Commonwealth Youth Games: Gold, Silver, Bronze for Springer, Austin, McPherson
History was made on Tuesday night when several of Guyana’s teenage track stars eclipsed their competition in the 2023 Commonwealth Youth Games being held at the Hasely Crawford Stadium in Trinidad and Tobago.
Sprint sensation Tiana Springer became the first-ever Guyanese athlete to earn a Gold medal at the international Games since its inception in the year 2000. She has now added the Commonwealth Youth Gold to her South American Gold and CARIFTA Gold earned earlier this year.
In the Women’s 400M final, Springer clocked 53.55s to capture the Gold, while fellow Guyanese Narissa McPherson crossed the line in 54.82s for the Bronze medal. The Guyanese were punctuated by England’s Charlotte Henrich, who clocked 53.65 for the Silver medal.
Tianna Springer copped Guyana’s first Gold medal in any event at the Commonwealth Youth Games
In the Male version of that event, Malachi Austin again impressed on his way to a Silver medal. Austin sprinted to a personal best time of 47.97s to cop the second position. He was bested only by Nigeria’s Samuel Ogazi, whose 46.99s earned him the Gold. Third place went to England’s Alexander Beck in 48.20s.
Attoya Harvey was also in action on Tuesday in the Women’s 1500M final. However, her time of 4 minutes, 45.10s was not good enough for a podium position. The race was won by Kenya’s Nancy Cherop in 4 minutes, 12.38s.
Earlier in the week, the Guyanese athletes impressed in the preliminary rounds of their events. Attoya Harvey was the first Guyanese to cop a spot in her respective final. Harvey crossed the line in 4:55.14 in her 1500M Heat to grab the last spot in the final.
Malachi Austin (L) sharing a light moment with the 400M podium finishers Samuel Ogazi (C) and Alexander Beck (Kairibelle Sports Photo)
Fellow 1500M contender Javon Roberts was not as fortunate, clocking 4:20.45 in Heat 2 of the male event.
In the 400M events, it was all glory from the Guyanese trio of Springer, McPherson and Austin. Springer was the first to hit the track, clocking a comfortable 54s in Heat 1 to advance to the final. Springer’s time was the best qualifying time in the preliminary round.
Then McPherson ran in Heat 2 of the same event, and crossed the line in 55.46s to secure her final spot.
In the male event, Malachi Austin blazed to a season’s best 48.13s in the must-win heat to secure his spot in the final. With only the first-place finisher in the heat being able to qualify, it came down to a photo finish in which Austin edged India’s Navpreet Singh and England’s Stanley Chevous by split seconds. (Jemima Holmes)
