Friday, August 12, 2011

Bahamas to send squad of 18 to Daegu - IAAF World Championships

Nassau, Bahamas - After one of our most successful years in recent history, including a strong finish last month at the IAAF World Youth Championships in Lille, France, The Bahamas Association of Athletics Association will send a team based upon a mixture of experience and youth to the IAAF World Championships in Daegu, Korea, 27 August to 4 September.

The eighteen member team includes -

Experienced athletes:

Debbie Ferguson-McKenzie our Golden Girl, who won the Gold medal in the 200m at the 2001 Edmonton World Championships, the Bronze medal at the 2004 Athens Olympics and  the Bronze medal at the 2009 Berlin World Championships will lead the team. She will also run the 100m in which she has a season’s best of 11.09sec. Her seasonal best in the 200m is 22.76sec.

Ferguson-McKenzie’s personal best in the 100m is 10.91sec done in 2002 and in the 200m, 22.19sec done in 1999.

Donald Thomas, our 2007 Osaka World High Jump champion has been selected to this year’s team. Donald has had a successful 2010 and 2011 season. His 2.32m (7’7-1/4”) ranks him tenth on this year’s world list. His personal best is 2.35m( ’8-3/4”) done in Osaka and Salamanca in 2007.

Veteran Leevan Sands won a bronze medal in the Triple Jump in the 2003 Paris World Championships and the 2008 Beijing Olympics. His seasonal best is 17.13m (56’2-1/2”) and his personal best is 17.59m (57’8-3/4”) Bahamian National record done in Beijing.

Bahamian National record holder in the 400m at 44.40sec, Chris Brown has finished in fourth place in the 2005 Helsinki World Championships, the 2007 Osaka World Championships, and the 2008

Beijing Olympics. He captured the 2010 World Indoor Championships title in Doha last year.

Chris won several Diamond League meets and ran a best of 44.79sec last month. This places him in eighth place globally.

Men’s 4x400m relay

The Men’s 4x400m relay should continue to have success. The team finished second in the 2005 Helsinki and 2007 Osaka World Championships and the 2008 Beijing Olympics. This team will be made up of veteran Chris Brown, Ramon Miller, Michael Mathieu, and newcomer Demetrius Pinder.

Reserves on our team include 2001 World Champion Avard Moncur, LaToy Williams, and Andrae Williams.

Women’s 4x100m relay

The Women’s 4x100m relay team consists of Debbie Ferguson-Mckenzie, World 200m Junior Champion Sheniqua Ferguson, World 2007 Youth 200m Bronze medalist Nivea Smith, and World fastest Junior 200m runner Anthonique Strachan. Reserves are Long Jumper Bianca Stuart and sprinter Cache Armbrister.

The Berlin 2009 team of Ferguson-Mckenzie, Chandra Sturrup, Christine Amertil, and Sheniqua Ferguson won the Silver medal.

Individual Competitors

Also competing in the 400m will be Demetrius Pinder, the BTC 2011 Sr. National Champion and Most Valuable Senior Athlete, who has a best of 44.78sec, seventh in the world list this season, and Ramon Miller, who was runner-up to Pinder at the BTC Sr. National Championships, who has a 2011 best of 45.34sec and a personal best of 44.99sec run in Berlin in 2009. This will be Pinder’s first World Championships.

Adrian Griffith will contest the 100m. He advanced to the second round of the 100m at the Berlin World Championships in 2009. He has a season’s best of 10.28sec and a personal best of 10.19sec done at the Commonwealth Games last year.

Competing in the 200m will be Michael Mathieu who has competed in several World Championships as well as the 2008 Beijing Olympics. He has a best of 20.38sec.

In the High Jump Trevor Barry will be competing in his first World Championships. Barry has a personal best of 2.29m (7’6-1/4”) which he did in 2010 to finish second at the Commonwealth Games, and at this year’s BTC Sr. National Track and Field Championships in Grand Bahama. Barry won the Central American and Caribbean Sr. Championships last month in Puerto Rico.

In his first year as a senior, Raymond Higgs switched from the High Jump where he had held the Bahamas National Jr. record as well as the Carifta Games record to the Long Jump, where he jumped 8.15m (26’9”), the third best performance ever by a Bahamian.    

Sheniqua Ferguson will join Ferguson-Mckenzie in the 100m. She has a personal best of 11.17sec done this season.

Still a junior with the best 200m time for juniors in the world this year, Anthonique Strachan will participate in the 200m.Her best is 22.70sec, also the best performance of all Bahamians this year.

First timer Nivea Smith will run the 200m, an event she captured at last month’s Sr. Central American and Caribbean Championships in a personal best of 22.80sec.

Bianca Stuart, who set a new Bahamian National record and tied the Central American and Caribbean Sr. Championships record in the Long Jump of 6.81m(22’4”) will be participating in her first World Championships team.

Team members:

MEN -

Adrian Griffith- 100m

Michael Mathieu- 200, 4x400m relay

Ramon Miller- 400m, 4x400m relay

Demetrius Pinder- 400m, 4x400m relay

Chris Brown- 400m, 4x400m relay

Raymond Higgs- Long Jump

Leevan Sands- Triple Jump

Trevor Barry- High Jump

Donald Thomas- High Jump

Avard Moncur- 4x400m relay

Latoy Williams-4x400m relay

Andrae Williams- 4x400m relay

WOMEN -

Debbie Ferguson-Mckenzie- 100m, 200m, 4x100m

Sheniqua Ferguson- 100m, 4x100m relay

Anthonique Strtachan- 200m, 4x100m relay

Nivea Smith- 200m, 4x100m relay

Bianca Stuart- Long Jump, 4x100m relay

Cache Armbrister- 4x100m relay

Alpheus Finlayson (BAAA) for the IAAF