Arinze Chance breaks national indoor record

Jan 22, 2019 Sports

Arinze Chance.

By Calvin Chapman

Guyana’s sprint ace, Arinze Chance, who attends South Carolina University in the United States of America (USA), gave himself a wonderful birthday present last Friday when he broke the local indoor

400m record during the Gamecock Inaugural track meet at the University of South Carolina’s recently remodeled Indoor Track and Field Complex, in the city of Columbia.
Chance, who celebrated his 23rd birthday on Sunday, registered an official time of 46.15s seconds, the best time by a Guyanese on a normal indoor track, bettering the previous best of 46.49s by Jermaine Griffith in 2017.
The South Carolina senior who is majoring in Global Studies; specialising in leadership and economic development, also broke his university’s 400m record that stood for 16 years, by just one hundredth of a second.
Friday’s performance was the continuance of a purple patch for Arinze since the previous week he had broken Guyana’s 300m record with a blistering 33.00 seconds at the Orange & Purple Elite track meet.
The student-athlete’s, who currently enjoys a full scholarship, time in the 300m is the third fastest this year, while the 46.15 is the quickest time in the NCAA so far this year in the 400m.

Arinze Chance during his record breaking 400m run last Friday at the Inaugural Gamecock Invitational.

During an interview with Kaieteur Sport, Chance noted that his goals for 2019 are to finish the season strongly with the ultimate aim of qualifying for the World Championships which will be held in Doha, Qatar, this September.
The qualifying time for the World Championships in the 400m is 45.4 seconds but Arinze explained that, “What many persons back home (in Guyana) don’t realise is that it is much harder to run an indoor race as opposed to the outdoor so I will be at least a second faster which will bring my time down to around 45.1 seconds which is within the qualifying time for the World Championships.”
During the interview, the scholar called for more emphasis to be placed on developing sport infrastructure in Guyana, not only in athletics but sports in general.
He also stated the need for better management of athletes, “When I needed support I didn’t receive it, I wrote many times and made many calls to the National Sports Commission (NSC) to no avail. By the grace of God, my family and the Bishops’ High School Old Students’ Association along with Attorney-at-Laws Kadeem Davis and Emily Dodson, I was able attain a decent platform to reach where I am today while staying motivated; something which is very difficult to do as a Guyanese Athlete.”

Arinze Chance has his sight set on qualifying for the World Championships in Qatar this September.

The former Police Progressive Youth Club (PPYC) athlete praised the efforts of his Coach Curtis Frye who has brought him a far way and he emphasised that as an athlete you get a lot of support in Guyana when you have proven yourself at the top level but none is given when you are now developing, “So I am urging the relevant bodies to be diligent in identifying talent and providing them with a platform to flourish.”
Arinze will be in action this weekend at the Dr. Sanders Invitational at the New Balance Armory in the state of New York and he has challenged all Guyanese in the areas to come out and support him as he strives to continue raising the bar in his performances.

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