in Curacao
BARBADOS FINISHED with 12 medals overall when the 46th Flow CARIFTA Games climaxed at the Ergilio Hato Stadium here Monday night.
The Barbadian athletes only gained three more medals on the final day but it was a case of double delight as Jonathan Jones and the Under-18 Boys’ 4×400-metre relay team covered themselves in glory.
Jones triumphed in the Under-20 Boys’ 800 metres in 1:51.51 minutes while the quartet of first-timer Kyle Gale, Antoni Hoyte-Small, Nathan Fergusson and Rasheeme Griffith on anchor leg, gleefully grabbed gold in an impressive time of 3:14.61 minutes.
Their gold medal runs overshadowed Barbados’ generally unsatisfactory performance which saw them slip to fourth in the final medal standings with four gold, four silver and four bronze.
Perennial champions Jamaica were again runaway winners with 86 medals, consisting of 39 gold, 28 silver and 19 bronze.
Trinidad and Tobago were second with 22, gaining seven gold, five silver and 10 bronze. The Bahamas earned more overall medals – 31 – but were third with six gold, 15 silver and 10 bronze.
Guyana rounded off the top-five with eight medals, gaining four gold, one silver and three bronze.
Roneldo Rock (No 134) in the mix among the Under-18 boys where he won a bronze medal in the 800 metres.
A bronze from middle distance runner Roneldo Rock was Barbados’ only other medal on the final day, finishing third in the Under-18 Boys’ 800 in 1:56.31 minutes.
The race was won by Jamaican Kimar Farquharson (1:54.65) with his compatriot Tyrese Reid (1:54.79) taking silver.
Earlier, Barbados failed to gain any medals in the Under-18 sprint hurdles.
Hannah Connell (14:35) was fifth in the Girls’ 100-metre hurdles, won by Jamaica’s Britany Anderson in a new record time of 13.16 seconds.
Tre Hollingsworth (13.89) and Nathan Fergusson (13.93) finished fourth and fifth in the Boys’ 110-metre hurdles, won by Jamaican Dejour Russell (13.19).
Matthew Clarke placed fourth in the Under-18 Boys’ 200 metres with a time of 21.64 seconds as Jamaican Michael Stephens sprinted home in 21.30 seconds from Bahamian Joel Johnson (21.55).
Jonathan Jones draped in the Barbados flag after winning gold in the Under-20 boys’ 800 metres.
Neither Triston Gibbons nor Seth Edwards got among the medals in the Under-20 Boys’ shot put while Enrique Babb’s best effort of 48.62 metres earned him fourth in the Under-18 Boys’ discus. Jamaican Daniel Cope established a new discus record of 61.25 metres.
Trinidadian Khalifa St Fort completed the Under-20 Girls’ sprint double by winning the 200 metres in 23.99 seconds.
Jamal Walton gave the Cayman Islands their third gold medal by winning the Under-20 Boys’ 200 in 21.29 seconds.
Trinidad and Tobago handed Jamaica a rare defeat in the Under-20 Boys’ 4×400-metre relay, copping gold in 3:09.32 minutes. T&T’s big anchor runner Kashief King courageously held off Jamaica’s Christopher Taylor on the final leg. (EZS)
