Led by an impressive performance from teenager Jady Emmanuel, Saint Lucia captured three gold, two silver, and a bronze medal at the ANOCES Athletics Championships. The event took place on Saturday and Sunday, July 4 and 5, at the Kim Collins Athletic Stadium in Basseterre, St Kitts & Nevis.
Saint Lucia sent a team of six athletes, making them one of the smallest groups at the meet. They finished seventh out of nine teams from the Organisation of Eastern Caribbean States (OECS). The Association of National Olympic Committees of the Eastern Caribbean organised the event.
Emmanuel, a 17-year-old from Laborie, won the women’s 100m with a venue-record time of 11.39 seconds, a new personal-best mark for the 2025 CARIFTA Games double gold medallist. The event went straight to a final on Sunday, and Emmanuel outpaced the Antigua & Barbuda pair of Geolyna Dowdye (11.47) and Soniya Jones (11.64) for gold.
With a wind of +0.7 metres per second, Emmanuel ran the 10th-fastest by an Under-18 woman this year. Her 11.50 from last year was the previous fastest ever run by an Under-18 athlete from Saint Lucia. Emmanuel also met the qualifying time for next month’s World Athletics Under-20 Championships in Eugene, Oregon.
Joy Edward also won gold for Saint Lucia. The University of Charleston athlete took first place in the women’s shot put with a throw of 14.56m on her first attempt. While this was below her national record of 15.63m, she was the only woman to throw over 14 metres in Basseterre, achieving that distance on four of her six tries.
On the track, Hannah Charles, who trains in Jamaica, won the women’s 400m with a time of 54.86 seconds. Running in Lane 5, she finished well ahead of former CARIFTA champion De’Cheynelle Thomas from St Kitts & Nevis.
On Saturday, Naya Jules earned Saint Lucia’s first medal by throwing 41.98m to win bronze in the women’s javelin.
Khailan Vitalis, who will represent Saint Lucia at the Commonwealth Games and Central American and Caribbean Games, finished second in the undersubscribed sprint hurdles. He won silver with a time of 14.43 seconds, coming in behind Tejaun Webbe of St Kitts. Kyle Nedd from Grenada did not start the race.
On Sunday, Stephan Charles was the fastest qualifier in the men’s 100m with a time of 10.37 seconds. In the final, he ran 10.41 seconds from Lane 4 and finished second to Jaleel Croal of the British Virgin Islands, who won gold with 10.19 seconds.
Despite having one of the smallest teams, Saint Lucia tallied 70 points. The host country led with 180 points, followed by Antigua & Barbuda with 171. St Vincent & the Grenadines finished third with 134 points, just ahead of the British Virgin Islands, who had 130.
