Kingston’s National Stadium will be where the region’s finest junior athletes pit their talents against each other during the 49th Carifta Games.
The three-day event, which was last held in the Cayman Islands in 2019 due to the COVID-!9 pandemic, will see 26 countries from the region with well over 400 athletes participating in two categories – Under-17 and Under-20 for both boys and girls – starting Saturday at 9:00 am (Jamaica time).
The girls will contest 32 events while the boys will compete in 34 events on the track and in the field.
Headlining the prestigious meet will be Jamaica World Under-20 100m gold medallist Tina Clayton.
Last summer, the Edwin Allen High School standout sped to victory in 11.09 seconds at the World Under-20 Championships in Nairobi, Kenya.
And only last week’s at Jamaica’s annual National High School Championships, she edged the outstanding Brianna Lyston in the 100m final in a smart 11.23 seconds, to Lyston’s 11.26 seconds in a strong headwind of 2.2 metres per second.
She will be just one of many outstanding stars at the meet which will parade no less than four current World Under-20 leaders on the rankings list, as well as 13 winners from when the event was last staged.
The current World Under-20 leaders are Bahamian javelin thrower Keyshawn Strachan, as well as the Jamaican trio of shot-putter Christopher Young, 100m hurdler Oneka Young and triple jumper Jaydon Hibbert.
Jamaica will be hosting the event for the eighth time after picking up the vacant slot left by Guyana, who declined hosting rights. The hosts will be hunting a 44th title, having topped the medals table in the last 35 editions.
At the last staging, Jamaica achieved 85 medals overall, comprising 36 gold, 33 silver and 16 bronze, with The Bahamas finishing second best with 26 medals and Trinidad and Tobago third with 24 medals.
Jamaica will parade the biggest contingent of 80 athletes, with some reports indicating the Bahamas will showcase 55, Trinidad and Tobago 43 athletes, with the British Virgin Islands (BVI) sending 43, The Cayman Islands 29, Guyana 24, Bermuda with 20 and Barbados with 17.
IT is reported that 2019 Carifta Under-17 champions Jaleel Croal of BVI (200m), Bermudian Nirobi Smith Mills (800m), Mitchell Curtis of The Bahamas (1500m), Guyana’s Matthew Gordon (3000m), Young in the discus and his Jamaican compatriot Kobe Lawrence in the shot put.
The returning Under-17 girls’ winners from 2019 are Anthaya Charlton of The Bahamas in the 100m, and long jump, Sheniqua Bascombe of Trinidad and Tobago in the 200m, Bermuda’s Caitlyn Bobb in the 400m, Anisha Gibbons of Guyana in the javelin, and Jamaica’s Anniska McDonald in the high jump, and Cedricka Williams in the discus.
On the Carifta Games’ first day’s action, 20 finals will be up for decision – 100m, 400m and 1500m for both sexes in the Under-17 and Under-20 divisions, as well as girls’ Under-17 high jump, boys’ Under-20 javelin throw, girls’ Under-17 shot put, boys’ Under-20 discus throw, girls’ Under-20 triple jump, boys’ Under-20 high jump, boys’ Under-17 long jump and girls’ Under-20 discus throw.
