SAINT Lucia’s sprint queen Julien Alfred created history on Thursday evening by becoming the first Saint Lucian athlete to win a gold medal at the sixth edition of the Commonwealth Youth Games in the Bahamas.
This is the first time a Saint Lucian sprinter has won a gold medal at a major championship.
The former Leon Hess Comprehensive Secondary School student, who is currently attending college in Jamaica, brushed the tape ahead of an impressive field of seven to win in a time of 11:56 seconds.
Louise Riley Day of Australia placed second in 11.59 seconds and Deondra Green of Canada third in 11.62 seconds.
Earlier, in Heat 1, Alfred was first across the finish line in a time of 12:02 seconds, ahead of TharakaKoralage (Sri Lanka, 12:92 seconds).
Alfred’s compatriot, Kimani Alphonse, went head-to-head in Heat 5 with Guyana’s Kenisha Phillips, with the two crossing the finish line in 12:14 seconds.
In the semifinal round 3, Julien eased her way to victory in a time of 11:80 seconds, ahead of Kenisha Phillips (Guyana, 12:05 seconds) and Tatiana Aholou (Canada, 12:15 seconds). Alphonse missed out on a podium finish as she ran 12:17 seconds in semifinal round 1.
In other results on the night for Saint Lucia, KamillahMonroque finished 14th overall in the Girls’ 1500-metres finals in a time of 5 minutes and 03:68 seconds. The race was eventually won by Heather Wallace of Scotland in a time of 4 minutes and16:61 seconds.
Alfred and Alphonse competed last evening in the Girls 200-metres while Devon Moise will battle it out tomorrow in the Boy’s javelin throw.
In beach football, though losing to a hard-fought match to Trinidad and Tobago 4-3 on the same night as Alfred’s victory, the home team can take a bow for their performance to date as the day before they trounced host Bahamas 5-2. Saint Lucia recovered from 1-0 down, with ZaineAmedee scoring a second half hat-trick.
Linus Clovis scored Saint Lucia’s first goal to change things around as Saint Lucia from thereon outplayed the host in the second half. Sebastien Ribot was the other goal scorer for Saint Lucia.
Last evening, Saint Lucia took on Antigua and Barbuda in a must-win situation. Antigua and Barbuda have lost both of their games played to date and a win for Saint Lucia will see them through to the final this evening.
Saint Lucia’s other performances at the Games were as follows:
• Cycling — in the Time Trial, Kluivert Mitchell finished 26th overall in 14 minutes and 15 seconds; the eventual winner was Matthew Olveira of Bermuda in a time of 12 minutes and 06 seconds. Close on his heels were Dylan Hughes (Scotland, 12 minutes and 18 seconds) and third Sebastian Berwick (Australia, 12 minutes and 21 seconds). Tomorrow, 51 competitors will face the starter’s pistol from 10:30 a.m. for the commencement of the Road Race. Saint Lucia’s lone competitor, Kluivert Mitchell, will be in the thick of things.
• Boxing — Saint Lucia’s lone representative, Kareem Boyce (60 kg) lost to Namibia’s MorninNdevelo in a referee-stopped contest.
• Tennis – In the Boys singles on Wednesday, Jean Philippe-Murray got a bye while on Thursday he went down to Namibia’s Schalkwyk 6-3, 6-0.
• Swimming — Saint Lucia’s Junior Sportswoman of the Year, Katie Kyle, competed in the 50-metres butterfly, finishing fourth in Heat 2 (29:31 seconds). The eventual winner in that heat was Elizabeth Flemming (Scotland, 28:01 seconds). In the finals, the winner was Jing Wen Quah of Singapore, 27:23 seconds).
Jyasi Daniel also competed in the Boys 50-metres butterfly. In Heat 4, he finished eighth (27:11 seconds). The eventual winner in that Heat was HalpewaththagoPeiris (Sri Lanka, 24:96 seconds). In the final, the winner was Alexander Mclay (Scotland, 24:53 seconds).
On Friday, Katie Kyle finished fifth in the 100-metres butterfly (1 minute and 07:25 seconds). The winner was Rui Nichol Toh (Singapore, 1 minute 01:81 seconds) while in the 100-metres freestyle Heat 3, Jyasi Daniel finished seventh (56:88 seconds). The heat was won by EuJin Tan (Singapore, 51:28 seconds).
• Beach Volleyball — On Tuesday, Saint Lucia’s Tiah Arnold and Tenyestlgni Joseph went down to New Zealand’s Margaret Akkeman and TiahoPepi-Milton 2-0. Set scores: 21-4, 21-5. The Saint Lucia men, Levi Leonce and Kyhim Remy, lost to Australia’s William Nicolaidis and Blake Takken 2-0. Set scores: 21-7, 21-12.
On Wednesday, Saint Lucia’s women went down to Rwanda’s Valentine Munezero and Penelope Musabyimana 2-0. Set scores: 21-15, 21-7. The men bounced back to defeat James Cleare and Aaron Springer (Bahamas) 2-0. Set scores: 21-10, 21-19.
In quarterfinal action played on Thursday, the Saint Lucia men went down to Ghana’s KateyCarboo and Eric Tsatsu 2-0. Set scores: 21-5, 21-12.
