Team TTO swimmers qualified for the final of the Men’s 4x100 metres freestyle that was scheduled to splash off late last night, as this country got their 2021 Junior Pan American Games campaign off in earnest yesterday in Cali, Colombia.
At the Hernando Botero O’byrne pool, three of Team TTO’s four swimmers in individual swims made it back to the B finals of their events, while the 4x100m free relay squad managed to squeeze into the final.
Both endurance swimmers failed to advance to the A final of the Men’s 400m freestyle.
Graham Chatoor was fourth in heat three — and ninth overall — in four, minutes, 06.19 seconds in a heat won by Brazil’s Eduardo De Moraes (3:59.74) ahead of Peru’s Joaquin Vargas (4:02.55) and Chile’s Eduardo Gomez (4:03.00).
Chatoor’s team-mate Nikoli Blackman was seventh of eight in heat two — and 11th overall — in 4:12.15. Both swimmers qualified for the B final. Chattoor was expected to swim out of lane four with Blackman in lane three last night.
In the Women’s 100m breaststroke, USA-based Gabriella Donahue was sixth in heat four in one minute, 17.46 seconds and failed to advance to the A final.
In the Men’s 200m butterfly event, University of Indianapolis student Kael Yorke matched Blackman and finished 11th overall, posting 2:07.25 for his heat. Yorke was scheduled to swim out of lane three in the B final last night.
The team of Chatoor, Blackman, Zarek Wilson and Yorke were expected to team up and be back in action in the 4x100m freestyle final last night, in a race that would have included squads from the Dominican Republic, Argentina, Colombia, Brazil, Peru, Chile and Mexico.
In the prelims, Team TTO posted a 3:36.37 clocking, good enough for lane eight.
Brazil topped the preliminaries with 3:23.84 followed by Peru (3:27.23) and Colombia (3:29.56).
TTO beat out the Bahamas (3:39.25) and Puerto Rico (3:40.80) to ensure a final spot.
At the Velódromo Alcides Nieto Patiño track, the men’s cycling sprint team of Zion Pulido, Tyriq Woods and Michael Ackee placed fifth overall in their heat with a time of 48.342 seconds, failing to advance to the final. Hosts Colombia topped all-comers, the trio of Cristian Ortega, Juan Arenas and Carlos Echeverri stopping the clock at 44.950 seconds.
Team TTO’s cyclists will be looking for improved performances when Sylese Christian saddles up in the Women’s flying 200 and keirin, while Pulido will do those same events on the men’s side.
Woods will line up in the Men’s sprint, while Ackee will contest the Men’s keirin.
At the Lago Calima, Club Naútico, the site of the triathlon event, Team TTO’s Jean Marc Granderson placed 31st of 32 athletes in a time of one hour, 11.3 seconds for the Men’s individual sprint triathlon (7.5km swim, 20km bike ride and 5km run).
Meanwhile today, boxer Juan Rodriguez will do battle in the quarter-finals of the Men’s 52kg category after receiving a bye yesterday. If he wins that fight, he is assured at least a bronze medal.
Source: https://trinidadexpress.com
