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‘Wonder girl’ Springer shatters South American U20 in Athletics 400m record
– Ezekiel Newton secure 100m bronze
By Rawle Toney
Kaieteur Sports – Tianna Springer wrote her names in the annals Guyana’s track and field, when the 16-year-old shattered the South American U20 Championships in Athletics 400m metre record, on her way to win gold in Bogota, Colombia yesterday.
‘The wonder Girl’ Tianna Springer following her record-breaking performance in the Women’s 400m at the South American U20 Championships in Athletics in Bogota Colombia
Springer, who hails from the village of Plaisance on the East Coast of Demerara, became the seventh Guyanese to win a gold at the event which started 1959.
This year’s CARIFTA Games 400m gold medallist also became the first female to win an individual gold medal at the South American U20 Championships since Chantoba Bright 2017 performance in the women’s Long Jump.
Springer was just two years old when Brazil’s Bárbara de Oliveira ran 53.44s in 2009 in São Paulo to set the Championships’ record.
Fast forward 14 years later, Springer came close to Oliveira’s record in the semi-finals of her 400m event when she ran 53.53s to finish ahead of the field.
Nevertheless, it seems like coach Johnny Gravesande must have told the Tutorial High School student about how close she came to 400m record, since Springer returned in the finals and added an extra pace in the final 100 metres on the track to ensure that the record and a place in history doesn’t slipway.
Tianna Springer
Brazilian Camille de Oliveira finished second (54.1s) and Mahomy Valasquez of Colombia (54.5s) was third.
File photo of Ezekiel Newton
Springer is now the only Guyanese with a record at the South American U20 in Athletics. However, Kadecia Baird’s 51.04s silver medal performance at the 2012 World Junior Championships in Athletics remains the fastest time by a South American female at the U20 category.
Meanwhile, Ezekiel Newton sprinted to a bronze medal in the Men’s 100m, doing so with a personal best 10.42s.
His race was won by Brazil’s Renan Gallina, who shattered the meet record and South American U20 Record with 10.01s. His time was also a top five all-time in the 100m.
The previous 100m record (10.23s) was held by Brazilian Erick Cardoso, set in 2019 at the championships in Cali, Colombia.
Newton now adds an U20 bronze to his South American U18 Championships silver medal, earned in the 200m in São Paulo, Brazil last year.
Ezekiel Newton (L) and Tianna springer
In the women’s 100m finals, Karese Lloyd came up short with her time of 12.15s not enough to see the Guyanese sprinter on the podium.
Tianna Springer (200m, 400m), Ezekiel Newton (100m, 200m), Wesley Noble (800m), Karese Lloyd (100m, 200m), Jaheel Corvette (100m, 200m), Erin Leitch (long jump), and Isiah Trim (high jump) are the athletes representing the Land of Many Waters at the Championship which will conclude on May 21.
The team has received tangible support from the Ministry of Culture, Youth and Sport, the National Sports Commission and the Guyana Olympic Association (GOA).
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