Latest update September 4th, 2026 10:24 AM
Caribbean Games would have united athletes
US-based athletes were hoping to meet locals
By Edison Jefford
Aliann Pompey is enjoying the form of her life after exceptional performances at the Rio Grand Prix in Brazil and the Millrose Games, which made the Guyanese athlete a definite Caribbean Games 400m gold medal prospect.
Aliann Pompey
Pompey was not only anticipating the competition and rivalries of the event, she was also hoping to meet the other Guyanese athletes, who normally fail to get the opportunities to compete on the international track circuit.
The national 400m record holder told Kaieteur Sport, in a brief interview, that she wanted to meet the other Guyanese athletes as much as she wanted to compete in the Caribbean as part of her general race preparations.
“We were all looking forward to meeting the Guyana-based athletes, forming a bond as one team,” Pompey told Kaieteur Sport via email, adding that she understands that the Caribbean Games may be held next year.
“I also know that the Guyanese athletes I’ve spoken to were really looking forward to it – it was a motivation for them. Jeremy Bascom, Adam Harris and Lee Prowell have been looking forward to competing there,” she said.
Bascom, Harris and Prowell are all United States-based Guyanese sprinters that had made the qualification marks in the 100m and 200m races for the now cancelled Games, owing to an outbreak of Swine Flu in Trinidad and Tobago.
Pompey ran 51.45 seconds at the Rio Grand Prix that erased her 51.58 record in 2004 and became the ninth fastest time in the world. The dominant performance was well under the 53.00 qualification mark required for the Games.
As if that was not enough, Pompey returned two weeks later at her third meet in Brazil in May to clock 51.09 seconds behind Jamaica’s Olympian, Bobby-Gaye Wilkins (50.91) to complete a series of races in South America.
She had returned 1:19.51 for second place in the 600m event at the 2009 Millrose Games at the Madison Square Garden, New York City. United States’ Monica Hargrove 1:19.50 had piped Pompey on the line in the race.
“I’m a bit disappointed, not only for myself, but because I think it would be great to have a series of competitions in the Caribbean,” she understandably related after such leading performances in marquee preceding meets.
“It does not change my plans, however. I was going to use the rounds/finals format of the Games to prepare for Berlin,” Pompey informed. The World Athletics Championships is slated for Berlin, Germany mid August.
The 2002 Commonwealth Games gold medallist and three-time Olympian said that she is expected to compete in Bulgaria on Saturday and Ireland next weekend before she moves to Athens, Greece for another meet in July.
Share this:
Discover more from Kaieteur News
Subscribe to get the latest posts sent to your email.