[UPDATED] Trinidad and Tobago golden on final day at Carifta Games

JANAE De Gannes, Kadeem Chinapoo, and Tafari Waldron all won gold medals for Trinidad and Tobago on the final day of the 51st edition of the Carifta Games at Kirani James Stadium in St George’s, Grenada yesterday.

TT had their most prolific day at the meet yesterday, adding ten more medals on the final day of competition to end with a total of 26 medals – four gold, 11 silver, and 11 bronze. TT got seven medals on March 30’s opening day and eight on March 31.

De Gannes achieved her goal by breaking the girls’ Under-20 long jump Carifta record. It only took one jump for De Gannes to break the previous record as she disturbed the sand at the 6.50-metre mark on her first attempt.

The previous record of 6.48m was held by Yanis David of Guadeloupe since 2016. De Gannes jumped 6.40m on her second attempt, before passing in the third round.

She fouled her last three attempts in the competition, but the other athletes could not catch the Tobagonian.

Two weeks ago, De Gannes told the media she was aiming for the gold medal and the record.

“Of course, I will be looking forward to the gold and the record as well,” De Gannes told the media on March 16 at the First Citizens Sports Foundation Awards ceremony.

De Gannes, who now lives in Trinidad and attends Bishop Anstey High School in Port of Spain, was speaking after winning the Youth Sportswoman of the Year award.

Silver in the long jump went to Jamaican Rohana Sudlow with a 6.30m effort, and Lanaisha Lubin of the Bahamas grabbed bronze with a 5.90m jump. TT’s Naomi Pierce was also in the field, finishing sixth among the 14 athletes with a top jump of 5.77m.

Chinapoo, who copped silver in the boys’ 100m Under-17 final on March 30, delivered a resounding performance in the final session of the games.

Chinapoo was a class above the rest of the field as he won in 21.78 seconds. Second-placed Oshane Jervis of Jamaica was a distant second in 22.16, and third-placed Tiondre Frett of the British Virgin Islands ended in 22.18.

Jamaican Byron Walker was expected to challenge for a medal, but heading into the final 100m, he pulled up with an injury and did not finish the race.

Tafari Waldron defended the boys’ 5,000m Under-20 title in convincing fashion. The field was no match for Waldron as the TT athlete won in 15 minutes, 01.60 seconds (15:01.60).

The second-placed finisher Jake Brislane of Bermuda was more than 40 seconds behind Waldron. Brislane was second in 15:42.42, and TT’s Omare Thompson bagged bronze in 16:03.43.

Keneisha Shelbourne was the other TT athlete to medal in the morning session on the final day. She finished third in the girls’ Under-20 high jump after clearing the bar at 1.70m.

Jamaica took gold and silver as Rasheda Samuels and Dejanae Bruce were a class above the rest. Samuels captured gold with a 1.78m effort, and Bruce took silver with a 1.76m jump.

Jenna-Marie Thomas won the first medal for TT in the final session of the games when she copped silver in the girls’ Under-17 100m hurdles final.

Thomas stopped the clock in 13.74 seconds. Jamaican Malayia Duncan won gold in 13.63, and Zsa-Zsa Frans of Curacao took bronze in 14.21. TT’s Tenique Vincent ended fifth in 14.72. Vincent’s twin brother Tyrique fell over the first hurdle in the boys’ 110m hurdles final but still got up to complete the race in 33.75 to end seventh. Omari Brown of TT was fifth in 14.20.

TT were well-represented in the 800m finals. Shian Lewis ended fourth in the girls’ 800m Under-17 final, Brion Scott was fifth in the boys’ 800m Under-17 final, and Kayleigh Forde was seventh in the girls’ 800m Under-20 final.

Keeran Sriskandarajah got TT’s second medal of the final session when he got bronze in the boys’ 800m Under-20 final. Jahfa Woodley also ran for TT in the race and set the early pace as he held the lead after 300m. Sriskandarajah, in an effort to move to the front, ran in lane two to pass the runners inside of him.

It worked as he was in second position with 100m left trying to catch Jamaican Kemarrio Bygrave. Grenadian Deangelo Brown, with the home crowd behind him, had a late surge and went past Sriskandarajah in the final 20m to finish second behind Bygrave.

Woodley had a strong finish and almost caught Sriskandarajah but the latter, who fell over after crossing the finish line, held on for bronze in 1:52.91. Bygrave won in 1:51.43, and Brown was second in 1:52.81.

The Frederick twins – Sole and Sanna – featured in the girls’ 200m Under-20 final. It was a close race between the Frederick sisters and Jamaicans Shanoya Douglas and Sabrian Dockery. Douglas won in 23.03, Sole took silver in 23.07, and Dockery grabbed bronze in 23.13. Sanna missed out on a medal, finishing fourth in 23.24.

In the 4x400m relay finals, which brought the meet to an end, TT earned two medals. In the boys Under-17 4x400m, TT earned silver behind Jamaica, and then the girls Under-20 4x400m team added another silver.

The TT boys Under-20 4x400m team copped silver in the final event of the games. TT, Antigua/Barbuda, and Bahamas ran in a second final after problems with the start of the race in the first final.

The first final included Jamaica, Barbados, St Vincent and the Grenadines, Grenada, and Guyana.

This story was originally published with the title "Trinidad and Tobago's Janae De Gannes breaks Carifta long jump record" and has been adjusted to include additional details. See original post below.

JANAE De Gannes achieved her goal by breaking the girls' Under-20 long jump Carifta record, as she leaped to gold when action at the 51st edition of the games continued on April 1 at Kirani James Stadium in St George's, Grenada.

The gold medal by De Gannes and a bronze medal by Keneisha Shelbourne in the girls' Under-20 high jump pushed Trinidad and Tobago's medal total to 17 – two gold, six silver and nine bronze.

Late on March 31, the TT boys Under-20 4x100m quartet of Che Wickham, Mikhail Byer, Hakeem Chinapoo and Dylan Woodruffe won this country's first gold medal with a time of 40.45 seconds to upset Jamaica.

It only took one jump for De Gannes to break the previous record as she disturbed the sand at the 6.50-metre mark on her first attempt.

The previous record of 6.48m was held by Yanis David of Guadeloupe since 2016.

De Gannes jumped 6.40m on her second attempt, before passing in the third round. She fouled her last three attempts in the competition, but the other athletes could not catch the Tobagonian.

Two weeks ago, De Gannes told the media she was aiming for the gold medal and the record.

"Of course, I will be looking forward to the gold and the record as well," De Gannes told the media on March 16 at the First Citizens Sports Foundation Awards ceremony.

De Gannes, who now lives in Trinidad and attends Bishop Anstey High School in Port of Spain, was speaking after winning the Youth Sportswoman of the Year award.

Silver in the long jump went to Jamaican Rohana Sudlow with a 6.30m effort and Lanaisha Lubin of the Bahamas grabbed bronze with a 5.90m jump.

TT's Naomi Pierce was also in the field, finishing sixth among the 14 athletes with a top jump of 5.77m.

Shelbourne was the other TT athlete to medal in the morning session on the third and final day of competition.

She finished third in the girls' Under-20 high jump after clearing the bar at 1.70m. Jamaica took gold and silver as Rasheda Samuels and Dejanae Bruce was a class above the rest. Samuels captured gold with a 1.78m effort and Bruce took silver with a 1.76m jump.

TT will aim to add to their medal tally when the final session of the games begin at 4 pm on April 1.