Trinidad and Tobago's Ahye, Thomas eye 100m Pan Am medals

MICHELLE-LEE Ahye and Reyare Thomas advanced to the final of the women’s 100-metre event at the 2023 Pan American Games, being held at the Coliseo del Estadio Nacional Julio Martinez in Santiago, Chile on Monday.

Ahye, a 2018 Commonwealth gold medallist, finished second in heat three of the semi-finals in 11.64 seconds on Monday to earn one of the two automatic qualification spots. The fastest two athletes in each of the three heats, plus the next two quickest runners progressed to the final.

Winning heat three ahead of Ahye was Cuban Yunisleidy De La Caridad Garcia in 11.53. Only Ahye and Garcia qualified for the final from heat three as Colombian Laura Patricia Martinez finished third in 11.70.

Experienced Trinidad and Tobago runner Thomas, 35, also sealed a place in the final with a third-place finish in heat one in 11.69.

Mexican Cecilia Tamayo won heat one in 11.66 and Arislayne Alonso of the Dominican Republic was just ahead of Thomas, also clocking 11.69.

Ahye and Thomas will line up in the women’s 100m final on Tuesday at 7.55 pm, TT time. Ahye, 31, copped 100m silver at the 2019 Pan Am games in Lima, Peru.

In the men’s 100 semi-finals, TT’s Jerod Elcock finished fourth in heat three in 10.58 and missed out on a place in the final.

Jose Alnardo Gonzalez of the Dominican Republic had the best time in the semi-finals, winning heat one in 10.30.

In field hockey, TT’s teams continued to struggle. The national women’s team were crushed 21-0 by Argentina in Group A preliminary action. Agustina Gorzelany was at her best scoring six times and Mario Granatto scored a hat-trick.

The TT stickwomen will now play in the fifth-eighth place rankings on Thursday at 10.45 am.

On Wednesday, the TT men will start playing for fifth-eighth rankings against Mexico at 12.30 pm after having a tough time in the preliminary phase.