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Pompey shifts focus to 2025 AP Invitational
Leslain Baird’s 73.79 metres is the new Meet Record for the AP Invitational. (Athlete Edge photo)
– hails 2024 championship a success
By Rawle Toney
Kaieteur Sports – After the successful return of her acclaimed Invitational Track and Field Championship for the first time since 2019, Aliann Pompey is already looking ahead to next year’s event.
Nearly 100 athletes from around the world converged at the National Track and Field Centre in Edinburgh, West Demerara, seeking glory, bragging rights, and, above all, direct qualification to the Paris Olympics.
However, unlike the inaugural championship in 2016, where 11 athletes, all from overseas, attained their qualifying standards for the Rio Olympics, no one achieved the mark for their respective events this year.
However, the competition was fierce, despite early showers that threatened to dampen the performances on the track.
“I think the meet went well overall. Still a lot of potential for improvement,” Pompey told Kaieteur News yesterday.
She added, “We had some great results with Leslain Baird breaking the meet record and Tianna Springer’s time propelling her into the top 10 in the world…some of the Athletes ran their season’s best.”
Tianna Springer clocked 52.91 seconds to finish behind Aliyah Abrams (52.00s) and Kenisha Phillips (52.86s) in the women’s 400 metres event.
The 16-year-old’s time at the AP Invitational ranks as the seventh-fastest U18 time in the world. This adds to her 52.31 seconds from the U20 Women’s 400m at the CARIFTA Games, which is currently the second-fastest U18 time globally.
Leslain Baird took home the men’s javelin title, throwing a distance of 73.79 metres to set a new Meet Record. Trinidad and Tobago’s Anthony Diaz finished second with 68.52 metres, and Guyana’s Gabriel Lim was third with a throw of 64.22 metres.
“Overall it was positive. The perfectionist I am, we’re already debriefing and trying to figure out how we can make next year even bigger and better,” Pompey said.
According to the 2002 Commonwealth Games 400m champion, the AP Invitational will “need some local logistical help leading up to the competition, a results screen so that the spectators are more engaged as the races are happening to mention just two.”
The Men’s Long Jump, which had a star-studded line up, saw Emanuel Archibald taking the title with a leap of 7.67 meters.
Archibald defeated the 2022 Commonwealth Games Gold Medallist, LaQuan Nairn of the Bahamas (7.58 metres), and Australia’s Henry Frayne (7.50 metres), the 2018 Commonwealth Games and 2011 World Indoor Championships silver medallist.
At the 2022 Commonwealth Games, Archibald’s jump of 7.54 meters placed him 11th in the men’s long jump.
Aliann Pompey (right) and Minister Charles Ramson declaring this year’s AP Invitational open.
Ghana’s Joseph Amoah, who was also the 2019 AP Invitational 100m champion, successfully defended his title, crossing the finish line in 10.35 seconds.
However, Amoah’s hopes for a sprint double were dashed by St. Kitts and Nevis’ Nadale Buntin, who won the 200m in 20.86 seconds.
The 2022 Commonwealth Games 200m bronze medallist finished second, just behind Buntin with 20.86 seconds.
It was a photo-finish in the Women’s 100m event, but when the dust settled, Michelle Lee-Ahye from Trinidad and Tobago claimed victory with a time of 11.49s, narrowly beating out Guyana’s Jasmine Abrams (11.53s).
However, in the 200m, Ahye (24.16) had to settle for second-place, after being edged by Deshana Skeete, after the University of Kansas athlete clocked her second-fastest time ever in the event, finishing in 23.64 seconds.
The Dominican Republic’s Lidio Feliz ran a season’s best of 46.02 seconds to win the men’s 400m, ahead of Even Mafilas (46.39) of the USA and Nefer Santana (46.51) from the Dominican Republic.
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