Pryce races to first senior women’s 400m title at NACAC Champs
Triple jumper Ricketts wins third continental crown
JAMAICA’S Shanieka Ricketts won her third North American, Central American and Caribbean Athletic Association (NACAC) women’s triple jump championship and Nickisha Pryce won her first senior women’s 400m title, as the fifth staging of the Continental Championships ended at the Freeport stadium in Grand Bahama, The Bahamas, on Sunday.
Jamaica added six medals (three gold, two silver and a bronze) on the final day to finish with 24 (nine gold, seven silver and eight bronze).
Ricketts, who had won NACAC titles in San Jose, Costa Rica, in 2015 and again in Toronto, Canada, in 2018, jumped 14.23m (0.0m/s). She would have claimed the gold medal with any of her four legal marks.
Americans Euphenie Andre, who recorded 13.26m (0.9m/s), and Agur Dwol, who registered 13.20m (0.3m/s), took the silver and bronze medals, respectively.
Pryce, the two-time Jamaican champion, was barely challenged in the women’s 400m final as she clocked 49.95 seconds. Haiti’s Wadelin Venlogh set a new national record 50.23 for silver — her first medal representing the French-speaking Caribbean country. American Lynna Irby-Jackson took third with 50.47.
Jamaicans won two of the three relays that were contested over the three days. They raced to victory in the men’s 4x400m and were second in the men’s 4x100m on Sunday, after they had won the mixed relays on Saturday.
The team of Bovel McPherson, Zandrion Barnes, Delano Kennedy and Rusheen McDonald ran 3:02.86 minutes to beat Mexico (3:05.40) and third-placed Grenada (3:07.94).
The team of Ashani Smith, Kadrian Goldson, Ryiem Forde and Christopher Taylor ran 38.53 seconds for silver in the men’s sprint relay. Canada ran a championships record 38.05 to beat Jamaica’s 38.07 set in 2015.
The Bahamas were third in 38.57.
Earlier in the day, McDonald stormed back late to grab second place in the men’s 400m in 45.04, behind Grenada’s Kirani James who ran a season’s best 44.48 to set the championships record. His effort beat the 44.63 set by Jamaica’s Christopher Taylor in 2022.
Wendell Miller of The Bahamas took the bronze medal with a personal best 45.12 seconds while Delano Kennedy was fifth in 45.37.
Elvis Graham was third in the men’s javelin with 76.69m, as Curtis Thompson of the United States won with a championships record 87.24m. Thompson’s teammate Dash Sirmon was second with 77.04m.
Raymond Richards was fifth in the men’s high jump with 2.18m, while Lloyricia Cameron was fifth in the women’s shot put with 17.77m.
