Pan American Championships 2019 Abrams fail to dazzle in 400m final; Guyana finish games medal less

Aug 09, 2019 Sports

By Calvin Chapman

Guyana’s campaign at the 18th Pan American Track & Field Championships came to an end yesterday at the Videna Sports Center in disappointing fashion, which has been the narrative throughout the event.

Brenessa Thompson (last) failed to make it to the final of the women’s 200m event at the 18th Pan American games in Lima, Peru.

Aaliyah Abrams (last) crosses the finish line in seventh in the women’s 400m final yesterday.

The nation’s lone finalist not only in Track & Field but the entire championship; Aaliyah Abrams finished seventh in her 400m women’s ultimate showdown in a time of 52.63 seconds, an improvement in her 52.95s qualifying performance.
The women’s 400m winner was Jamaica’s Shericka Jackson who finished with a blazing time of 50.73s, almost two seconds faster than Abrams who struggled. Erreon Paola of Mexico was the silver medalist while Courtney Okolo of USA took the bronze.
Following the race, Kaieteur Sport spoke with Abrams, who have qualified for the Tokyo Olympics in 2020, she related that she is not getting as much power as she was earlier in the year and it was disappointing to not show up on such a big stage. However, she has vowed to get back to the drawing board and come back stronger.

Julian Edmonds – Guyana’s Athletics Coach

Coach of the Track & Field Team, Julian Edmonds, also related that the team needs to head back to the drawing board and analyse what went wrong. Early in the day, Brenessa Thompson failed to impress again during her 200m women’s semifinal.
She finished fifth out of the six competitors that started the race with an unflattering time 24.20s while the winner finished more than a second ahead of her. Guyana’s Pan Am campaign concludes today with Nikita Fiedtkou competing in the women’s 50m freestyle. Out of the eight disciplines, swimming was the only sport that Guyana did not have to qualify to compete.