The tiny community of Morne Paul in the southern district of Laborie is known for its breathtaking views of the Caribbean Sea and the iconic Pitons. Now it is known for producing Saint Lucia’s first-ever double CARIFTA Games sprint champion, Jady Emmanuel.
The Choiseul Secondary School and Choiseul Athletics Club speedster won Under-17 girls’ 200m gold on Monday at the 52nd Games in Trinidad and Tobago’s Hasely Crawford Stadium.
Emmanuel’s run was spectacular, sweeping round the curve and blasting into the home straight well clear of her rivals. She finished in 23.47 seconds, the fastest half-lap ever run by an Under-18 athlete from Saint Lucia. Double CARIFTA silver medallist Naomi London ran 23.71 at this same venue two years prior. Paris 2024 Olympic 100m champion Julien Alfred ran 23.74 in Kingston in 2018.
Battling leg cramps and running her fifth race in three days, Emmanuel’s run was all the more impressive given that she ran against a slight headwind of -0.4 metres per second. Keyezra Thomas of The Bahamas was clocked at 23.67 for silver, Tyra Fenton of Antigua & Barbuda 23.68 for a repeat bronze.
The second gold medal for Emmanuel – after she captured Saint Lucia’s maiden 100m gold – took the medal tally to four, placing the nation sixth on the medal table. It’s the fourth time Saint Lucia has had as many as four medals, but only the third time that the team has claimed as many as two gold medals.
The other two medals came on Saturday from Naya Jules – silver in the girls’ pole vault, and Destinee Cenac who won bronze in the Under-17 girls’ high jump.
In other results from the closing day, Denzel Phillips mustered up a throw of 15.01m to place fourth in the Under-20 boys’ shot put. After running 3:58.38 and crossing the line sixth in the Under-20 girls’ 4x400m, the team of Isabella Emilienne, Destinee Cenac, Maiya Landers, and Gabrielle Facey was disqualified for lane infringement. Ryan Simeon, Josiah Dupré, Evann John, and Benique Mann ran 3:24.62 to finish eighth in the Under-20 boys’ 4x400m. Omarion Edwin ran 18:05.17 to place 10th in the Under-17 boys’ 5000m.
Nice – congrats and best wishes. I wish nothing but the best for all of you.
I am so proud of our participants. As of them should be rewarded for their efforts. We have a Olympian in the making in Jady. Special attention and resources should be thrown at this youth as well as all aspiring youth. We need billboards of both Alfred and Jady all over the island. Sports should be taken more seriously on the island, to give the youths a chance to get away from gangs.
@SLU. Excuse me? They are ALL Olypiams in the making. This is the dream of alot of these athletes!
Next up is Olympics and more Golds Congratulations Jady.