Trinidad and Tobago sprinters stumble in three Pan Am finals

6 months in TT News day

Trinidad and Tobago was unable to medal in three sprint finals at the Pan American Games in Santiago, Chile, on Thursday,
Their best performance came in the men’s 4x100m relay, where Jerod Elcock, Judah Taylor, Eric Harrison Jr and Kyle Greaux placed fourth.
After advancing to the final with the joint fifth fastest time (39.53 seconds), with Argentina, TT’s quartet looked good at the start but faded away as the race progressed, and clocked 39.54s. They ran out of lane eight.
Brazil (38.68s) continued their impeccable run of form by powering to gold while Cuba (39.26s) and Argentina (39.48s) sprinted to silver and bronze respectively.
First-leg runner Elcock had a good start and was second to hand off the baton to Taylor, behind Brazil. But over the second and third legs, the opposing runners made up ground on Taylor and Harrison.
Greaux looked good on the final leg and tried to make amends. He, however, ran out of track and rallied to fourth place after the American pulled up with a few metres to go.
In the earlier semi-final, the quartet ran out of lane seven and was third fastest, in 39.53s. Topping the heat was the Americans in 38.89s while Cuba was second fastest in 38.92s.
Greaux, however, contested the men’s 200m final 45 minutes before the relay final, and placed sixth. He got to the line in 21.32s, vying from lane one.
Winning gold was Brazilian Renan Correa (20.37s) while 2019 champion Jose Gonzalez (20.56s) of the Dominican Republic and Kittian Nadale Buntin (20.79s) were sprinted to silver and bronze respectively.
On Wednesday, Greaux snuck into the finals as the eighth-fastest qualifier in 21.27s.
Similarly, female sprinter Reyare Thomas also placed fifth in the 200m final.
Thomas stopped the clock on 23.79s, over one second slower than eventual winner Marileidy Paulino (22.74s) of the Dominican Republic.
Sprinting to silver was Cuban Yunisleidy Garcia (23.33s) while Brazilian Ana De Jesus (23.52s) took bronze.
In women’s field hockey, TT lost their fifth to eighth-place playoff 1-0 against Cuba. After a goalless first quarter, Cuba went ahead two minutes before the halftime break courtesy a penalty corner from Jennifer Martinez.
TT were unsuccessful in converting from two early penalty corners in the third period and it was all Cuba in the fourth quarter, as they held out for close win, and a chance to play for fifth place.
TT, on the other hand, go up against Mexico in the seventh-place playoff on Saturday from 8.30am.
Additionally, the men’s team concludes their Pan Am Games stint on Friday, from 8.30am, against Peru in the seventh-place playoff.
The post Trinidad and Tobago sprinters stumble in three Pan Am finals appeared first on Trinidad and Tobago Newsday.

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