One gold and two silver; that was Guyana’s medal count at the end of the first day of the 2022 CARIFTA Games, signaling a successful day on the track for the Land of Many Waters.
Competing alongside the Region’s best youth athletes, Saturday proved to be a great one for the first timers, as Attoya Harvey, Narissa McPherson and Javon Roberts copped gold and 2 silver respectively, at their very CARIFTA Games. Meanwhile, Keliza Smith came close to the podium but missed it by a feather.
After two years qualifying for the CARIFTA Games and not being able to compete due to COVID-19 cancellation, Attoya Harvey, on Saturday evening, finally realized her dream of being a CARIFTA medalist, storming to a Gold medal finish in the Girls’ Under 17 1500m race.
With no preliminary race, Harvey’s first outing on the track in Kingston was the final of the event, which she won in 4:45.75 minutes, miles in front of her competition.
Coming in at 4:52.14 was Trinidad and Tobago’s Kayleigh Forde for second and then Jamaica’s Kededra Coombs with 4:52.19 for third.
However, that was only the first of Guyana’s medals on Saturday.
In what was her very first race at the CARIFTA Games, Narissa McPherson held her nerve in the Under 17 400m event to qualify for Saturday night’s final. Competing in Heat 2, McPherson clocked 56.83s for second place in the heat, just behind Jamaica’s Abigail Campbell’s 56.15s first place run. McPherson also registered the 3rd- best qualification time overall, with Campbell first, another Jamaican Quana Walker (57.43s) leading the Guyanese.
Jamaica’s Campbell proved to be the object in Mcpherson’s way once again, in the final, as she raced to a gold medal finish with a time of 53.83s. However, the Guyanese McPherson stopped the clock at 55.39 for second place and the silver medal. The podium was completed be Jamaica’s Quana Walker I’m 55.65s.
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