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Baptiste
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Thompson
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Bledman
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Hackett
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Trinidad and Tobago (T&T) held its national trials this past weekend (Aug. 13 and 14), only two weeks before the 2011 World Championships in Athletics in Daegu next week, and without delay named a strong team to represent the twin-island nation at the Games.
Heading the squad is 2008 double Olympic silver medalist (100m, 4x100m) and 2009 Worlds sprint relay silver medalist Richard Thompson, who clocked 9.85secs to win the 100m at the trials and erase the 13-year-old T&T national record of 9.86 set in 1998 at the Mt. SAC Relays by Ato Boldon, the 1996 Olympic bronze medalist and 2000 Olympic silver medalist in the 100m dash.
The new mark of 9.85 also shattered Thompson’s previous 2011 season best of 10.01 that he clocked at the Prefontaine Classic in Eugene, Oregon on June 4 this year and pushed him to tie with American Mike Rodgers for the fourth spot in the 100m world rankings for the 2011 campaign.
By capturing his third-straight national 100m title, Thompson, the former NCAA champion for Louisiana State University, sent a warning that although his season started out slowly and uneventful, now that the Games are just around the corner and the serious medal contenders have emerged, he should be factored into any discussion about possible medal winners.
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Callender
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Gordon
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Burns
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Sorillo
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“The national record was not the goal coming into the race today, but I’m very glad I was able to achieve it. This is just a bonus,” Thompson said after the race. “Sometimes in life when you’re just trying too hard, you are not able to accomplish it. That was the case in the past. I was trying too hard to get under 10 seconds, and this weekend when I was most relaxed, I was able to achieve it.”
Joining Thompson in the 100m in Daegu are Keston Bledman, who trains in Florida with American ace Tyson Gay and who has gone under 10secs this season, and Aaron Armstrong. Completing the list of male competitors are: 200m: Rondell Sorrillo; 400m: Renny Quow, Zwede Hewitt; 400m Hurdles: Jehue Gordon; 4x100 Relay Pool: Richard Thompson, Keston Bledman, Aaron Armstrong, Marc Burns, Emmanuel Callender, and Rondell Sorrillo; 4x400 Relay Pool: Renny Quow, Zwede Hewitt, Jarrin Solomon, Jovon Toppin, Deon Lendore, and Jehue Gordon.
On the women’s side of the roster, in the absence of star sprinter Kelly-Ann Baptiste, Semoy Hackett took the women’s 100m title in a wind-aided 11.00 ahead of the rising duo of Kai Selvon (11.19) and Michelle-Lee Ahye (11.20). Hackett already has met the ‘A’ qualifying standard for the World Championships with her season best wind-legal time of 11.17 and will join Baptiste, who, unlike Thompson, was granted an exemption from the Trinidad Championships, as she has moved up as the world’s No. 5-ranked 100m sprinter this season.
Baptiste ran her 2011 seasonal best of 10.91 to defeat Jamaica’s champion Veronica Campbell-Brown at the Meeting Areva in Paris on July 8. It was her first career IAAF Diamond League title in the 100m dash.
The women’s team is comprised of:
100m: Kelly-Ann Baptiste, Semoy Hackett, and Michelle Lee Ahye:
200m: Semoy Hackett, Kai Selvon
Shot Put: Cleopatra Borel Brown
Triple Jump: Ayanna Alexander
4x100 Relay Pool: Kelly-Ann Baptiste, Semoy Hackett, Kai Selvon, Michelle Lee Ahye,
Kai Selvon, Reyare Thomas and Ayanna Hutchinson.
The officials are team manager Dexter Voisin; coaches Dr. Ian Hypolite, Edwin Skinner and Gunness Persad; team doctor Anil Goopeesingh; massage therapists David Cumberbatch and Zephirinus Nicholas.