Bajan athletes fail to make Olympic qualifying standards at National Championships – Griffith stuns Burke

By Jherard Morris-Sealy June 30, 2021

No athletes were able to reach Olympic qualifying standards in any events during the Barbados National Championships over the weekend. This was the final opportunity for Barbadian athletes to qualify for the Olympic Games Tokyo 2020, which are less than a month away.

 Some of Barbados’ top athletes such as Sada Williams, Tristan Evelyn, and Johnathan Jones (who have already qualified) did not compete, but there were still a number of locally well-known athletes who turned out in hopes of making it to Tokyo.

One of the most anticipated showdowns was between national record-holder Kierre Beckles and overseas-based Hannah Connell in the women’s 100-metre hurdles. Connell was heading into the event with a season’s best of 13.07 seconds in comparison to Beckles’ 13.51 seconds. In the end, the veteran Beckles, who represented Barbados at the Rio 2016 Olympic Games, came out victorious but fell short of the qualification standard after running a time of 13.51.

 The biggest upset of the championships came in the men’s 100-metre finals when favourite Mario Burke was beaten by Kuron Griffith. Burke, who will be representing Barbados in Tokyo, ran a disappointing 10.39 seconds with a wind reading of -1.9. Despite winning the event, Griffith was not able to reach the qualifying standard, finishing in a time of 10.30 seconds. In the women’s 100-metres, Jovanna Gustave finished first in a time of 12.09 seconds, which is also outside of the qualifying standard.

 There is no other opportunity for Barbadian athletes to meet the qualifying standard with the National Championships being the last sanctioned meet before the June 29th deadline for qualification. The Olympic Games Tokyo 2020 will begin on July 23rd and run until August 8th.

Related items

  • Jackson and Bol added to Stockholm Diamond League on June 2nd Jackson and Bol added to Stockholm Diamond League on June 2nd

    Jamaican sprinter Shericka Jackson and Dutch 400m hurdles star Femke Bol will be among the headline stars at the Wanda Diamond League meeting in Stockholm on June 2nd.

    Two of the biggest stars in women's track and field will be in Wanda Diamond League action in Stockholm on June 2nd, with reigning series champions Shericka Jackson and Femke Bol set to compete at the BAUHAUS Galan. 

    Jamaican sprint star Jackson is defending both the 100m and 200m Diamond League titles in 2024, having made history with her double victory at the final in Eugene last season. 

    Jackson not only joined an elite group of athletes who have won two Diamond Trophies in a single season, but also became only the second woman ever after Colombia's Caterine Ibargüen to win two Diamond League titles on successive days. 

    Dutch one-lap ace Bol has dominated the 400m hurdles since in recent years, winning three titles and 20 individual races since she burst onto the scene in 2020. Fresh from her world-record-breaking world 400m indoor title in March, she will be aiming for a fourth Diamond League title and a first ever Olympic gold this summer. 

    The Wanda Diamond League is the premier one-day meeting series in athletics. It comprises 15 of the most prestigious events in global track and field. Athletes compete for points at the 14 series meetings in a bid to qualify for the two-day Wanda Diamond League Final in Brussels on 13th-14th September.

     

  • Expectations high as Barbados fields 31-member team to Carifta Games Expectations high as Barbados fields 31-member team to Carifta Games

    Despite the absence of a synthetic track to aid in their preparations, Barbados Head coach Ramon Armstrong believes his athletes are ready enough to give a good account of themselves at the 51st edition of the Carifta Games in Grenada.

    In fact, Armstrong has exuded confidence that the 31-member team –one of the largest to be fielded by Barbados in recent years – could equal or even surpass last year’s performances in the Bahamas where they collected two gold, six silver and two bronze in their 10-medal haul.

    The three-day Easter weekend spectacle is scheduled to begin on Saturday and end on Monday at the Kirani James Athletic Stadium, and Barbados is certainly aiming to make their presence felt in the ‘Spice Isle’.

     “All of the students and the management are very excited. This has been long in coming. The students worked hard this season having to run on grass, not having a proper surface to train on, so to be here is a big accomplishment and a big achievement for them and they are excited, and we are also excited for them,” Armstrong told the media ahead of the team’s departure on Tuesday.

    “Goals and expectations are like all the other teams. Everybody is looking to go and perform their best and either repeat what they would have done or better it…and to get as many medals as they can.

    “This is a fresh year, no pressure to anyone, but as I said we’re looking to improve on our performances and hopefully, once we focus on that and we produce well, then medals will come, but we’re not going to give a specific number,” he added.

    Armstrong, delighted by the number of athletes on the team, expressed pleasure with the way in which track and field has bounced back since being hindered by the Covid-19 pandemic.

    “I think this is really our rebirth after Covid. You know Covid would have put a stop to a lot of training, and we lost some athletes during that time, so we’re now on the rise again. We know it would have taken a while so we’re glad to see that the numbers are gradually increasing again,” he stated.

    On that note, Armstrong explained that the early trip to Grenada was to assist in upping the tempo where readiness is concerned, as well as to get athletes acclimatized to the conditions.

    “Pretty much we’ve just been doing recovery and that’s why we’re leaving early. We have them together and we’ll go down and we’ll get to train on the track, on the surface that they’re going to compete on to make sure that they’re prepared for what is to come,” Armstrong said.

    He also pointed to the Under-20 athletes as the team’s strong point, especially given that they have another year in the class.

    “We might have been weakened this year, but interestingly enough, those Under-20s really stepped up to the plate and is one of the largest groups this year and most of them have another year or two in Under-20, so it speaks well for the future,” Armstrong ended.

    The Carifta Games will be live on SportsMax.

  • Curators and grounds staff workshop reap benefits ahead of T20 World Cup Curators and grounds staff workshop reap benefits ahead of T20 World Cup

    The men and women who will be responsible for the preparations of the pitches and fields for the upcoming ICC Men’s Twenty20 (T20) World Cup, are now well equipped with the tool of the trade. Following a two-week series of workshops, the ground staff across the region went through theory and practical sessions geared towards education and re-education on the rudiment of their crucial roles.

    Over 100 participants completed the workshop series, which included both indoor educational sessions and outdoor practical events. The events were led by senior officials of Cricket West Indies (CWI).

    Winston Reid, the Lead Curator for the Barbados Cricket Association (BCA), lauded the initiative, which he hopes will continue beyond the World Cup.

    Reid, who is based at Kensington Oval in Barbados, the venue that will host the June 29 World Cup final, had a hugely successful cricket career when he played over 100 matches at the regional level for Barbados. He joined the staff at the historic venue in 2005, ahead of the ICC Men’s Cricket World Cup 2007.

    “This was a very good initiative by the ICC [International Cricket Council], CWI [Cricket West Indies] and the BCA [Barbados Cricket Association]. This is something that should be encouraged, and I know the staff here benefited tremendously. It was a wonderful eye-opener, an education in many ways it was enlightening and interactive and the responses I got from the others who participated, said to me it was clear they too benefitted in a meaningful way,” Reid said.

    “The reason behind the workshop was to improve in every way we can and to do better at our jobs. We are gearing up towards the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup, which will be the biggest event we have ever hosted. We will be staging the final here, at this magnificent venue, so we want to make sure everyone is fully equipped.

    “Not only for Kensington, but for curatorship at all the other venues around the island and the region. We want to see better pitches and fields and playing conditions for our players to show their skills and also to entertain the fans in the stands. So, this was a very timely workshop series which augurs well for the game in the West Indies going forward," he added.

    Roland Holder, CWI Manager of Cricket Operations and Head of Cricket for ICC Men’s T20 World Cup 2024, outlined the reasons behind the series of workshops. He said the series was crafted by CWI and designed to upskill existing curators across the region by exposing them to international best practices for pitch preparation and applicable maintenance, while simultaneously expanding the cadre of curators by identifying new talent with the appropriate combination of theoretical knowledge and practical exposure, to lend further expertise to match venues to deliver a world-class event in June.

    A CWI Curators Manual was also produced in the lead up to the workshop and will be disseminated to the curators.

    Six countries in the West Indies will host matches in the ninth edition of the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup which will be played from June 1-29. West Indies, which hosted the event in 2010, will hold matches at Sir Vivian Richards Stadium, Antigua; Kensington Oval, Barbados; Guyana National Stadium, Guyana; Daren Sammy Cricket Ground, Saint Lucia; Arnos Vale, St Vincent and Brian Lara Cricket Academy, Trinidad and Tobago.

    The event will be the largest in the tournament’s history with 20 international teams playing 55 matches across nine locations. It is the first time USA will host matches at a T20 World Cup, with 16 first-round matches split between Nassau County International Cricket Stadium (New York), Grand Prairie Cricket Stadium (Dallas), and Broward County Stadium (Lauderhill).

© 2023 SportsMaxTV All Rights Reserved.