CARIFTA Games 2024: Persaud, Hinckson rake in silver on final day 

…dramatic 4×4 ends in bronze for U20 boys

The duo of Athaleyha Hinckson and Kaidon Persaud brought Guyana’s medal tally at the CARIFTA Games up to seven, while the Boys’ U20 4x400m team put the cherry on top with another bronze on the final day on Monday.
As such, Guyana ended their 2024 campaign with 4 gold medals, 2 silver and 2 bronze.
It was high drama in the very final event at the Kirani James Athletics Stadium in Grenada on Monday night as the 4x400m Boys’ U20 race saw three teams falling out of the race due to a mix-up with the starting gun sound.

While Trinidad and Tobago, the Bahamas and Antigua and Barbuda stopped; Guyana, Jamaica, Grenada and Barbados, etc, continued running.
Jamaica’s team completed the race in 3:10.58 for the gold while Guyana’s team of Malachi Austin, Jaheel Cornette, Dh Neilson Gill and Jamol Sullivan stopped the clock at 3:14.05 for second place.
However, the mix-up was contested and the teams that stopped were allowed to run against the clock.
With Trinidad’s team finishing in 3:11.10, they snatched the silver medal while Guyana was demoted to third place.
Despite not being able to complete the sprint double, U17 sprinter Hinckson was once again impressive, crossing the line in 23.85s for second place and silver in the Girls’ 200m event.
Jamaica’s Natrece East in 23.74s claimed gold while Tyra Fenton of Antigua and Barbuda completed the podium with a time of 23.97s.
In the male version of the 200m event, Guyana’s Skylar Charles missed out after running 22.36s for sixth place.
Trinidad and Tobago’s Kadeem Chinapoo clocked 21.78s for gold, while Jamaica’s Oshane Jarvis (22.16s) and British Virgin Islands’ Tiondre Frett (22.18s) finished third.
Moving up to the Under-20 category, Malachi Austin clocked 21.56s, finishing seventh in the 200m final. Gary Card of Jamaica stopped the clock at 20.60s for the gold medal.
Barbados’ Aragon Straker clinches silver with a time of 20.76s, while Cayman Islands’ Davonte Howell rounded off the top three in 20.60s.
Meanwhile, in the distaff, Tianna Springer was withdrawn from the Girls’ 200m event as an injury precaution. Jamaica’s Shaniya Douglas was the gold medal winner in that event, after clocking 23.03s.
An hour earlier, Kaidon Persaud moved Guyana’s medal count up to six on Monday afternoon, after clocking 1:56.53 in a close finish to claim silver in the Boys’ Under-17 800m event.
Persaud was bested only by Jamaica’s Keandre Kelly, who stopped the clock at 1:56.31  for gold, while his countryman Alejandro Palmer earned bronze with a time of 1:58.05.
However, Guyana did not have much more fortune in the 800m discipline. Attoya Harvey had her hopes of a second medal shot when she finished sixth in the Girls’ U20 version of the events, with a time of 2:16.10.
That race was won by Virgin Islands’ Michelle Smith in 2:06.18, while Haiti’s Victoria Guerrier (2:07.45) and Jamaica’s Monique Stewart (2:07.56) completed the podium.
In the male version of that event, Guyana’s Javon Roberts completed the first lap, but was unable to end the race. Roberts has reportedly been battling an injury.
The Boys’ U20 800m was won by Jamaica’s Kemario Bygrave, who clocked 1:51.43.