KC’s Campbell defeats pain to win 1,500m gold
Despite struggling with a shin injury all season, Kingston College’s (KC’s) freshly minted Class One 1,500m champion Ainsley Campbell never lost sight of winning his first gold medal at the ISSA/GraceKennedy Boys’ and Girls’ Athletics Championships.
On Wednesday, Campbell delivered an outstanding performance to outsprint the field in the final 400 metres to capture the gold medal in 4:02.63 minutes inside Kingston’s National Stadium.
Campbell admitted that he was feeling a lot of pain in his shins entering the final, but despite this, he was very determined to win the gold medal for his school.
“The entire season it has been a rough one, especially with the fact that my shins are in pain right now, but I got the job done for my school,” said Campbell. “To be honest, I wasn’t confident coming into the final, but I go to Kingston College: the brave may fall but never yield.”
Campbell added: “The last lap was very hard because the pace was hot and it was increasing after every lap, but I knew that I had it in me to push all the way for the victory.”
Campbell has a personal best time of 4:03.98 in the event.
St Jago’s Corlando Chambers finished second in a time of 4:04.19, while the bronze went to Kemarrio Bygrave of Jamaica College in 4:05.26.
Kenyans Brian Kiprop and Nahashon Ruto led a KC one-two in the final of the Class Two 1,500m event.
Kiprop won the event in 4:07.46 ahead of Ruto 4:07.64. Maggoty’s Yoshane Brown, who was the defending champion in the event, had to settle for third in 4:11.52.
In the boys’ Class Three final, Calabar’s Carlos Brison-Caines secured maximum points for his school by winning the event in 4:18:18. Maggotty’s Jayden Brown secured the silver in a time of 4:18:26 as JC’s Yohance Carty took bronze in 4:33:88.
Meanwhile, JC picked up a big 16 points after Michael-Andre Edwards and Euan Young both jumped over seven metres to claim gold and silver in the Class Two boys’ long jump final.
Edwards, who was last year’s gold medallist in Class Three, continued his winning ways with a leap of 7.29m. He is also this year’s Corporate Area champion.
His teammate Young won the silver with a mark of 7.03m, while BB Coke High’s Anthony Hall claimed the bronze with a best mark of 6.95m.
