Caribbean

Days after claiming her first 100m title at the Games, the Jamaican stormed away from the field to stop the clock at 22.02 a new Games record.  The sprinter got off to a solid start and nearly covered the field by the curve before pulling away down the stretch.

Nigeria’s Favour Ofili was second in 22.51, with Namibia’s Christine Mboma third in 22.80.  The second Jamaican in the race Natalliah Whyte missed out on the medal podium after finishing fourth in 23.06.    

In a superb display of sprinting, the Jamaican powered to the line in a time of 10.61, the fastest in the world this year, and now the second-fastest in history.  Fraser-Pryce, the world champion, who had gone into the event as favourite, was second with a time of 10.74, with Jackson, previously a 400m athlete who stepped down to the sprints earlier this year, third in 10.76.

Heading into the Games, it was Fraser-Pryce who had received all of the headlines, as the 34-year-old looked to be in prime position to secure a historic third Olympic gold medal in the event.  She had run the fastest time in the world at 10.63 and netted a win over both her compatriots at the Jamaica National Championships.

Thompson-Herah had, however, looked in superb form since and sent warning signs when she effortlessly coasted to win in 10.82 to open the competition.  She then followed that up with another fast 10.76 clocking, in the semi-final, run in a manner that suggested she plenty left in the tank.  She clearly did.

Thompson-Herah’s time also broke the Olympic record set by American Florence Griffith Joyner at the 1988 Seoul Olympics.

Despite the pandemic wreaking havoc upon the international track and field calendar, the Jamaican managed to put together a series of strong performances.  Thompson-Herah ran unbeaten over seven races in which she also set a world-leading 10.85 over the 100m at the Diamond League meeting in Rome. She also closed the season with a strong 10.87s in Doha.

Making the final five with Thompson-Herah are Letesenbet Gidey (Ethiopia) Sifan Hassan, Kenya's Peres Jepchirchir, and Yulimar Rojas (Venezuela).  Gidey set a world record of 14:06.62 over 5000m and was second in the 5000m at the Wanda Diamond League meeting in Monaco. Hassan also set a world record in the one hour run as well as a European record of 29:36.67 over 10,000m, the fourth-fastest performance in history.  Jepchirchir won the world half marathon title and twice broke the world half-marathon record, while Rojas was undefeated in four triple jump competitions indoors and outdoors and broke the world indoor triple jump record with 15.43m.

The male and female World Athletes of the Year will be announced live at the World Athletics Awards 2020 to be staged as a virtual event on Saturday 5 December and streamed live on the World Athletics YouTube channel, its Facebook page, and via Twitter.

Despite the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, the 28-year-old double Olympic champion has put together a strong season.  Thompson-Herah won all seven of her 100m races and finished the campaign with a world-leading time of 10.85 seconds, which was recorded at the Rome Diamond League in September.

In addition to Thompson-Herah, the list includes Femke Bol (Netherlands), Letesenbet Gibey (Ethiopia), Sifan Hassan (Netherlands), Peres Jepchirchir (Kenya), Faith Kipyegon (Kenya), Laura Muir (Great Britain and Northern Ireland), Hellen Obiri (Kenya), Yulimar Rojas (Venezuela) and Ababel Yeshaneh (Ethiopia).

The Jamaican will face still competition to land the prize, with world records broken this year by Gidey (5000m), Hassan (hour run), Jepchirchir (half marathon, women only), Rojas (triple jump, indoors), and Yeshaneh (half marathon).

The list will be trimmed to five athletes after voting takes place among the World Athletics Council (50 percent), World Athletics family (25 percent), and by fans (25 percent) by liking individual athlete graphics on World Athletics’ Facebook and Instagram or by retweets.

Thompson-Herah is the only Jamaican nominated on either the male or female list.  American Dalilah Muhammad took the honour last year when she twice lowered the 400m hurdles world record.

Fresh off an impressive triumph at the Tokyo Games, Thompson-Herah was in no mood to slow down, and in fact, went considerably faster.  The Jamaican pulled away from compatriot Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce in the final metres of the race to stop the clock at 10.54, just .05 second outside of the world record set by the United States' Florence Griffith-Joyner in 1988.

In almost identical fashion to Tokyo, Fraser-Pryce was second in 10.73, with Shericka Jackson third in 10.76.

Prior to the race, a lot of the attention was focussed on the return of flamboyant United States sprinter Sha'Carri Richardson who missed out on a match-up with the Jamaica trio at the Olympics, after serving a brief suspension for testing positive for marijuana. 

Expectations had been heightened for the sprinter’s return after emphatically winning the US trials before the Games.  In Eugene, however, she was nowhere to be found.  Richardson got away slowly and never got into the race, ending at the back of the field in a pedestrian 11.14.  Thompson-Herah now has the two fastest times outside of the longstanding world record set by Griffith-Joyner.

The Jamaican headed into the final as a heavy favorite and easily lived up to that billing after dominating the event to cross the line in 10.95.  St Lucia’s Julian Alfred continued an excellent season after finishing second to the Jamaican in 11.01.  Great Britain’s Daryl Neita was third in 11.07.  The Bahamas' Tynia Gaither and Jamaica’s Natalliah Whyte were 7^th and 8^th respectively.

The medal was the third for the athlete at the event, but her first individual medal, adding to 4x100m relay gold and silver medals in 2014 and 2018 respectively.

In the men’s equivalent, Kenya’s Ferdinand Omanyala claimed top billing after winning the event in 10.01, ahead of South Africa’s Akani Simbine, the defending champion, who was second in 10.13.  Sri Lanka’s Yupun Abeykoon was third in 10.14.  No Caribbean male athlete made the 100m final.  Jamaica’s Kemar Bailey-Cole, who won the event in 2014 finished fourth in the semi-finals.

Lining up alongside Thompson-Herah will be experienced Ivory Coast sprinter Marie Jose Talou, Trinidad and Tobago star Michelle Lee Ahye, and compatriot Natasha Morrison.

Thompson-Herah heads into the event off the back of a dominant performance at the Prefontaine Classic last weekend where she got the better of United States sprinter Sha’arri Richardson, compatriot Shericka Jackson, and Great Britain athlete Dina Asher-Smith.  The Jamaican won the event in 10.79.

Elsewhere, another Jamaican Stephenie Ann Mcpherson will compete in the women’s 400m, while Shanieka Ricketts will compete in the women’s triple jump.

According to an announcement made by organisers last week, Thompson-Herah was expected to clash with compatriot Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce, Sha’Carri Richardson, and Marie-Josee Ta over the 100m distance.

However, earlier this week, when the start list was announced the athlete’s name was nowhere to be seen.  It was a similar situation last weekend, where weeks before, many had expected the athlete to make her season debut at the Gateshead Diamond League meet against Richardson and Fraser-Pryce.

The early season, high stakes Gateshead clash was won by Great Britain’s Dina Asher-Smith, prior to the race Richardson had clocked the season’s fastest time with 10.72.  Thompson-Herah is the second-fastest woman in the world this year with her time of 10.78 seconds.

Fraser-Pryce, the Doha 2019 world champion, ran the 100m for the first time in Gateshead, where she finished fourth in 11.51.  Thompson-Herah, who has a best of 10.70, the same as Fraser-Pryce and Richardson (10.72) are three of the fast women in history over the distance having clocked the joint-fourth and sixth fastest times over the distance.

Two weeks ago, it was Fraser-Pryce who beat Thompson-Herah to claim the Jamaica 100m national title.  This time around, Thompson-Herah turned the tables to lead virtually wire to wire to clock a fast 10.71.  The time was a new meeting record and just one 100^th of a second outside of her personal best.

Fraser-Pryce was second in 10.82, with Ivory Coast’s Marie-Josée Ta Lou third in 10.86.  Another Caribbean athlete, Trinidad and Tobago’s Michelle Lee-Ahye was third in 11.09, her second-best time this season.  Fraser-Pryce owns the fastest time in the world this year, and second-best all-time, after her 10.63 clocking last month.

Elsewhere, Stefanie-Ann McPherson continued her excellent run of form after clocking another sub-50 time to claim the women’s 400m.  Running from lane 4, the Jamaican national champion had all but covered the field by the halfway mark and was comfortable in getting to the line in 49.99.  The United States’ Wadeline Jonathas was second in 50.70, with the Netherlands ’ Lieke Klaver third in 51.29.

In other events, Jamaica’s Fedrick Dacres claimed third spot in the men’s discus after registering a best of 65.08.  The event was won by Sweden’s Daniel Sthal who recorded 67.71.  Lithuania’s Andrius Gudžius was second with a mark of 66.71.

Thompson-Herah looked in full control of the race before pulling well clear of the field with around 10 metres to go and stopping the clock at 10.79. American Sha’Carri Richardson finished at the head of the pack behind Thompson-Herah, clocking 10.92 for second spot.  The time was identical to another Jamaican, Sherika Jackson, an Olympic 100m bronze medallist. Richardson was, however, given second ahead of Jackson based on the photo finish.

Elsewhere, another Jamaican star, Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce took top spot in the women’s 200m.    Fraser-Pryce stopped the clock in a season’s best 22.41, well clear of second-place Brittany Brown who was timed in 22.74. The Bahamas’ Anthonique Strachan was third in 22.76.

In the women’s 800m, Olympic finalist Natoya Goule finished fourth in 1:59.39.  The event was won by Great Britain’s Keely Hodgkinson in 1:57.72.

Thompson-Herah left the blocks quickly to effortlessly cover the rest of the field by the top of the curve and shut things down to record a 22.75 winning time.  MVP Track Club's Stephanie McPherson chased her to the line late on and was second in 23.16.  Natasha Morrison was third in 23.52.

In the men’s equivalent, Racer’s Track Club’s Zharnel Hughes finished with the fastest time of the day, after recording 20.56 to win heat 4. 

Olympic 100m bronze medalist Shericka Jackson proved a cut above the rest of the field and powered away midway through the race to claim the women’s 100m in 11 seconds flat.  Her MVP Track Club teammate Anthonique Strachan was second in 11.40 and Sprint Tech’s Remona Burchell third in 11.43.

In the men’s equivalent, Oblique Seville took top spot with a time of 10.00.  The Racer’s Track Club athlete finished comfortably ahead of MVP’s Kishane Thompson, who was second in 10.21, and Kadrian Goldson who was third in 10.24.

  Women’s 4x400 Metres

 Cuba and Jamaica both advanced to the final.

The Cuban team of Zurian Hechevarria, Rose Mary Almanza, Sahily Diago and Lisneidy Veitia ran 3:24.04 to finish second in heat 1.

Junelle Bromfield, Roniesha McGregor, Janieve Russell and Stacey Ann Williams formed the Jamaican quartet that finished second in heat 2 to advance with 3:21.95.

The Bahamas quartet of Doneisha Anderson

Megan Moss, Brianne Bethel and Anthonique Strachan also competed in heat 1 but did not finish the race.

 Men’s 400 Metres

The Caribbean secured two more medals in the men’s 400 metres.

Bahamian Steven Gardiner won gold in a time of 43.85 and Grenada’s Kirani James secured bronze in 44.19.

 This is Gardiner’s second straight global gold medal after winning at the 2019 Doha World Championships.

James has now won 400 metres medals at the last three Olympics after winning gold in London in 2012 and silver in Rio 2016.

Jamaica’s Christopher Taylor was also in the final and finished sixth in a new personal best 44.79.

Two Caribbean men advanced to the final. Jamaica’s Ronald Levy advanced after winning semi-final 1 in 13.23.

Levy’s teammate, 2012 Olympic bronze medallist Hansle Parchment, also advanced to the final after finishing second in semi-final 3 in 13.23.

Jamaica’s third participant in the semis, Damion Thomas, narrowly missed out on a place in the final after finishing third in semi-final 2 in 13.39.

Shane Brathwaite of Barbados and Eddie Lovett were the other Caribbean competitors in the discipline but both men failed to progress from the heats. 

Men’s 200 Metres

Jamaica’s Rasheed Dwyer and Trinidad & Tobago’s Jereem Richards will both contest the final.

Dwyer advanced by finishing second in semi-final 1 in a time of 20.13, while Richards finished third in semi-final 2 with 20.10 to advance as one of the two fastest losers.

Women’s 800 Metres

Jamaica’s Natoya Goule was the Caribbean’s lone competitor in the final.

Goule attempted to go with the early pace set by outstanding American teenager Athing Mu and unfortunately faded towards the end of the race, eventually finishing eighth in 1:58.26.

The race was won by Mu in an American record of 1:55.21 and she was followed by Great Britain’s Keely Hodgkinson, also only 19 years old, who ran a British record 1:55.88 for silver and American Raevyn Rodgers who ran a personal best 1:56.81 for bronze.

Women’s 200 Metres

Elaine Thompson-Herah created history by becoming the second person to win the 100-200 double at back-to-back Olympics, the first being the great Usain Bolt who did it at three straight games from 2008-2016.

She crossed the line first in a new personal best of 21.53 to become the second-fastest woman of all time over the distance.

Namibian Christine Mboma won silver in a world junior record of 21.81 and American Gabby Thomas won bronze in 21.87.

Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce ran 21.94 to finish fourth and Shaunae Miller-Uibo, evidently saving her legs for the 400 metres, jogged home to finish 8^th in 24.00.

Men’s Javelin

No Caribbean men advanced to the final.

Grenada’s Anderson Peters, a 2019 World Championship gold medalist, finished 15^th in qualifying with a best distance of 80.42.

Trinidadian 2012 Olympic Champion, Keshorn Walcott, finished 16^th in qualifying with 79.33.

Walcott was aiming to win javelin medals at three straight Olympics after winning gold in London in 2012 and bronze in Rio in 2016.

Women’s 400 Metres Hurdles

The running theme of spectacular 400-metre hurdling at the Tokyo Olympics continued as the women’s equivalent also saw a new world record being established.

American Sydney McLaughlin won gold in a new world record of 51.46, breaking her own previous world record of 51.90 which she set at the US trials.

Her teammate Dalilah Muhammad, the defending champion in the event, finished second in 51.58, a new personal best.

Dutch rising star Femke Bol won bronze by setting a new European record 52.03.

Jamaica’s Janieve Russell finished a distant fourth but came away with an outstanding new personal best of 53.03 in the process.

 Five Caribbean women advanced to the final.

Marileidy Paulino of The Dominican Republic won semi-final 1 in a national record of 49.38 to advance.

Jamaica’s Candice McLeod and Cuba’s Roxana Gomez also progressed from semi-final 1.

McLeod ran a personal best of 49.51 to finish second and advance automatically while Gomez finished third in a personal best 49.71 and advanced in a fastest loser spot.

Shaunae Miller-Uibo advanced by running 49.60 to win the second semi-final.

Jamaica’s Roniesha McGregor and Guyana’s Aliyah Abrams were also in semi-final 2 but failed to advance, finishing third in 50.34 and seventh in 51.46 respectively.

Stephenie Ann McPherson won semi-final 3 in a personal best 49.34 to qualify.

Sada Williams finished third in that race in a national record of 50.11 but that wasn’t enough to get her into the final.

Men’s 200 Metres

 Canadian Andre DeGrasse ran a Canadian record 19.62 to take gold.

DeGrasse, silver medalist behind Usain Bolt at the 2016 Rio games, will be joined on the podium by Americans Kenny Bednarek and Noah Lyles.

Bednarek ran a personal best 19.68 for silver and Lyles ran a season’s best 19.74 for bronze.

Jamaica’s Rasheed Dwyer finished 7^th in 20.21 and Jereem Richards of Trinidad & Tobago finished 8^th in 20.39.

Women’s High Jump

 St. Lucian Levern Spencer finished 22^nd in qualifying.

Women’s 4x100 Metres Relay

 The Jamaican team consisting of Briana Williams, Natasha Morrison, Remona Burchell and Shericka Jackson ran 42.15 to finish third in heat 1 and advance to the final.

Men’s 4x100 Metres Relay

 Jamaica qualified for the final after running the fastest time in the heats.

The team of Jevaughn Minzie, Julian Forte, Yohan Blake and Oblique Seville ran a time of 37.82 to win heat 1.

Trinidad & Tobago were also in heat 1 and finished 6^th with a time of 38.63.

Their team consisted of Kion Benjamin, Eric Harrison, Akanni Hislop and Richard Thompson, silver medalist from the 2008 Beijing games.

Men’s 110 Metres Hurdles

 Jamaica secured two medals in the final of the men’s 110 metres hurdles.

Hansle Parchment, a bronze medalist at the 2012 London Olympics, ran a season’s best of 13.04 to win gold ahead of the prohibitive favourite, Grant Holloway of the USA, who took silver in 13.09.

 Ronald Levy ran 13.10 for bronze, his first Olympic medal.

Puerto Rico’s Jasmine Camacho-Quinn, who is unbeaten this season, followed up an Olympic record of 12.26 in the semi-finals by running 12.36 to win her first Olympic gold medal, five years after hitting a hurdle and crashing out at the semi-final stage in Rio.

Tapper ran 12.55 to win the bronze medal.  The world record holder, Keni Harrison of the USA, won silver in 12.52 to also secure her first Olympic medal.

Bahamian Devynne Charlton finished 6th in 12.74 and Jamaica’s Brittany Anderson finished 8th in 13.24.

Men’s Long Jump

The Caribbean secured two medals in the men’s long jump after Cuba’s Juan Miguel Echevarria and Maykel Masso finished second and third with jumps of 8.41 and 8.21 respectively.

The gold medalist, Miltiadis Tentoglu of Greece, also jumped 8.41 but was determined as the outright winner on countback because his second-longest jump of 8.15 was longer than Echevarria’s second-longest of 8.09.

Jamaica’s reigning world champion, Tajay Gayle, valiantly made an attempt to compete after picking up a left knee injury in qualifying.  Jumping with heavy strapping on that knee, Gayle fouled his first two attempts before registering 7.69 on his third to finish 11th overall.

Women’s Triple Jump

Shanieka Ricketts of Jamaica narrowly missed out on a medal.  Ricketts finished fourth after leaping out to 14.84 on her fourth-round attempt.

The Jamaican was in third place going into the fifth round until Spain’s Ana Peleteiro produced a national record of 14.87 to overtake Ricketts and secure the bronze medal.

The competition also saw Venezuelan Yulimar Rojas win her first Olympic gold medal by jumping to a new world record of 15.67 metres, breaking the previous mark of 15.50 set at the 1995 World Championships by Ukrainian Inessa Kravets.

The other Jamaican in the final, Kimberly Williams, finished eighth with a jump of 14.51.

Men’s 400 metres Hurdles

Only one Caribbean athlete advanced to the final.  Both Kyron McMaster of the British Virgin Islands and Jaheel Hyde of Jamaica lined up in semi-final 3 and with 100 metres to go, they both looked in good shape to get to the final.

Unfortunately, Hyde hit the eighth hurdle badly and fell, taking him out of contention.

He ended up jogging to the finish in a time of 1:27.38.

McMaster went on to win the semi-final in 48.26 and advance to his first Olympic final.

Men’s 100m

No Caribbean men advanced to the final of the men’s 100 metres as Jamaica’s Yohan Blake and Oblique Seville both came up short in their semi-final races.

Blake finished sixth in semi-final 1 in 10.14 and Seville finished fourth in semi-final 2 in 10.09.

The final eventually saw Italy’s Lamont Marcell Jacobs take gold in 9.80 ahead of the USA’s Fred Kerley who ran 9.84 for second and Canada’s Andre DeGrasse who ran 9.89 for third, his second successive Olympic 100 metres bronze medal.

All three men recorded personal bests in the race.

Women’s 1500 Metres

Jamaica’s Aisha Praught-Leer competed in heat 2 of the women’s 1500 metres despite injury and finished 13^th in a time of 4:15.31.

Women’s 200 Metres

 Four Caribbean women advanced to the semi-finals of the 200 metres.

Shaunae Miller-Uibo of the Bahamas finished second in heat 1 with a time of 22.40 to advance.

100 metres silver medalist Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce was next to confirm her spot in the next round, comfortably winning heat 2 in 22.22.

Heat 5 was won by Bahamian Anthonique Strachan in 22.76 but the biggest story from that race was Shericka Jackson of Jamaica.

The 100 metres bronze medalist failed to advance after easing up at the line and being passed Italy’s Dalia Kaddari.

100 metres gold medalist Elaine Thompson-Herah of Jamaica was very conservative in heat 6, finishing third in 22.86 to secure her spot in the semi-finals.

Jamaica and Trinidad & Tobago both advanced to the final.

The Trinidadian team consisting of Deon Lendore, Jereem Richards, Machel Cedenio and Dwight St. Hillaire ran a season’s best of 2:58.60 to finish 3^rd in heat 1 and progress.

Jamaica fielded a team of Demish Gaye, Jaheel Hyde, Karayme Bartley and Nathon Allen to finish 2^nd in heat 2 with a season’s best time of 2:59.29 to advance.

Women’s 400 Metres

The Caribbean secured two medals in the women’s 400 metres.

Shaunae Miller-Uibo of the Bahamas successfully defended her title from the 2016 Games by winning gold in a personal best 48.36, the 6^th fastest time ever in the event.

She was followed by Marileidy Paulino of the Dominican Republic who took silver in a national record 49.20.

Allyson Felix of the USA became the most decorated female track athlete in Olympic history by finishing 3^rd and securing her 10^th Olympic medal, one more than Jamaican legend Merlene Ottey.

Jamaicans Stephenie-Ann McPherson and Candice McLeod finished 4^th and 5^th in 49.61 and 49.87 respectively.

Cuba’s Roxana Gomez started the final but unfortunately failed to finish, pulling up injured about 100 metres into the race.

Women’s 4x100 Metres

The Jamaican quartet of Briana Williams, Elaine Thompson-Herah, Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce and Shericka Jackson celebrated Jamaica’s Independence Day by running a national record of 41.02 to secure the gold medal.

This marks Jamaica’s first time winning Olympic gold in women’s 4x100 metres relay since Athens 2004.

Javianne Oliver, Teahna Daniels, Jenna Prandini and Gabby Thomas combined to run 41.45 to secure the silver medal for the USA, while Great Britain with Asha Phillip, Imani Lansiquot, Dina Asher-Smith and Daryll Neita ran 41.88 for bronze.

Men’s 4x100 Metres

Jamaica finished 5^th in the final of the men’s 4x100 metres relay.

Jevaughn Minzie, Julian Forte, Yohan Blake and Oblique Seville combined to run 37.84 to finish behind Italy, Great Britain, Canada and China.

The Italian team of Lorenzo Patta, Lamont Marcell Jacobs, Fostine Desalu and Filippo Tortu ran a national record 37.50 to secure gold and continue the country’s impressive track & field showing in Tokyo.

The British team comprising of CJ Ujah, Zharnel Hughes, Richard Kilty and Nethaneel Mitchell-Blake ran 37.51 to finish just behind the Italians in 2^nd.

Aaron Brown, Jerome Blake, Brendon Rodney and Andre De Grasse combined to run 37.70 and secure the bronze for Canada.

The other regional athletes in competition, Jamaicans Chanice Porter and Tissanna Hickling finished 24th and 25th respectively in qualifying with distances of 6.22 and 6.19.

Elsewhere, Trinidad & Tobago’s Portious Warren could not manage to get among the medals after finishing 10th in the final of the women’s shot put.

Men's 400m 

Nine Caribbean men advanced to the next round of the men’s 400 metres.  Heat 1 of the event saw Grenada’s 2012 Olympic Champion, Kirani James, finish second in 45.09 to advance.

Demish Gaye of Jamaica and Alonzo Russell of the Bahamas also advanced to the semi-finals from heat 1 as two of the six fastest losers, after finishing 4th and 5th in 45.49 and 45.51 respectively.

The third heat also saw three Caribbean men advance to the semi-finals as Jonathan Jones of Barbados, Christopher Taylor of Jamaica and Dwight St. Hillaire of Trinidad & Tobago all made it through.

Jones and Taylor finished second and third with times of 45.04 and 45.20 to advance automatically and St. Hillaire finished fourth in 45.41 to advance as a fastest loser.

Steven Gardiner, the reigning world champion, easily won heat 5 in 45.05 to advance to the semi-finals.

Trinidadian Deon Lendore also advanced from heat 5 after finishing second behind Gardiner in 45.14.

Jamaica’s Nathon Allen was also in heat 5 but failed to advance after finishing fourth in 46.12.

Machel Cedenio, the Trinidadian who narrowly missed out on a medal five years ago in Rio, also advanced to the semi-finals after finishing third in the 6th and final heat in 45.56.

Men's Lomg Jump

Earlier, Tajay Gayle qualified for the final of the men’s long jump, despite picking up an apparent left knee injury.

The Jamaican fouled his first attempt and picked up the injury while jumping 6.72 in his second attempt.  He jumped out to 8.14 in his third, with heavy strapping around his left knee.

Juan Miguel Echevarria of Cuba had the longest jump in qualifying after leaping out to 8.50 in his first attempt.

The men’s long jump final will get underway at 8:20pm today.

Natoya Goule won her semi-final to advance to the final of the women’s 800 metres.

Goule took the lead early and never looked back, running 1:59.57 to get to her first Olympic final.

Jamaica’s Chad Wright, in the meantime, finished ninth in the men’s discus final with a throw of 62.56.

Elsewhere, the Dominican Republic mixed 4x400m team of Andres Feliz, Marileidy Paulino, Anabel Medina, and Alexander Ogando ran 3:10.21 to finish second in the final and secure the silver medal.

Sean Bailey, Stacy Ann-Williams, Tovea Jenkins, and Karayme Bartley ran for Jamaica and finished 7th in 3:14.95.

Cuba’s Yaime Perez secured a bronze medal with a throw of 65.72.

Shadae Lawrence of Jamaica finished 7^th with a distance of 62.12, which she did in the second round.

The gold medal went to Valarie Allman of the USA with 68.98 and Germany’s Kristin Pudenz was second with a personal best of 66.86.

Men’s 400 Metres

Three Caribbean men will be in the final of the men’s 400 metres.

Semi-final 1 saw Grenada’s 2012 Olympic champion Kirani James run his fastest time since the 2016 Olympic final.

 James won the race in 43.88 to advance to his third straight Olympic 400 metres final and will be seeking a third straight medal.

Trinidadian Deon Lendore was also in semi-final 1 and finished fourth in 44.93.

Jamaica’s Christopher Taylor finished second in semi-final 2 to advance to his first Olympic final with a season’s best 44.92.

Trinidad & Tobago’s Machel Cedenio and Alonzo Russell of the Bahamas finished seventh and eighth respectively with times of 45.86 and 46.04.

Bahamian 2019 World Champion Steven Gardiner ran 44.14 to win the third semi-final and advance.

Jamaica’s Demish Gaye finished fourth in 45.09, Trinidad & Tobago’s Dwight St. Hillaire finished seventh in 45.58 and Jonathan Jones of Barbados finished eighth in 45.61.

Women’s 400 Metre Hurdles

Jamaica’s Janieve Russell finished second in semi-final 1 in 54.10 to advance to the final.

Panama’s Gianna Woodruff ran a national record of 54.22 to finish second in semi-final 2 and advance.

Semi-final 2 also saw Cuba’s Zurian Echevarria finish fourth in 55.21 and Barbados’ Tia-Adana Belle finished eighth in 59.26.

Men’s Triple Jump

Cristian Napoles of Cuba was the only Caribbean man to advance to the final.

Napoles jumped 17.08 to finish fourth in qualifying.

Jamaica’s Carey McLeod, who also competed in the long jump at these Olympics, finished 24^th in qualifying with a jump of 16.01.

Women’s 400 Metres

The Caribbean will be well represented in the semi-finals.

Shaunae Miller-Uibo turned up for heat 1 and ran 50.50 to easily win and advance to the semi-finals.

In fact, the top 4 women in heat 1 all hail from the Caribbean and all advanced to the semi-finals.

Roxana Gomez of Cuba finished second in 50.76 to get through automatically.

Sada Williams of Barbados also got through automatically after finishing third in 51.36.

Guyana’s Aliyah Abrams finished fourth and advanced to the semi-finals in one of the fastest loser spots.

Grenada’s Meleni Rodney competed in heat 2 and unfortunately failed to finish.

 Jamaica’s Roniesha McGregor advanced to the semis from heat 3 after finishing second in 51.14.

Candice McLeod from Jamaica won heat 4 in 51.09 to progress.

Heat 5 was also won by a Jamaican as Stephenie Ann-McPherson won in 50.89.

Marileidy Paulino of The Dominican Republic ran the fastest time in qualifying to win heat 6 in 50.06.

Women’s Long Jump

Tyra Gittens of Trinidad & Tobago finished 10^th in the final with a distance of 6.60m.

Chantal Malone of the British Virgin Islands was also in the final and finished 12^th with a jump of 6.50.

 Malaika Mihambo of Germany jumped 7.00m for the gold medal while silver and bronze went to Brittney Reese of the USA and Ese Brume of Nigeria respectively.

Both Reese and Brume jumped 6.97 but Reese finished second on countback.

Men’s 200 Metres

 Four Caribbean men advanced to the semi-finals.

Jamaica’s Rasheed Dwyer won heat 1 of the men’s 200 metres in a time of 20.30.

Bronze medalist at the 2017 World Championships, Jereem Richards of Trinidad & Tobago, easily won heat 2 in 20.52 to advance.

Kyle Greaux of Trinidad & Tobago finished fourth in heat 3 in 20.77.

 Silver medallist back at the 2009 Berlin World Championships, Panama’s Alonso Edward, finished second in heat 4 in 20.60 to progress.

Yancarlos Martinez from The Dominican Republic finished second in heat 6 with a national record of 20.17 to advance to the semi-finals.

Julian Forte of Jamaica finished seventh in heat 7 with a time of 20.65.

Men’s 400 Metres Hurdles

Kyron McMaster ran 47.08 in the men’s 400 metres hurdles final and unbelievably finished fourth.

Karsten Warholm won his first Olympic gold medal in what may go down as the greatest performance in Olympic track and field history.

 The Norwegian ran a ridiculous world record of 45.94 to break his own previous mark of 46.70 by almost a full second.

American Rai Benjamin finished second in a new American record of 46.17 and Brazil’s Alisson Dos Santos finished third in a new personal best and South American record 46.72.

 Jamaica secured a bronze medal in the women’s 4x400 metres relay as the track and field portion of the Tokyo Olympics ended today.

The team of Roniesha McGregor, Janieve Russell, Shericka Jackson and Candice McLeod combined to run 3:21.24 to finish 3^rd behind the USA and Poland.

Sydney McLaughlin, Allyson Felix, Dalilah Muhammad and Athing Mu came together to win gold for the US in 3:16.85 and Poland’s Natalia Kaczmarek, Iga Baumgart-Wittan, Malgorzata Holub-Kowalik and Justyna Swiety-Ersetic won silver in a national record 3:20.53.

Men’s 4x400 Metres Relay

 Jamaica and Trinidad & Tobago both failed to secure medals in the men’s 4x400 metres relay.

The Jamaican team of Demish Gaye, Christopher Taylor, Jaheel Hyde and Nathon Allen ran 2:58.76 to finish 6^th while the Trinidadian team of Deon Lendore, Jereem Richards, Dwight St. Hillaire and Machel Cedenio finished 8^th in 3:00.85.

 Michael Cherry, Michael Norman, Bryce Deadmon and Rai Benjamin combined to win gold for the USA in 2:55.70.

The silver medal went to the Dutch quartet of Liemarvin Bonevacia, Terrence Agard, Tony van Diepen and Ramsey Angela who ran 2:57.18, a national record.

The Botswana team of Isaac Makwala, Baboloki Thebe, Zibane Ngozi and Bayapo Ndori combined to run 2:57.27 for bronze, breaking their own African record in the process.

The Jamaican team won in a national record 41.02 seconds. It was the second-fastest time in history and ended the U.S. team’s push for a third consecutive Olympic gold in the event.

The American team of Javianne Oliver, Teahna Daniels, Jenna Prandini, and Gabrielle Thomas won silver in 41.45 and Britain took bronze in 41.88.

Elaine Thompson-Herah won the 100 meters on Saturday in an Olympic record. Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce was second and Shericka Jackson was third in that race. Those three joined Briana Williams as the Jamaicans added the Olympic relay title to their world championship gold in 2019.