Pan American Games 2023: Archibald, Abrams sisters secure final berths

There were some bright sparks on the track for Guyana on Monday night in Santiago, Chile as three athletes secured semi-final berths in their respective events.
First to touch the track was Aliyah Abrams in the women’s 400m semifinal. There Abrams clocked 51.82s for the second fastest qualifying time and an automatic spot in the final. She was bested in the semifinal, only by Chile’s Martina Weil, who clocked 51.47s for first place. Ecuador’s Nicole Caicedo was third in 52.32s.
Next, there was another final spot written in the stars for Emanuel Archibald, as he took to the park for his first event, the men’s 100m.

Archibald crossed the line in 10.35s for third place in his semifinal behind Dominican Republic’s Jose Gonzalez (10.30s) and Brazil’s Felipe Bardi (10.33s), who finished first and second respectively.
Although Archibald did not gain an automatic spot, as his semi-final was the fastest of the three, he qualified for the final on time.
Archibald, who felt he could have done better in the semifinal, related such to Guyana Times Sport.
“The blocks was new to me. I don’t feel it was that bad, even though it was a struggling race, I just came out with a fast time. So, tomorrow (today) I’ll be better, I’ll practise on the blocks and I’ll come out and do my best,” the sprinter said.
He added about today’s final, “The purpose is to medal, so let’s see how it goes.”
With the women’s 100m semi-finals scheduled to follow the men’s, Guyana saw mixed results as Jasmine Abrams punched her ticket to the final, but Keliza Smith was unable to do so.

Smith, in semi-final 1, clocked 11.78s for sixth place in the race, which was won by Mexico’s Cecilia Tamayo in 11.66s.
In the second semi-final, Abrams crossed the line first in 11.60s to secure an automatic spot in the grand finale. The Guyanese was trailed by Brazil’s Ana Carolina De Jesus and Yarima Garcia of Cuba, who clocked 11.64s and 11.65s respectively.
Tonight, Jasmine Abrams will go for gold in the women’s 100m final at 19:55h local time, while Archibald does the same at 20:03h. The Women’s 400m final, in which Aliyah Abrams will compete, is set for Wednesday at 19:23h local time.
Meanwhile, earlier on Monday, Britton went down fighting in the men’s table tennis singles round of 32.
Britton faced Puerto Rico’s Daniel Gonzalez in a match that ended 4-1 in the Puerto Rican’s favour. Similarly to Sunday’s game, Gonzalez won the first three sets 11-4, 11-8, 11-8, while Britton fought back to take the fourth 6-11. However, Gonzalez sealed his progression to the round of 16 with an 11-3 win in the fifth set.
Britton, after the game, summed up his outing at the Games.
“It was a great experience. It was always a dream of mine to come out and play at this level, among the top 32 players in the region, the entire Pan Am region. It’s just, you know, another step up and another level to aspire to get to,” Britton remarked.