Sunday, May 17, 2015

#By BRENT STUBBS

#Senior Sports Reporter

#bstubbs@tribunemedia.net

#THE International Amateur Athletic Federation’s Diamond League started on Friday in the Qatari capital of Doha with Bahamian sprinter Anthonique Strachan and hurdler Jeffery Gibson picking up a third and fifth place respectively in their signature events.

#Strachan, 21, clocked a season’s best of 22.69sec in the 200m to trail American Allyson Felix, who won in 21.98 with Murielle Ahoure, of the Ivory Coast, second in 22.29. Felix’s time is the world’s fastest this year, surpassing Bahamian Shaunae Miller’s 22.14 that she posted last weekend at the Jamaica Invitational in Kingston, Jamaica.

#For Strachan, her time improved on her previous season’s best of 22.89 that she ran on April 17 in Auburn, Alabama. Ahoure tied American Tori Bowie in third spot with her 22.29, Bowie running her time as she finished second behind Miller in Kingston.

#Miller, the new Bahamian national record holder, Strachan and Tynia Gaither, a junior at the University of South Carolina, have all dipped under the 200m qualifying time of 23.20 for the IAAF World Championships in Beijing, China from August 22-30. Gaither ran 22.98 on April 3.

#Strachan, the IAAF Rising Star award winner in 2012, now sits in third place in the Grand Prix standings behind Felix and Ahoure.

#Gibson had to settle for fifth in the men’s 400m hurdles in 49.48sec. The race was won by American Bershawn Jackson in a new world leading time this season of 48.09. Javier Culson, of Puerto Rico, was second in 48.96, followed by Thomas Barr, of Ireland, in 48.99 and Jack Green, of Great Britain, in 49.31.

#Gibson, who emerged onto the international scene last year when he won a bronze medal at the Commonwealth Games in Glasgow, Scotland, in a national record breaking performance, was off his season’s best of 49.42 that he ran in Kingston for third place last weekend.

#In both races so far this year, Gibson has gone under the IAAF World Championships qualifying time of 49.50. The 24-year-old sits just ahead of fellow Bahamian Patrick Bodie, who ran a season’s best of 49.63 in Gainesville, Florida, on April 3 on the IAAF’s top performance list.

#The IAAF Diamond League is comprised of 14 of the best invitational track and field meetings in the world. The meetings are spread across Asia, Europe, the Middle East and the US, and are part of the top tier of the IAAF’s global one-day meeting competition structure. The series, which began in 2010, showcases 32 event disciplines which are carefully distributed among the meetings.

#In each discipline, there is a Diamond Race with points available throughout the 14-meeting season. Winners of each Diamond Race receive a US$40,000 cash prize and a spectacular Diamond Trophy.

Anthonique Strachan

\ Monday, June 8, 2015

#By RENALDO DORSETT

#Sports Reporter

#rdorsett@tribunemedia.net

#IT has been a busy few weeks for Bahamian sprinter Anthonique Strachan and she capped this past weekend with her third race on the Diamond League Circuit.

#Strachan raced to a fifth place finish in the 200m in 22.89s at the Sainsbury’s Birmingham Grand Prix yesterday afternoon.

#Diamond League leader Jeneba Tarmoh of the United States took first place in a season’s best time of 22.29s. She finished ahead of fellow American world leader Allyson Felix who was second in an identical time of 22.29s.

#Dina Asher-Smith of Great Britain was third in 22.30s and Rosangela Santos finished fourth in 22.77s.

#Hosted at Alexander Stadium in Birmingham, England, the meet featured 14 Olympic champions and 27 World champions.

#Just two days prior, Strachan competed in her second leg of the IAAF Diamond League series in Rome, Italy. She finished in 22.91s, an identical time to third place finisher Simone Facey of Jamaica.

#Tarmoh took first place in 22.77s, while Kerron Stewart of Jamaica was second in 22.88s.

#When the Diamond League started on May 15 in Doha, Qatar, there was an immediate Bahamian presence with Strachan picking up a third place finish in her signature event.

#Strachan clocked a season’s best of 22.69s in the 200m to trail Allyson Felix, who won in 21.98s with Murielle Ahoure, of the Ivory Coast, second in 22.29s.

#Strachan,the IAAF Rising Star award winner in 2012, is tied for No.5 on the Diamond League standings in the 200m with the single point earned at the Doha meet.

#The next Diamond League meeting takes place in Oslo, Norway, on June 11.

#The IAAF Diamond League is comprised of 14 of the best invitational track and field meetings in the world. The meetings are spread across Asia, Europe, the Middle East and the US, and are part of the top tier of the IAAF’s global one-day meeting competition structure. The series, which began in 2010, showcases 32 event disciplines which are carefully distributed among the meetings.

#In each discipline, there is a Diamond Race with points available throughout the 14-meeting season. Winners of each Diamond Race receive a US$40,000 cash prize and a spectacular Diamond Trophy.

By Brent Stubbs

Monday, September 28, 2020

Anthonique Strachan

#IN another season’s best performance, Bahamian sprinter Anthonique Strachan improved on her previous finish to complete her two track and field meets in Europe this weekend.

#Competing at the final Wanda Diamond League meet on Friday at the Qatar Sport Club Stadium, which should have kicked off the season in May but postponed because of the coronavirus, Strachan posted a fifth place in the women’s 100 metres in a time of 11.42 seconds.

#Jamaican Olympic double sprint champion Elaine Thompson-Herah once again took the tape in 10.87, well ahead of multiple World Championship medallist Marie-Josee Ta Lou of the Ivory Coast, who did 11.21. American Kayla White was third in 11.25 and Great Britain’s Kristal Awuah was fourth in 11.27.

#Just a week before that at the 40th edition of the Golden Gala Pietro Mennea, the Italian leg of the Wanda Diamond League, which took place in the Olympic Stadium in Rome, Strachan had to settle for ninth place in the century in a matching time of 11.42.

#Thompson-Herah established a world-leading time of 10.85 to snatch the gold in a sterling performance over American Aleia Hobbs, who was second in 11.12 just ahead of third place Ta Lou in 11.14.

#The two meets in Rome and Doha were a part of the four stops in this year’s Wanda Diamond League, which included Monaco and Stockholm. The other meets in Eugene, London, Paris, Rabat, Gateshead and Shanghai were all cancelled as the coronavirus swept through the world in March.

#Prior to going to Europe, Strachan competed in a series of six meets in Jamaica where she trains with Thompson-Herah in the MVP – Maximising Velocity and Power Track Club.

#“It was good. I was satisfied with it. I ended it with a season’s best,” said Strachan on her return from Europe. “I was really excited about the race. I got a decent start and so overall, it was good. I can’t complain about anything.”

#It was even more gratifying in the coronavirus crisis that Strachan got a chance to face some of the top competitors in the world in this abbreviated track season.

#“It was exciting to be at those meets, especially with all of the lanes being filled and the atmosphere was a taste of normalcy,” Strachan said. “It was just good to be competing over there.”

#Looking back at her performances, Strachan said she realised that she didn’t have the foot speed for the straight away race, considering the fact that she is more concentrated on competing in her specialty in the longer 200m.

#“I wished I had a few more hundred races to run in Europe, but the season has come to an end in Europe. It just showed that I am in great shape and I finished the season healthy without any real injuries,” she reflected.

#“So I’m really excited because it showed me that 2021 could be a really great year, if I stay injury free and I put my mind to it and I work really hard at it.”

#Coming off a grade two hamstring tear at last year’s World Championships in Doha, Strachan said she doesn’t want to look too far ahead to next year, so she’s just going to relish the time she has off because she picks up her off season in a few weeks.

#“I’m just going to do a little recovery and jot down some things that I need to prepare my body for the offseason training,” she stated. “I just want to enjoy the little off time that I have right now.”

#The 27-year-old graduate of St Augustine’s College is hoping that she can get back to the top form she was in when she won the Austin Sealy Award for the second consecutive year at the CARIFTA Games in Hamilton, Bermuda, with a double victory in the 100 and 200m.

#She capped off that year by duplicating the pair of sprint feats at the IAAF World Junior Championships in Barcelona, Spain.

#And she was eventually named the Rising Star of the Year at the IAAF Gala Awards Banquet in Monaco.

#Although she went on to represent the Bahamas at both the IAAF World Championships and the Olympic Games over the next few years, Strachan is still looking for her breakthrough in the final at the senior level.

#She did team up with Shaunae Miller-Uibo, Steven Gardiner and Michael Mathieu to win the gold in the debut of the mixed gender 4 x 400m relay at the IAAF World Relays at the Thomas A Robinson National Stadium in 2017.

#But Strachan is still looking for her first medal as a senior athlete, either as an individual or a relay team member and feels the move to Jamaica to train a year ago was a step in the right direction

Wednesday, August 12, 2020

Anthonique Strachan

#By BRENT STUBBS

#Senior Sports Reporter

#bstubbs@tribunemedia.net

#IN what could be considered her “saving grace” as she continues to revitalise her promising young career, Bahamian sprinter Anthonique Strachan said she finds herself in the right atmosphere at the right time.

#Since 2018, Strachan has made the move from the United States to Jamaica where she’s training in the Maximizing Velocity & Power Track & Field Club (MVP) where she works out and trains with Jamaican superstars Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce and Elaine Thompson-Herah.

#Over the weekend at the fourth and fifth Velocity Fest meets at the National Stadium in Kingston, Strachan sped to her season’s best of 22.67 seconds for third place overall in the women’s 200 metres.

#Strachan, who opened up in the first of the series of meets with 11.46 in the 100m for fifth place, said she’s extremely pleased because she’s running faster than she’s ran in the past 5-6 years.

#“I can’t be unhappy about it, although I see things that I need to improve on,” Strachan said.

#“Outside of that, I’m really happy and excited about everything that is happening for me right now, especially with the route this season has taken. This has just given me a better outlook for the 2021 season.”

#The 26-year-old 2012 double sprint World Junior Championship champion from Barcelona, Spain was referring to the disruption in the sporting world because of the coronavirus pandemic that shut down the indoor season and has put the outdoor season on hold.

#The Jamaicans, however, decided to return to some sort of normalcy by putting on a series of Velocity Fest Meets since July to keep their athletes in tip-top shape as they prepare for the 2020 Olympic Games in Tokyo, Japan, which has been postponed until 2021.

#In those meets, Strachan raced against Fraser-Pryce, the reigning World 100m champion, in the 100m in the first race and against Thompson-Herah, the defending Olympic 100/200m champion, in the 200m over the weekend.

#“Honestly, probably because I train with them, I don’t feel no difference in competing with them as opposed to training with them,” Strachan stated.

#“But I do know that once Shelly and Elaine go on the track, it’s no more fun and games. It’s all about the business and you know for sure there is going to be a fast time run. You just have to hope that either you have a fast time too or you get a chance to surpass them.”

#In the series of meets, Fraser-Pryce, in her return to the track scene last year after having a baby, produced the fastest time in the world in the 100m in 10.87, followed closely by Thompson-Herah in 10.88.

#They both improved on the previous best of 10.98 by Bahamian Olympic 400m champion Shaunae Miller-Uibo in a meet in Florida. Thompson-Herah also turned in a time of 22.19 in the 200m, but it was to fall short of Miller-Uibo’s world’s leading mark of 21.98 last month as well.

#As one of a few international athletes training in Jamaica, Strachan said she feels right at home, even though some of the athletes constantly remind her to slow down her speech because they sometimes have a difficulty understanding her dialect.

#“Other than that, there’s no difference because we all basically knew each other before we even started training together,” Strachan said. “I knew Shericka (Jackson, the 400m specialist) from the CARIFTA days. I knew Elaine and Shelly-Ann from I started competing on the senior national team.

#“Even though I never had a one-on-one conversation with them like I have now, but I still spoke to them. It’s okay to be around them because I know what they are like and it’s easy to communicate with them.”

#Not your typical early morning riser, Strachan said she had to make a major adjustment to get up around 4:40am to prepare herself to start her training shift, if it started either at 6, 7:30 or 9am.

#Once her session is done, she returns home and does her rehab and if she has to go in the gym, she will do it around 1pm. After she does another rehab session, she then completes the day by reviewing her workout sessions to see where she made her mistakes.

#When she initially made the transition from Auburn where she trained under coach Henry Rolle to Jamaica where she is now being coached by brothers Paul and Stephen Francis, Strachan said it’s more than she had originally anticipated.

#“Based on where I was as a junior and where I was at when I came here, I felt I couldn’t get no lower in my career,” reflected Strachan, who is still seeking the international success she achieved as a junior athlete.

#“I felt I couldn’t get no lower than I reached, so this was like my saving grace. I want to put myself in an uncomfortable situation to see if it’s working. So when I came here in 2018, I was not all that interested in it.”

#Used to the luxury of being in the USA where she could order an item and have it delivered to her doorstep in a day or two, Strachan said she came to Jamaica where she had to add the extra taxes for products to be delivered a longer time and her grocery list was extended from about $100 to $300.

#“The training camp was okay, but the personal life aspect was upsetting me. And once you are upset in your personal life, it trickles into track and field and into your business world,” Strachan pointed out.

#“I was like, this wasn’t making no sense because I was already in a decline in my career. I was like how I am going to save myself if I out myself in a stronger strain.”

#But she was constantly reminded by her mother, Simone Farmer, that she just had to buckle down and make the best of her situation. She said the coaches in MVP also stressed to her the importance of doing whatever it took to make it work.

#“They just told me that I had to get used to the lifestyle here and try not to keep comparing it to the Bahamas or the United States because the Jamaican athletes are making the most of their situation,” said Strachan, whose father is Alfred Strachan Sr.

#“I had to learn to trust the process.”

#In 2011 after she left St Augustine’s College, Strachan went to the US to begin her pro track and field career under the sponsorship of Puma for the 2012 season.

#Unfortunately, she didn’t compete in college and that may have been one of the downfalls that hindered her transition from being a junior to a senior athlete.

#“Outside of my junior career, I didn’t have that turn over as a senior,” she said. “So I decided that I wanted to train with people who were better than me because I felt that is the only thing that will help me.

#“When you look at the 100 and 200m, the top competitors in Jamaica, so it’s probably something that they are doing right that I wasn’t doing correct. Because I signed as a pro as a junior, I skipped college, which would have given me that stepping stone in my senior career.”

#As a result, Strachan said she didn’t feel she was 100 per cent a pro athlete, although she was competing at 100 per cent, injury or injury-free. She did have Jamaican sprinter Kerron Stewart and Trinidad & Tobago’s Marc Burns to rely on in Auburn, but they were on their way out.

#So she felt that with Fraser-Pryce and Thompson-Herah still in the prime of their career, Strachan said there was no way she could pass up the opportunity to train with MVP, a move that she said she would do it all over again, if she was presented with the challenge.

#“I wanted to be great and I felt that the only way I could do it, was to be in an atmosphere where the great athletes were,” she quipped. “Here in Jamaica, MVP’s whole camp is designed just around track and field. I feel this was something that I needed to actually ground me.

#“The way Stephen and Paul (Francis) coach, is completely different from any other coach I worked with in the past. I could respect their coaching style because they are so frank and direct. I could go to them and ask them if they think I could run 22.1 this year, if I had asked them that in 2018, they would have told me not the way I look. They would have said, you would be lucky to run 23.”

#That blunt firmness, according to Strachan, was what she needed.

#“They constantly told me that I needed to put in more work because I can see what this person and that person are doing,” he said.

#“I don’t need to do what they are doing, but I need to come close to it in order to improve my performance.

#“In this camp, it’s not like ‘oh, you see what Elaine and Shelly-Ann are doing, let’s do it too,” she said. “What will work for them will not necessarily work for you.

#“But you sit there and see them do their abs and you haven’t done your own for the day. They are number one and two in the world, do what you see they are doing. They put it into their running, so I had to take their mentality so that I can be successful too.”

#Having been to the bottom of her career, coupled with a series of injuries, Strachan said she decided to take a more unified approach to her training and it’s now paying off because she’s running faster now than she did in 2013.

#With the Olympics postponed for another year, Strachan said she can look at improving her times now so that she can be more comfortable and when the season swings into full gear, she will be better prepared.

#“Next year, I can put this same work ethic into getting ready for the Olympics,” she projected.

#“So even though the season hasn’t come to an end yet, I should be able to produce the same type of times when next year come around.

#“I know next year will be close to a normal season. 2020 was one of the most stressful track and field seasons. This has been more stressful than getting through an injury. With an injury, I know I could treat this or that, but there is no recovery phase for what we are going through with this pandemic.”

#Under the Puma contract, Strachan said she’s making the best of her situation with MVP.

#“I don’t regret coming to Jamaica and training here because right now, I’m doing better than I ever did before,” she summed up. “I feel much better as well.”

#This weekend, Strachan will be back in action, but she’s not sure whether it will be in the 100 or 200, or both. She’s just looking forward to continuing her progress in her bid to be the elite sprinter that she was primed to be.

By Brent Stubbs

Monday, September 21, 2020

Anthonique Strachan

#DESPITE her season’s best for ninth place as her Jamaican training partner Elaine Thomson-Herah posted a world-leading time, Bahamian sprinter Anthonique Strachan said she was pleased with her 2020 debut in Europe in the COVID-19 atmosphere.

#At the 40th edition of the Golden Gala Pietro Mennea, the Italian leg of the Wanda Diamond League, which took place in the Olympic Stadium in Rome on Thursday, Strachan finished in a dead heat in the women’s 100 metres in a season’s best of 11.42 seconds, the same time as eighth place finisher Marije Van Hunenstijn of the Netherlands.

#Thompson-Herah, the double sprint Olympic champion from Rio de Janeiro, Brazil in 2016, ran away from the field to stop the clock in 10.85 to move past reigning World champion and fellow Jamaican Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce, who previously set the stage with the century’s leading time of 10.86.

#American Aleia Hobbs was a distant second in 11.12 and Ivory Coast’s Marie-Josee Ta Lou, a two-time World Championships’ silver medallist, was third in 11.14.

#Strachan, who came out of a series of meets in Jamaica with previous season’s best times, said she was satisfied with the straightaway performance, considering the fact that her forte is the half-lap race..

#“I got a season’s best out of it and that was my third 100m for the year,” Strachan said. “So everything is just a building block for 2021, so I can’t feel bad about the performance.”

By Brent Stubbs

Monday, September 28, 2020

Anthonique Strachan

#IN another season’s best performance, Bahamian sprinter Anthonique Strachan improved on her previous finish to complete her two track and field meets in Europe this weekend.

#Competing at the final Wanda Diamond League meet on Friday at the Qatar Sport Club Stadium, which should have kicked off the season in May but postponed because of the coronavirus, Strachan posted a fifth place in the women’s 100 metres in a time of 11.42 seconds.

#Jamaican Olympic double sprint champion Elaine Thompson-Herah once again took the tape in 10.87, well ahead of multiple World Championship medallist Marie-Josee Ta Lou of the Ivory Coast, who did 11.21. American Kayla White was third in 11.25 and Great Britain’s Kristal Awuah was fourth in 11.27.

#Just a week before that at the 40th edition of the Golden Gala Pietro Mennea, the Italian leg of the Wanda Diamond League, which took place in the Olympic Stadium in Rome, Strachan had to settle for ninth place in the century in a matching time of 11.42.

#Thompson-Herah established a world-leading time of 10.85 to snatch the gold in a sterling performance over American Aleia Hobbs, who was second in 11.12 just ahead of third place Ta Lou in 11.14.

#The two meets in Rome and Doha were a part of the four stops in this year’s Wanda Diamond League, which included Monaco and Stockholm. The other meets in Eugene, London, Paris, Rabat, Gateshead and Shanghai were all cancelled as the coronavirus swept through the world in March.

#Prior to going to Europe, Strachan competed in a series of six meets in Jamaica where she trains with Thompson-Herah in the MVP – Maximising Velocity and Power Track Club.

#“It was good. I was satisfied with it. I ended it with a season’s best,” said Strachan on her return from Europe. “I was really excited about the race. I got a decent start and so overall, it was good. I can’t complain about anything.”

#It was even more gratifying in the coronavirus crisis that Strachan got a chance to face some of the top competitors in the world in this abbreviated track season.

#“It was exciting to be at those meets, especially with all of the lanes being filled and the atmosphere was a taste of normalcy,” Strachan said. “It was just good to be competing over there.”

#Looking back at her performances, Strachan said she realised that she didn’t have the foot speed for the straight away race, considering the fact that she is more concentrated on competing in her specialty in the longer 200m.

#“I wished I had a few more hundred races to run in Europe, but the season has come to an end in Europe. It just showed that I am in great shape and I finished the season healthy without any real injuries,” she reflected.

#“So I’m really excited because it showed me that 2021 could be a really great year, if I stay injury free and I put my mind to it and I work really hard at it.”

#Coming off a grade two hamstring tear at last year’s World Championships in Doha, Strachan said she doesn’t want to look too far ahead to next year, so she’s just going to relish the time she has off because she picks up her off season in a few weeks.

#“I’m just going to do a little recovery and jot down some things that I need to prepare my body for the offseason training,” she stated. “I just want to enjoy the little off time that I have right now.”

#The 27-year-old graduate of St Augustine’s College is hoping that she can get back to the top form she was in when she won the Austin Sealy Award for the second consecutive year at the CARIFTA Games in Hamilton, Bermuda, with a double victory in the 100 and 200m.

#She capped off that year by duplicating the pair of sprint feats at the IAAF World Junior Championships in Barcelona, Spain.

#And she was eventually named the Rising Star of the Year at the IAAF Gala Awards Banquet in Monaco.

#Although she went on to represent the Bahamas at both the IAAF World Championships and the Olympic Games over the next few years, Strachan is still looking for her breakthrough in the final at the senior level.

#She did team up with Shaunae Miller-Uibo, Steven Gardiner and Michael Mathieu to win the gold in the debut of the mixed gender 4 x 400m relay at the IAAF World Relays at the Thomas A Robinson National Stadium in 2017.

#But Strachan is still looking for her first medal as a senior athlete, either as an individual or a relay team member and feels the move to Jamaica to train a year ago was a step in the right direction. 

Shaunae Miller-Uibo and Steven Gardiner (file photos)

Friday, July 12, 2019

#By BRENT STUBBS

#Senior Sports Reporter

#bstubbs@tribunemedia.net


#Bahamian double sprint national record holders Shaunae Miller-Uibo and Steven Gardiner made their 2019 Diamond League Circuit debuts in grand style at the Herculis EBS in Monaco on Friday.

#The duo picked up where they left off on Tuesday at the Gyulai Istvan Memorial, a Hungarian Grand Prix meet in Szekesfehervar, and won their same events.

#Miller-Uibo, with a lot more competition in the 200 metres, came off the curve in the half-lap race with the rest of the field that included World and Olympic champions and finalists.

#But as the 2016 Olympic 400m champion and 2017 World Championship 200m bronze medalist stretched out her 6-foot, 1-inch with her pink hairstyle blowing in the wind, she accelerated ahead of them all to take the tape in her season’s best of 22.09 seconds.

#Jamaica’s reigning 2016 Olympic 100/200m champion Elaine Thompson came the closest, but had to settle for second in 22.44, just ahead of Netherlands’s Dafne Schippers, the 2017 world 200m champion and 2016 Olympic silver medalist, in 22.45. Ivory Coast’s Marie-Josee Ta Lou, the 2017 world’s 100/200 double silver medalist, was sixth in 22.66.

#“I feel pretty good, like I did a good job out there,” Miller-Uibo said. “I’m happy with how the race went. The quicker I get at 200m, the quicker I’d be at 400 and I’m really happy with where I’m at right now.

#“My coach said he was very happy with how I ran the turn. If they can change the timetable for the Olympics, I’d be more than happy to double.”

#Miller-Uibo, 25, is hoping to have a change in the schedule so she can get at least a day’s rest in between the 400 and 200 in Tokyo, Japan next year.

#• After a false start that saw American Kahmani Montgomery disqualified, Gardiner regained his composure and moved away from the field in lane five, clocking 44.51 for his victory in the men’s 400m. 

#The Abaco native pulled up on the side of Italy’s Davide Re in lane six and took control of the one-lap race coming off the final curve. Abderrahman Samba tried to go with him, but Gardiner surged down the home stretch to leave his Qatar rival a distant second on the inside in lane three in 45.00 for second place. 

#American Nathan Strother was third out of lane two in 45.54 and Re finished fifth in 46.21.

#“The false start, I almost covered 100-hundred metres, but I stopped when I saw everybody stop,” Gardiner said. “I came back and re-focused and went again. That was a real 400m. I felt pretty good, season’s best so I’m happy I got the win. Thank you Monaco.”

#The Bahamian national record holder at 43.87 was short of his season’s best of 44.45 that he posted on Tuesday in Hungary where he made his first 400m debut for the 2019 season after running a series of 200m.

#While this is his first Diamond League Meet for the year, 23-year-old Gardiner, who won the 2017 World Championships’ 400m silver medal, is hoping to surpass the two victories he achieved in the last two years of the competition.

#Also at the meet was Latario Collie-Minns in the men’s triple jump. He finished at the bottom of the eight-man field with his best of three jumps record at 16.15 metres or 53-feet, 0-inches – well off his season’s best of 17.04m (55-11).

#The American 1-2 punch of 2017 World and 2016 Olympic champion Christian Taylor (17.82m/58-5 3/4) and 2017 World and 2016 Olympic silver medalist Will Claye (17.75m/58-3) took the top two spots. 

#Additionally, Pedrya Seymour was entered in the women’s 100m hurdles. But she had a false start and was disqualified as American world record holder Kendra Harrison went on to win the race in a season’s best of 12.43. 

#Miller-Uibo, Gardiner, Collie-Minns and Seymour are now expected home to complete in the Bahamas Association of Athletic Association’s National Championships, July 26-28 at the Grand Bahama Sports Complex in Grand Bahama.

#The event will serve as the final trials for athletes wishing to make the team heading to the IAAF World Championships, scheduled for September 27-October 6 in Doha, Qatar.

Steven Gardiner and Shaunae Miller-Uibo.

Saturday, May 12, 2018

#By BRENT STUBBS

#Senior Sports Reporter

#bstubbs@tribunemedia.net

#Bahamian twin towers Steven Gardiner and Shaunae Miller-Uibo sparkled at the International Amateur Athletic Federation’s Shanghai Diamond League Meet on Saturday by winning the men’s 400 and women’s 200 metres in record-breaking times.

#Gardiner, coming off his sensational world-leading 43.87 seconds in Doha, Qatar on May 4 at the first of the 12 Diamond League events before the two finals are held at the end of the year, pulled away for another fantastic performance as he took the men’s one-lap race in 43.99.

#In the process, the 22-year-old 6-feet, 2-inches Abaco native and former Moores Island student, erased the meet record of 44.02 that was set by American Jeremy Wariner in 2007 and tied by Grenada’s Kirani James in 2013. The 2017 IAAF World Championship silver medalist is running both the 200 and 400m this year.

#Once again, Gardiner beat a talented field that included Botswana’s triple Commonwealth Games gold medalist Isaacs Makwala, who had to settle for second in a season’s best of 44.23 after he got third in the first meeting of the three top performers in the world so far this year. Makwala switched places with Qatar’s Abdalleleh Haroun, who was third in 44.51. Haroun, the World Championship bronze medalist, was second in Qatar.

#As for Miller-Uibo, she made her 2018 IAAF Diamond League debut an impressive one. She ran away with the women’s 200m in 22.06 for her season’s best and a meet record, replacing the previous mark of 22.36 that was held by Nigeria’s Blessing Okagbare-Ighoteguonor from 2014.

#The 24-year-old 6-1 Miller-Uibo, a native of Nassau and a graduate of St Augustine’s College, was just short of posting the fastest time in the world. She trails Okagbare-Ighoteguonor, who managed 22.04 in Abilene, Texas on March 24. Miller, the 2016 Olympic bronze medalist is coming off her triumph at the 2018 Commonwealth Games.

#In securing her win, Miller-Uibo got the best of the much anticipated showdown against Netherland’s two-time world champion Dafnee Schippers, second in her season’s best of 22.34; Jamaican Commonwealth Games’ silver medalist Shericka Jackson third in 22.36 and Ivory Coast’s Marie-Josée Ta Lou, double silver medalist at the World Championships, fourth in 22.58. Ta Lou switched to the half-lap race after turning in a lifetime and world leading time of 10.85 in the century in Doha.

#The next event on the Diamond League is the Prefontaine Classic at the Hayward Field in Eugene, Oregon from May 25-26 where Gardiner will have to move down to the 200m and Miller-Uibo will move up to the 400m. The Diamond League series closes out with the two finals at the Weltklasse in Zurich, Switzerland on August 30 and the AG Memorial Van Damme in Brussels, Belgium on August 31.

The Bahamas’ Steven Gardiner (right) comes in second to South Africa’s Wayde Van Niekerk (left) in the men’s 400m final at the IAAF World Championships in London. (AP Photo/David J. Phillip)

Tuesday, August 8, 2017

#By BRENT STUBBS

#Senior Sports Reporter

#bstubbs@tribunemedia.net

#LONDON, England: In his greatest defining moment, Steven Gardiner, too fatigued to take his well deserved victory lap, became the 16th IAAF World Championship silver medalist in the men’s 400 metres.

#Two days after he broke the national record with 43.89 seconds on Sunday night in the semifinals, Gardiner became the second Bahamian male to medal at the biannual championships and the first member of the 24-member team here to get on the podium in the Queen Elizabeth Olympic Stadium.

#His time of 44.41 seconds secured the silver as he couldn’t catch South African Wayde van Niekerk, who successfully defended his title in a winning time of 43.98. Surprisingly Qatar’s Abdalelah Harqoun got the bronze in 44.48. In the process, Gardiner joins Avard Moncur, the only other Bahamian to medal in the men’s 400m when he snatched the gold in 2001 in Edmonton, Canada.

#“I felt pretty good about my performance,” said Gardiner, who had to skip his victory lap to receive medical attention. “I came into the final with some dead legs from the semifinal, but overall, I held it together, brought it home and got second, a silver medal.

#“I thank God for finishing healthy and strong.”

#While Gardiner had to seek some medical help from team doctor Keir Miller and physiotherapist Eugenia Patton in the medical centre after the race, he was greeted by Minister of Youth, Sports and Culture, Michael Pintard; Director of Sports Timothy Munnings, IAAF Councilwoman Pauine Davis-Thompson and team officials, including co-manager Maybeline Miller, head coach Dianne Woodside-Johnson and relay coordinator Rupert Gardiner.

#21-year-old Gardiner, who hails from Abaco, said he will get a good night’s sleep before receiving his medal on Wednesday night just before he cheers on Shaunae Miller-Uibo in the women’s 400m final at 4:50 pm EST. He earned a hefty pay cheque of $40,000 for his efforts on Tuesday.

Steven Gardiner on his way to a new national record in his semifinal. Photo: Kermit Taylor/Bahamas Athletics

Monday, August 7, 201

#By BRENT STUBBS

#Senior Sports Reporter

#bstubbs@tribunemedia.net

#LONDON, England: Head coach Dianne Woodside-Johnson and relay coordinator Rupert Gardiner were both impressed with the national record breaking performance by Steven Gardiner who become the first Bahamian to reach a final in the 16th IAAF World Championships.

#On Sunday night at the Queen Elizabeth Olympic Stadium, Gardiner shocked himself when he clocked an impressive 43.89 seconds to erase his previous national record of 44.28 that he set in Georgetown, Grenada on April 8.

#Only one Bahamian male has ever won a medal at these championships with Avard Moncur setting the pace as claiming the gold in 2001 in Edmonton, Canada. Chris ‘Fireman’ Brown was the last Bahamian to advance to a men’s 400m final, finishing fourth in 2007 in Osaka, Japan.

#“He did a wonderful job. He was very relaxed and very confident in what he’s doing,” Woodside-Johnson said of the accomplishment, “He’s very proud of himself. He’s very happy with the time. He did it in style with a new national record. He did a wonderful job.”

#Coach Gardiner – no relation – said it only sets the runner up for the ultimate showdown in the final.

#“You couldn’t ask for anything more from his performance,” coach Gardiner stressed. “I only wish he can go out in the final and duplicate that same type of effort.”

#When he’s done, coach Gardiner said they hope to get Gardiner ready for the possibility of securing another medal in the men’s 4 x 400m relay, if the team advances to the final on Sunday night.

#“With a guy running a 43 leg, we look like we are right back in the hunt,” coach Gardiner projected.

#Gardiner’s performance will certainly help to solidify the team of Alonzo Russell, Michael Mathieu, Ramon Miller, Kendrick Thompson and Ojay Ferguson as they go after the Bahamas’ fifth medal and the first since Avard Moncur, Mathieu, Andrae , Chris ‘Fireman’ Brown and Nathaniel McKinney snagged the silver in 2007 in Osaka, Japan.