Saint Lucia celebrated a historic milestone at the fifth edition of the North and Central American and Caribbean Athletics Championships, as Aasia Laurencin secured the nation’s first-ever international hurdles medal. Competing at the Grand Bahama Sports Complex in Freeport on Friday night, The Bahamas, Laurencin claimed bronze in the 100m hurdles, marking a proud moment for Saint Lucian athletics.
Laurencin, Saint Lucia’s national record holder at 12.69 seconds, ran 13.15 in the morning preliminaries. She was only sixth-fastest in qualifying, leaving her in Lane 8 for the Friday evening final. But the 22-year-old, just weeks away from her 23rd birthday, was equal to the task.
With a headwind of -1.1 metres per second, the University of Michigan graduate cruised through in 13.04 seconds, beating Canada’s Mariam Abdul-Rashid (13.07) to third place, and capturing her first medal for the cerulean blue. Jamaica’s Amoi Brown (12.83) got gold. Canada’s Tatiana Aholou (13.01) held on to beat Laurencin for silver.
All five Saint Lucians competed on Friday. Marvric Pamphile made it into the men’s 400m final with a personal-best 46.06-second run from Lane 5. Pamphile’s previous personal best was 46.39 seconds last month at the Newham & Essex Beagles Stratford Speed GP3 in London.
The 30-year-old, who is enrolled in the British Army, was second in Heat 3, qualifying him by position. He had the eighth-fastest time of 19 runners.
Also on Friday morning, Hannah Charles was 12th in the women’s 400m. She ran 54.36 seconds from Lane 8, sixth in Heat 2. Augustin Alexander and Cagini Pilgrim were 23rd and 24th in the men’s 100m preliminaries. Alexander’s 10.74 (-1.4 m/s) placed him sixth in Heat 2. Pilgrim’s 10.92 (+0.8 m/s) placed him seventh in Heat 3.
