Jamaica forecast another dominant display as Carifta Games gets underway
Having topped the medals table at the Carifta Games for the last 32 years, Jamaica will be looking to surpass the 86 medals won last year and the quest begins today in Curacao.
Jamaica ended the 2016 staging in Grenada with an official tally of 86 medals comprising 42 gold, 28 silver and 16 bronze, and Head Coach Corey Bennett, though not putting a figure on the expected medal haul, expects another dominant display.
“We are not doing the numbers game; we should do very well [as] we have a very talented group. It’s almost like an all-star team from Boys’ and Girls’ Champs and we saw what they did there. I can’t give any numbers now, but I expect us to top the table,” said Bennett.
Jamaica has sent a powerful 84-member squad in which Calabar High’s Christopher Taylor and Junelle Bromfield, formerly of Saint Elizabeth Technical High School, were named team captains.
Taylor, who will be doing the 400m, 4x100m and 4x400m in the Under-20 category, said he expects to run faster than last year.
“I feel pretty good knowing that I came out here with high expectation to do pretty well. But then I became captain of the team, so I know that I will have to lead from the front,” said Taylor, who won the Under-18 400m title last year in 47.36 seconds.
“My aim is just to go out there, do my best and run as fast as I can this year. I am going to run faster than the time I did last year because last year I was Under-18; this year I am Under-20 with the big boys,” he noted.
Action at the Ergilio Hato Stadium gets underway at 9:00 am with the heptathlon for girls and the octathlon for boys. The first final will be the Under-20 javelin throw in which Jamaica’s Kevin Nedrick should make his presence felt.
The girls’ Under-18 shot put will be the first final for the females, followed by the Under-18 400m semis, then the Under-20 semis to end the morning session.
Another 18 finals will be contested in the evening session, including the much-anticipated 100m, 400m and the 1,500m on the track, along with the discus throws, long jumps and triple jumps.
