On Monday, Jamaica’s Junior athletes turned on the style to totally dominate the 49th Carifta Games’ last day inside the National Stadium in Kingston. They ended the three-day event with a record haul of 92 medals.
The number beat the country’s previous best of 89 earned in 2014 when the Carifta Games were held in Martinique.
On a day when four records were broken, the Jamaicans were imperious in the 4x400m relays, winning all four, to send the partisan home crowd in a frenzy to pull the curtains down on a beautiful exhibition of track and field action.
Though the Jamaican collective was far and away much superior to the competition, one athlete who stood supreme was Adeajah Hodge of the British Virgin Islands.
The 17-year-old copped the Austin Sealy Award for the top performer of the championships after winning three individual gold medals.
Hodge was peerless in the girls’ Under-17 100m, winning easily in 11.29 seconds, only two-tenths of a second outside Brianna Williams’s Carifta Games record.
Hodge also landed gold in the long jump with 6.20m (4.1 mps) before winning the 200m in 23.42 seconds on Monday.
Dior-Rae Scott of The Bahamas won the girls’ Under-17 javelin with a new record 44.57m on her third attempt. She beat the previous best mark of 42.90m set in 2007 by West Indies cricketer Deandra Dottin.
The other three records to fall on the day were to Jamaicans.
Dionjah Shaw threw 45.32m to win the Under-17 girls’ discus on her second attempt. She had also thrown 45.07m on her fifth attempt, both throws better than the previous record of 43.99m.
In the boys’ Under-20 shot put, Kobe Lawrence established a new 20.02m on his last effort to beat the previous record of 19.97m set by compatriot Warren Barrett Jnr in 2016. Jamaica’s Christopher Young was second on Monday with 19.12m.
Jaydon Hibbert literally flew in the boys’ Under-20 triple jump when he cut the sand at 16.46m to set a new record, overtaking the 16.35m. Incidentally, on his previous attempt, his second, he flew to the winning mark of 17.05m, which was not accepted as a record because of the trailing wind of 2.8 meters per second. Hibbert’s teammate Royan Walters was third in the event with 15.99m.
The dominant Jamaicans won three of the four sprint hurdles – the Under-17 girls’ 100m event through Bryana Davidson in 13.50 seconds (Jody-Ann Daley was third in 14.45secs). Shaquane Gordon (13.69secs) won the Under-17 boys’ 110m hurdles, with teammate Jadan Campbell taking the silver in 13.91secs.
Alexis James (13.32secs) beat teammate Oneka Wilson (13.67secs) in the girls’ Under-20 100m hurdles, but Curacao’s Matthew Sophia (13.74secs) denied Jamaica a clean sweep when he defeated Demario Prince (13.88secs).
Meanwhile, Michelle Smith, who was second in the girls’ Under-17 100m hurdles, prevented Jamaica from a cleanout of the 800m events.
She ran 2:10,78 minutes to beat Jamaica’s Andrene Peart (2:13.07 minutes).
In the boys’ equivalent, Ainsley Brown (1:58.08) and Rasheed Pryce (1:58.51) were first and third, respectively.
In the girls’ Under-20 event, Rushane Dwyer finished first, with her teammate Jody-Ann Mitchell in second place. However, Dwyer was disqualified for breach of rule 17.2.2 (jostling or obstruction).
The race was awarded to Mitchell in 2:09.73 minutes.
And J’Voughnn Blake won the Under-20 boys’ race in 1:49.89 minutes, with teammate Adian Nethersole taking bronze in 1:51.96 minutes.
And like in the sprint hurdles and 800m events, Jamaica won three of four 200m races.
The impressive Hodge denied the sweep by winning the Under-17 girls’ race. But Rickoy Hunter (22.13) and Marchino Rose were first and third in the Under-17 boys’ event.
Brianna Lyston (23.16) and Kaylia Kelly were first and third in the Under-20 version, while Bryan Levell (21.18) and Sandrey Davison (21.35) were first and second in the boys’ Under-20 race.
But there was no denying the Jamaican power and class in the mile relays.
The Under-17 girls were much too good for their field as they won in 3:43.59 minutes, well clear of the rest.
The Under-17 boys were equally peerless in 3:17.85 minutes. It got closer for the Under-20 girls, who won in 3:36.81 minutes, yet even closer for the Under-20 boys in 3:08.94 minutes.
The Bahamas will host the 2023 edition of the Carifta Games in Nassau.
Medals Table
Country G S B Total
Jamaica 45 29 18 92
The Bahamas 4 6 7 17
British Virgin Islands 4 2 1 7
Trinidad & Tobago 2 11 10 23
Guyana 2 3 2 7
