Gittens-Spotsville leaps to B’dos long jump crown

Senior Multimedia Reporter

[email protected]

Trya Gittens-Spotsville continued her rich form in the field events by leaping to the gold medal at the Barbados Grand Prix on Saturday at the Usain Bolt Sports Complex in Bridgetown.

She was one of the few T&T athletes to have secured podium finishes at the meet. With a history of setting six national records for T&T in the pentathlon in the past, including the high jump at 1.93m (6ft 4in) and the long jump at 6.68m (21ft 11in), Gittens-Spotsville made her presence felt by leaping to the women’s long jump with a best leap of 6.55 meters. Her compatriot Omari Lewis led the 100-metre sprint by storming to victory in a lightning-quick 10.10 seconds. Lewis failed to better the identical 10.10-seconds time he produced in the preliminary round of the sprints; however, it proved to be good enough on the day. Meanwhile, two other T&T sprinters, Revell Webster and Jerod Elcock, failed to make it to the title race after times of 10.51 and 10.57 seconds, respectively, for positions tenth and 14th.

There was also a silver medal for sprinter Leah Bertrand in the women’s 200 metres after she stopped the clock at 23.52 seconds, while the pair of Michelle-Lee Ahye and Shakeem McKay received bronze medals in the women’s and men’s 100-meter dash and one-lap sprint.

Ahye delivered a time of 11.67 seconds for her medal and looked on afterwards as McKay produced a time of 45.92 seconds for his bronze medal in the 400-metre final.

In France, Nathan Cumberbatch placed 4th in his section and 11th overall in the Men’s 800m at the Meeting National De L’Est Lyonnais, clocking 1:47.43.

In New York, Kaeden Herbert struck gold at the AAU Region 1 Championships, winning the Boys’ Under-19 100m in 10.43s after qualifying in 10.63s.