WHILE the Jamaican girls have been dominant in most events, British Virgin Islands’ Adaejah Hodge has been a proverbial thorn in the side of the country’s Under-17 athletes, particularly in the sprints.

She is fleet-footed, determined and, most importantly, has a bubbly personality.

Simply put, Hodge can only be described as a coach’s dream athlete, and rightly so. She has hardly put a foot wrong at these 49th Carifta Games and is fast becoming a crowd favourite at the National Stadium.

The 16-year-old, who stormed to a new national record of 11.29 seconds in winning the Under-17 100-metre final on Saturday’s opening day, returned on Sunday to claim her second gold medal of the games in the long jump.

Hodge topped the field with a wind-aided leap of 6.20 metres, leaving Jamaica’s Shemonique Hazel and Rohanna Sudlow with silver and bronze with marks of 5.85m and 5.84m, respectively.

“I just tried to work on my start, made sure it was sharp, and my coach always told me to pick my knees up and put them down fast — and I did that. I was super surprised with the time but I’ve been working hard on my technique in training — just changing everything for the past three weeks — and I am really proud of myself,” Hodge told the Jamaica Observer in reference to her 100m win.

“In the long jump my marks were off because of the wind but I just decided to take my mind off that and just jumped — and I eventually achieved what I think is a personal best,” she related.

What made Hodge’s performance even more impressive is the fact that she did so in-between the 200-metre heats and semi-final. If her form and confidence are anything to go by, then this diminutive athlete, who depicts Jamaica’s “Likkle but tallawah” proverb, should complete these games as a triple gold medallist.

Like she did in the 100m, Hodge cruised to victory in the 200m heats and later eased to 23.74 in semi-final action in a positive 0.3 metre per second wind speed, mere minutes after completing the long jump.

Should she complete the treble, Hodge would be among the front-runners for the Austin-Sealy Awards.

“I told myself that if I can get a good time then I will have a lot of confidence going into the final and then come back to the long jump — and I did hit my time. So I just want to go out for the final, have fun, and do what I have to do. As I said before, I am here to make myself proud and everyone else will be,” Hodge said.

In other events, Anisha Gibbons of Guyana topped the girls’ Under-20 javelin throw with a mark of 42.54m, ahead of the Barbados pair of Vivica Addison (41.92m) and Vanessa Greaves (41.17m).

Treneese Hamilton copped Dominica’s first medal of the games as her heave of 14.58 metres proved too good for rivals in the girls’ Under-20 shot put. Jamaica’s Britannia Johnson had to settle for silver with a mark of 14.19m, while Suriname’s Alicia Grootfaam (12.97m) was third.

US Virgin Island’s Michelle Smith produced a spirited performance in the girls’ Under-17 400 metre hurdles as she stormed to a new personal best 58.62 seconds, leaving Jamaicans Jody-Ann Daley (1:02.22) and Deandra Harris (1:02.26) in her wake.

— Sherdon Cowan