By Dean “The Sportsman” Greenaway
Jaleel Croal, left, won Pan Am Jr. Games 100m bronze and Rikkoi Brathwaite NACAC Sr. Championships 100m bronze
Rikkoi Brathwaite snatched a 100m bronze medal on Friday night in Freeport, Bahamas, to become the first BVI sprinter to earn a medal during the 5th edition of the North American, Central American and Caribbean Sr. Track and Field Championships.
On Tuesday, Jaleel Croal became the first BVI athlete to earn a Pan Am Jr. Games medal, when he grabbed a 100m bronze in Asunción, Paraguay.
Brathwaite, who was fifth in 2022, had a time of 10.15 seconds (+0.4) in the race won by Canada’s Jerome Blake, in a meet record 9.95 seconds. Jamaica’s Ryiem Forde was second in 10.01.
Brathwaite—a 2024 Paris Olympic Games, 2023 World Championships and 2024 World Indoor Championships semifinalist—joins 400m Hurdler Kyron McMaster, who won in 2018 and 2022 and Long Jumper Chantel Malone, who earned silver in 2015, as BVI’s NACAC Sr. Championships medalists. Dion Crabbe earned 100 and 200m bronze medals in 2000, when the meet was the NACAC U25 Championships.
“To be honest, I didn’t have the start that I had in the semifinals, I kinda slept in the blocks a little bit, which resulted in me not getting a faster time, but I was able to put my middle and the end a lot better than I have before,” Brathwaite told The Daily News after running 10.27 (-1.4) to qualify. “Maybe that was a response to knowing that I had a bad start. But regardless, other than the start, it was well executed. My performance, 10.15 in a +0.4, I think is one of the fastest or best efforts I’ve given for the year. I can’t be mad at the performance, but I’m a little disappointed because I know I have more in me. So back to the drawing board and see if we could get ready for worlds and get a little sharper.”
This season, Brathwaite, who ran 10.00 seconds last year, had been dealing with hamstring injuries that limited his effectiveness before running 10.14 behind Jaleel Croal’s 10.09 in the BVI nationals in June.
“Since I was injured, it’s kind of a good feeling because obviously, I was able to get a medal and that’s always a good thing,” Brathwaite said. “I wouldn’t say it means so much to me because I wanted a faster time, the fact that I made the world rankings is also awesome.”
Beyonce DeFreitas narrowly missed a 200m bronze by .04, after finishing in 23.06 seconds, running into a negligible -0.6 wind. She qualified for the final with 23.51 seconds running into a -2.1 meters per second wind. DeFreitas had the 11th best 100m mark of 11.44 seconds (-1.4).
A medal eluded Long Jumper Chantel Malone by .4cms, when she used a .0 wind to cut the sand at 6.60m (21’8”). Kimberly Smith had a jump of 5.93m (19’5½” )-0.8, in eight place. Djimon Gumbs was 5th in the Shot Put with 18.87m (61’11”), after placing 6th in the Discus Throw with 56.44m (185’2) effort.
Deya Erickson ran a non-advancing 13.46 seconds (0-1) in the 100m Hurdles to place 9th and Josh Hill had the 17th best mark in the 400m of 47.76 seconds.
Pan Am Jr. Games
Croal ran 10.16 seconds (+1.9) for his bronze medal, after advancing as one of the qualifiers with 10.22 (+0.4). Wanyaé Belle had a non-advancing time of 10.72 seconds (+0.5) in his heat.
“Deep down inside, I knew it could have been done, it was just that I had to get my race together so that I could complete it because it was a very talented field to run against,” Croal told Island Sun Sports. “This is one of the biggest medals I’ve won. I felt that I did my best and I’m content with the bronze medal.”
After fouling his opening attempt, Long Jumper Khybah Dawson registered a 6.99m (22’11¼”) effort to get on the board, improved to 7.07m (23’2¼”) on this third try, then moved from seventh to fourth on his final attempt, with a leap of 7.25m (23’9½”).
