The Bahamas took gold and silver in the Under-17 Boys Javelin Throw through Ahkeel Williams and Wyatt Cartwright as the 52nd CARIFTA Games got underway with the morning session at the Hasely Crawford Stadium in Trinidad & Tobago on Saturday.
While most of the excitement surrounded action on the track, a number of the region’s rising stars also lit up the field events with record-breaking brilliance and show-stopping performances on day one of the 52nd Carifta Games at the Hasely Crawford Stadium in Trinidad and Tobago on Saturday.
Jamaica once again asserted its sprinting supremacy on the regional stage, as they copped three of the four 100m gold medals on offer in thrilling fashion at the 52nd Carifta Games at the Hasely Crawford Stadium in Trinidad and Tobago on Saturday evening.
Jamaica’s Tiana Marshall and Bryana Davidson were the fastest qualifiers through to the final of the Under-20 Girls 100m hurdles final on Monday’s morning session on the final day of the 52nd CARIFTA Games at the Hasely Crawford Stadium in Port of Spain.
Jamaica’s Amani Phillips secured his second gold medal at the 52nd CARIFTA Games in Port of Spain with gold in the Under-17 Boys Long Jump during the morning session at the Hasely Crawford Stadium on Monday.
The 52nd Carifta Games roared into golden gear on Saturday evening as Jamaica, Trinidad and Tobago, and Grenada each struck gold in the 1500m finals, giving fans at the Hasely Crawford Stadium plenty to cheer about on Day One of the region’s premier junior track and field meet.
Telecommunications giants bmobile have signed on as a sponsor for the 2025 CARIFTA Games which will be held at the Hasely Crawford Stadium in Mucurapo from April 19-21.
While Jamaica once again stamped its authority at the Carifta Games with a commanding finish atop the medal table, the 52nd edition of the championships also served as a celebration of progress and promise for several Caribbean nations — most notably The Bahamas and Trinidad and Tobago, who delivered standout performances of their own.
On Sunday, he delivered.
Richards, the 2022 World Indoor 400m champion, sped to a fast 19.83 to win the half-lap sprint on the final day of the championships hence securing his spot to Oregon in July. It was a new lifetime best and the fastest time ever run over the distance on Trinidadian soil.
The time was run in virtually still but rainy conditions as the trailing wind was measured at 0.3m/s. None of that mattered to Richards, who has been in good form this season. “I was not concerned about the weather. I was just ready to run fast,” said the 28-year-old Richards who is also intent on defending his Commonwealth Games title after the World Championships conclude on July 24.
Kyle Greaux ran 20.56s for second place while 400m champion Dwight St Hillaire ran 20.68 for third.
Defending champions Tianna Springer of Guyana and Zion Miller of the Bahamas struck gold in the Under-20 400m finals, as they set an electrifying tone for the evening session on day one of the 52nd Carifta Games at the Hasely Crawford Stadium in Trinidad and Tobago on Saturday.
In an interview with the T&T Daily Express, the 1976 Olympic Games men’s 100 metres champion explained that there are six seats assigned to him at the Hasely Crawford Stadium for any event at the venue, as well as six parking passes. Additionally, two permanent parking spots have been set aside.
Unfortunately, those entitlements have led to numerous embarrassing incidents, the first of which was in 2001, when Trinidad and Tobago hosted the FIFA Under-17 World Cup.
“They wouldn’t give me a ticket for the final. There were instructions, ‘Don’t give Hasely Crawford any ticket’. But I got in,” Crawford shared.
T&T’s first-ever Olympic champion said he also had major issues in August this year at the Commonwealth Youth Games (CYG).
“The opening of Commonwealth was bad. For two days I had problems getting in until Ephraim Serrette brought me an accreditation. On the day of the opening ceremony, a Minister was parked in one of my spots … did move eventually but stayed for a while.”
In another recent incident, Crawford was alarmed by the disrespectful response he got from a group of students at the Secondary Schools Football League (SSFL) opening when he spoke to them about standing in the aisles. He said he alerted a police officer and the SSFL president, and also went to the students’ school to report the incident.
Crawford explained too that he had been offered tickets to attend SSFL games during the 2023 season.
“One time, the SSFL president gave me a ticket. I told him ‘You’re not doing me no favours, I’m entitled to six tickets.’ Another time, he gave me two tickets. I didn’t take them. The promoters are the ones who are responsible for giving me the six tickets for their events," he argued.
“The TTFA (Trinidad and Tobago Football Association) would give me tickets for their games, but I would often get them on the day, and that would create problems for my guests. One day I had a guest coming. I spoke to the guard to tell him my guest was coming in a brown car. They put someone else in the parking spot and told me a TTFA man said to put him there," Crawford added.
Crawford’s family has also faced embarrassment at the stadium.
“One year they had Soca Monarch. My wife and Kent Bernard’s wife went. They told them ‘No, no, no, this is VVIP, for the Prime Minister and a guest’. But that is where I’m supposed to go. My wife can’t take embarrassment, so she took off," he recalled.
In order to avoid any further indignities, Crawford has opted to stay away from the Port of Spain facility, as he brought his concerns to the attention of the authorities, but to no avail.
“I decided I’m not going anything in the stadium," Crawford said, adding that there have been times when he felt he should ask for his name to be removed from the stadium, but knows this is not the way to go.
“I cannot do it because I cannot spit in the face of Trinidad and Tobago. They gave me that. Allyuh gave me that. But I hate going through this embarrassment,” Crawford told the Express.