Dwayne Fleming, Ajani Daley, Geolyna Dowdye, LaNica Locker and Kasiya Daley
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By Neto Baptiste
Five junior athletes, all from the Power Speed Endurance (PSE) Track Club, hit qualifying marks in various events ahead of this year’s World Athletics Under-20 Championships slated for August 27-31 in Lima, Peru, while competing at last weekend’s National Track & Field Championships.
Sprinters Ajani Daley and Geolyna Dowdye achieved the world juniors standard in both the 100 and 200 sprint events. Ajani clocked 10.34 seconds on day one of the National Championships to eclipse the 10.55 qualifying standard while registering a time of 20.99 seconds in the 200 meters. The world juniors qualifying standard for the men’s 200 meters is 21.35 seconds.
Dowdye, who had a stella National Championships, hit the World Under-20 100 meters mark when she clocked 11.51 seconds at the YASCO Sports Complex on Saturday. Her performance bettered the 11.78 standard set by World Athletics.
The Princess Margaret School (PMS) student returned to register 23.41 and clinch the 200 meters while claiming a place at the World Under-20 Championships. The qualifying standard is 24.35 seconds.
Also qualifying from the PSE camp is 2022 Under-17 Carifta gold medallist in the 100 meters, Dwayne Fleming. Fleming posted a time of 10.40 seconds in the 100 meters on Saturday to book his ticket to Peru. The PMS alumni also qualified for the 200 meters with a time of 21.06, but will not contest the event as country’s are only allowed two athletes per event.
The other qualifier in the men’s 200 is Kasiya Daley who registered a time of 20.96 at the nationals to secure his ticket to Peru. Rounding off the qualifications for the World Under-20 Championships is LaNica Locker who registered a time of 23.59 seconds.
Peru, on 5 April 2023, announced that the city had withdrawn as a host of the 2024 World Athletics U20 Championships due to “recent political instability, social unrest and natural disasters.”However, on 14 August 2023, Lima was reinstated as host city for the event as all the issues were stabilised.
Athletes have until the end of July to qualify for the championships.
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