By Tyrone James
For a second consecutive day, Team SVG’s campaign for Commonwealth gold was cut short as Kineke Alexander ran 52.78 seconds to place 6th in the women’s 400m in fairly chilly conditions at the Hampden Stadium in Glasgow on Tuesday.
Alexander secured a place in the finals on Monday, when she held on to a 4th position in a time of 52.12 seconds, running in essentially one of the fastest of the 400m heats.
Today, Wednesday, Courtney Williams, Kimorie Shearman, and Reuberth Boyde will compete in the men’s 200m, and Alexander will take part in the women’s 200m.
On Monday, Team SVG’s campaign for Commonwealth glory experienced the mixed fortunes so prevalent in today’s highly competitive sporting arena.
Only one of the two Vincentian athletes who competed went beyond the first round.
In his thrust for athletic glory, Brandon Valentine-Parris, running below his personal best in heat 3, held on to the 6th position in a time of 50.90 seconds.
This was not enough to get him to the semi-finals.
I think this report needs to be taken in the context of the reality of where SVG is at in the international sporting/athletic rankings. I think that we ought to applaud the efforts of the athletes and other supporting team members for some very notable achievements. Several athletes have won their Heats and preliminary rounds of matches in their disciplines, this is commendable.
Kineke reaching the finals in the 400m is great! Winning is not necessarily our realistic expectation as desirable as that may be. The important thing at this stage is for them to participate and perform at their best and get the experience and incentive to do better in the future.