Fourteen-year-old track sensation Tyra Fenton said winning gold at this year’s Carifta Games in Trinidad was no surprise. Fenton won gold in the 400 meters, Girls Under-17 Final, clocking a time of 53.93 seconds.
Speaking on the Good Morning Jojo sports show, Fenton who also won bronze in the 200 meters final, said that for her, it was just a matter of going out and executing as best as she could.
“The races are so unpredictable that you just have to go out and use what you’ve learnt over the years and just execute. It was somewhere in my mind [that she could get gold] but it wasn’t something unexpected. I feel like I could have ran the heats harder [in the 200] and get a better lane than lane eight but there is nothing I am disappointed with,” she said.
Fenton had registered a time of 23.68 seconds for her 200 meters bronze on Monday’s final day of competition. The St. Anthony’s Secondary School student was bettered only by St. Lucia’s Jady Emmanuel who won gold in 23.47 and Keyezra Thomas of the Bahamas who won silver with a time of 23.67.
Also bringing home gold for team Antigua and Barbuda is Zonique Charles who threw a personal best of 46.39 meters to take the top podium position in the Girls Under-17 Javelin event. Charles, who attends the Sir Novelle Richards Academy, said she drew motivation from the support she received.
“It was a lot of excitement and I just feel very happy because I was like, I have to get first place, I have to bring home a medal for my country. When I was running up [to make the final throw] I was like, I have to get a PB [personal best] or something to make myself and my country proud and I got it. I called my sisters [right after] because my mommy was already in the crowd and they were happy and jumping up. My aunty said she almost got a heart attack and my mommy was jumping up. He hit her toe and didn’t even recognize so she was happy,” the athlete said.
Seasoned competitor and Princess Margaret School student Geolyna Dowdye, who won silver in the final of the Girls Under-20, 100 meters event, also expressed satisfaction with her performance.
“I felt like I could have held it [drive phase] a little longer but it is a personal best [PB] and I am looking forward to running even faster. I told myself that I could execute my race well which I did and my coaches gave me pointers on how to run it, so I did what I did out there,” she said.
It was however, Girls Under-17 athlete Ranique Richards of PMS, who got the ball rolling for Team Antigua and Barbuda, winning the country’s first medal at the games with bronze in the shotput event. Richards threw a distance of 12.57 meters to win bronze.
The athlete was understandably excited.
“I am very proud of myself although I felt I could do better, I did a PB [personal best] but I feel there is room for improvement because this was my first Carifta and I placed so I am very proud of myself. I was so excited and I was so proud, I was filled with joy. It was amazing,” she said.
Antigua and Barbuda finished sixth on the table with five medals, two gold, one silver and two bronze. Jamaica heads the table with 78 medals with 30 gold, 27 silver and 21 bronze. Bahamas picked up a total of 37 medals with hosts Trinidad and Tobago in third with 25. Barbados (14) and Grenada (13) were fourth and fifth respectively.
