Let the games begin! S.A Youth Championships Begin Today

Fifty Guyanese athletes will be seeking glory today and tomorrow as the 2017 staging of the South American U-20 Championships begin this morning at the Leonora Synthetic Track, West Coast Demerara.

Today’s opening will see 17 finals being contested, 12 on the track and five in the field. Tevin Nicholson will be the first Guyanese athlete to compete today in the championships, and he will be looking to medal in the 10,000 Metres Race Walk.

The opening session, which starts at 06:30hrs with the 10k walk race, will also feature preliminary-round action in the 100 and 400 metre races, where the allegedly “fastest U-20 sprinter in the Caribbean”, CARIFTA Games gold medallist Compton Caesar, will feature along with Tyrell Peters, Daniel Williams, Kenisha Phillips, Onasha Rogers and Avon Samuels.

Guyana’s athletes will, however, be coming up against the standout athletes from SA U-20 powerhouse Brazil, as well as those from Argentina, Colombia, Peru, Bolivia, Paraguay, Uruguay, Suriname, Ecuador and Chile.

The second session will get under way at 17:00hrs with the men’s decathlon, along with the finals of the women’s 3000 metres. In this event, CARIFTA Games gold (3000m) and bronze (1500m) medallist Claudrice McKoy will look to add to her international medals tally. There will also be the finals of the highly anticipated 100 metre races later in the evening. President of the Athletics Association of Guyana, Aubrey Hutson, has declared his support for the Guyana contingent while noting, “I am not going to be naïve and say that every Guyanese athlete is going to get a gold medal, but (the games) will give them a true opportunity to test their potential, and they should use it to the best of their ability and don’t let any defeat be looked at negatively, but instead understand what more they need to get to the top.”

Today’s finals:

Field Events

08:00hrs Men’s Hammer

17:05hrs Women’s Shot Put

17:25hrs Women’s Long Jump

18:35hrs Men’s Discus

18:50hrs Men’s Long Jump

Track Events

06:30hrs Women’s 10k Race Walk

08:55hrs Men’s 1500m

09:10hrs Women 100m Hurdles

09:20hrs Women 400m

09:40hrs Men’s 400m

18:00hrs Women’s 100m

18:10hrs Men’s 100m

18:40hrs Women’s 3000m

19:20hrs Men’s 110m Hurdles

19:30hrs Women’s 1500m

19:40hrs Men’s 800m

19:50hrs Men’s 5000m