Strachan finishes seventh

For the third straight world under-20 championships in athletics, The Bahamas failed to win a medal, but a number of season’s bests and personal best times and performances were turned in by the small team representing the country in Nairobi, Kenya.

The Bahamas ended up in a three-way tie for 41st overall in the standings, turning in a fourth place finish and a seventh place finish, individually, both in the throws, particularly the javelin events, giving credence to Coach Corrington Maycock’s program at Blue Chip Athletics.

Both Rhema Otabor and Keyshawn Strachan are under his wing at Blue Chip Athletics, and both performed admirably at the World Athletics (WA) World Under-20 (U20) Championships, which wrapped up on Sunday at the Kasarani Stadium inside the Moi International Sports Centre in Nairobi.

Adding to Otabor’s fourth place finish the day before, Strachan wrapped up competition for The Bahamas with a seventh place finish in the boys’ javelin on Friday.

Strachan had a best throw of 70.30 meters (m) – 230’ 7” – in the final on Friday, finishing seventh. He found himself in third place after that 70.30m throw in the second round, but couldn’t improve on it in the final four founds, and ended up slipping to seventh. Strachan qualified out of the first round with a throw of 68.85m (225’ 10”), and has a personal best throw of 72.13m (236’ 8”), done for the silver medal in the under-23 boys category at the North American, Central American and Caribbean Athletic Association (NACAC) Under-18 (U18), Under-20 (U20) and Under-23 (U23) Championships in San Jose, Costa Rica, in July.

Janne Läspä, of Finland, won the boys’ javelin throw on Friday with a toss of 76.46m (250’ 10”). Artur Felfner, of the Ukraine, won the silver medal with a toss of 76.32m (250’ 4”) and Chinecherem Nnamdi, of Nigeria, who had a massive junior national record throw of 78.02m (255’ 11”) in the qualifying rounds, settled for the bronze on Friday with a throw of 74.48m (244’ 4”).

Strachan had two throws, 70m (229’ 8”) or farther, in the final, and had to settle for seventh.

Also in action for The Bahamas on Friday was Antoine Andrews in the first round heats of the boys’ 110m hurdles. Andrews was sixth in his heat and finished 23rd overall in 14.08 seconds, failing to advance to the semifinals.

In the qualifying rounds of the girls’ long jump on Friday, Alexis 

Tilford-Rutherford had a best jump of 5.51m (18’ 1”). She was 10th in her group and finished 20th overall.

Also on Friday, Camille Rutherford and Lacarthea Cooper were in action for The Bahamas in the heats of the girls’ 200m, and Wendell Miller and Carlos Brown Jr. experienced action in the boys’ 200m.

Out of the quartet, Cooper was the only one not to advance to the semifinals. She was disqualified in her first round heat.

Rutherford was second in her opening round heat in 23.62 seconds and qualified for the semis with the sixth fastest time. She went on to finish fourth in her 

semifinal heat in 23.76 seconds and failed to qualify for the final. Rutherford was ninth overall, just missing out on the final by six one-hundredths of a second.

In the boys’ 200m, Miller won his first round heat in 20.72 seconds and qualified for the semis with the fifth fastest time. He went on to finish fourth in his semifinal heat in 20.69 seconds, just missing the final. Miller was ninth overall.

Brown was third in his first round heat in a personal best time (PB) of 20.99 seconds and qualified for the semis with the 12th fastest time. He improved on that PB in the semis, running 20.92 seconds, but it wouldn’t be good enough to get him into the final. He was fifth in his semifinal heat and finished 15th overall.

Overall, The Bahamas had two finalists at the five-day meet – both in the javelin events. Otabor was fourth in the girls’ javelin with a junior national record throw of 55.08m (180’ 8”) and Strachan finished seventh in the boys’ event with a toss of 70.30m (230’ 7”).

Almost 1,000 young athletes from over 100 countries competed in the global meet.

In the history of the world juniors, The Bahamas has nine medals – four gold and five bronze.

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