. She lines up in lane four of heat one of the women’s 50m fly (11.31 am) and then takes another shot at qualifying, less than 20 minutes later, in lane four of heat five of the 50m free.

After press time on Tuesday, Chatoor missed out on a medal in the 400m free as he finished fourth in 4:00.41. He was beaten out of medal contention by Colombian winner Juan Morales (3:53:06), second-place Mexican Jose Cano (3:56.44) and Colombian bronze receiver Sebastian Camacho (3:59.23). Blackman also contested this event and finished seventh in 4:04:52.

In the earlier heats, both TT swimmers contested heat three with Chatoor (4:05.82) topping the field and Blackman (4:06.37) coming in fourth.

TT’s men’s hockey team also got off to a winning start as they trumped Guyana 4-1 in their Group B opener at the Estadio Nacional de Hockey sobre Césped.

Teague Marcano showed good form as he scored three; two penalty corners and one field goal. Also getting on the scoresheet was Jovan Wren. Scoring the lone item for Guyana was Andrew Stewart. The men resume their quest against Cuba at noon on Friday.

Additionally, on Thursday, the women’s hockey team face their second Group A test against Mexico, from 4 pm.

And in the artistic gymnastics women’s all-around final, TT’s Annalise Newman-Achee placed sixth of the 20 gymnasts. She scored 48.75 overall, comprising a combined score from the vault (12.85), uneven bars (12.35), balance beam (12.25) and floor (11.30).

Panama’s Andrea Navas (50.5) finished in pole position followed by Mexican Alexa Moreno (49.65) and Panamanian Alexandra Heron (49.45) respectively.