- SHELDON LONGLEY SIMBA FRENCH longley@nasugard.com simba@nasguard.com
- Dec 29, 2023
- 0
Charlton holds off a pair of track and field athletes for the top honor
What a year it has been for athletics in The Bahama
Devynne Charlton has had arguably her best year in track and field, running her best of collection of races when it mattered the most – at the world championships of track and field – and coming within an eyelash of winning what would have been her first-ever medal at a global meet outdoors.
She took home The Nassau Guardian’s Senior Female Athlete of the Year honor with 40 points. Finishing one point behind her was javelin thrower Rhema Otabor and she was followed closely by Anthonique Strachan. Bahamian professional female basketball player Jonquel ‘JJ’ Jones finished fourth and former track and field athlete turned fitness athlete Ivanique Kemp rounded out the top five.
Charlton was fourth in the world championships final in Budapest, Hungary, missing out on the medal stand by six one hundredths of a second. She ran a personal best national record time of 12.44 seconds in the heats – the same time as the silver medalist in the final.
Charlton clocked 12.49 seconds in the semis and 12.52 seconds for fourth in the final. It was her best ever finish at the world outdoor championships and the highest-ever finish for any Bahamian in the short hurdles at a major meet outdoors, proving that the country is making strides in the short hurdles.
Following her competition at the world championships, Charlton went on to compete at the Weltklasse Zürich Diamond League Meet in Zürich, Switzerland, and turned in an eighth place finish in 12.75 seconds. It was her 13th race under 13 seconds in 2023, the second-most for her in any calendar year.
She had a series of appearances on the European circuit, running at the FBK (Fanny Blankers-Koen) Games in Hengelo, Netherlands; the 5th Irena Szewińska Memorial in Bydgoszcz, Poland; the 62nd Ostrava Golden Spike Meet in Ostrava, Czech Republic; the BAUHAUS-Galan Diamond League Meet in Stockholm, Sweden; and the Weltklasse Zürich in Zürich, Switzerland.
Indoors, she clocked a season’s best time of 7.87 seconds at the New Balance Indoor Grand Prix in Boston, Massachusetts, just off her national record time of 7.81 seconds.
Otabor was outstanding in the women’s javelin in 2023, setting a new personal best and becoming just the second Bahamian to win a National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division I title in the women’s javelin, following in the footsteps of national record holder Laverne Eve.
Otabor also became the second Bahamian female behind Eve to toss the javelin in excess of 60 meters (m), turning in a personal best throw of 60.54m (198’ 7”) to finish second at the Pan American Games in Santiago, Chile, in November.
She struggled at the Budapest World Championships, but just to qualify for that meet, she made history, becoming the second Bahamian woman to do so in the javelin behind Eve.
Collegiately for the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, Otabor won the Big Ten title with a throw of 57.85m (189’ 9”), qualified for the NCAAs out of the regionals and then went on to win the NCAA title at Mike A. Myers Stadium in Austin, Texas, in June, with a toss of 59.49m (195’ 2”) a personal best throw at that time.
The following month, Otabor established a new personal best of 59.75m (196’) at the Bahamas Association of Athletic Associations (BAAA) Junior and Senior National Track and Field Championships. She was just getting started.
Following the nationals, Otabor went on to win the under-23 title at the North American, Central American and Caribbean Athletics Association (NACAC) Under-18 and Under23 Championships, turning in a toss of 57.48m (188’ 7”). Otabor went on to compete at the 19th World Athletics Championships in Budapest, Hungary, bowing out in the qualifying rounds, and then turned in her massive throw of 60.54m for the silver medal at the Pan American Games.https://95ec8484abd69d874769acb17c2c3eff.safeframe.googlesyndication.com/safeframe/1-0-40/html/container.html
Strachan also had arguably her best year in athletics, running personal best times in both short sprints and culminating the year by advancing to the final of the women’s 200m at the Budapest World Championships. Strachan finished sixth in that world championships final, running 22.29 seconds. She clocked 22.31 and 22.30 in the rounds, running her best collection of 200m races in her career.
In May, Strachan set her personal best time of 22.15 seconds at the Meeting International Mohammed VI d’Athletisme de Rabat, in Rabat, Morocco, solidifying herself as the second-fastest Bahamian woman of all-time over that distance. It was one of four Diamond League appearances for her in the 200m in 2023, setting the stage for a fantastic finish at the Diamond League Final, the two-day Prefontaine Classic in Eugene, Oregon. Strachan finished third in the Diamond League Final in 22.16 seconds, just a hundredth of a second off her personal best time.
Strachan was impressive in the 100m in 2023 as well, but chose just to focus on the 200m at the world championships.
She clocked a personal best time of 10.92 seconds in the women’s 100m at the Bislett Games Diamond League Meet in Oslo, Norway, in June. That time has her listed as the fourth-fastest Bahamian woman of all-time over that distance and she is now just eight one hundredths of a second off Chandra Sturrup’s national record of 10.84 seconds.
Strachan qualified for the world championships and the Diamond League Final in both the 100 and 200m in 2023, but chose to focus on the 200m each time.
Jonquel Jones, who led the New York Liberty to the Women’s National Basketball Association (WNBA) Championship this year before they fell to the Las Vegas Aces, and Ivanique Kemp, who won a gold medal for The Bahamas in women’s wellness at the 50th International Federation of BodyBuilding and Fitness’ (IFBB) Central American and Caribbean (CAC) Bodybuilding and Fitness Championships this year, finished fourth and fifth respectively, in voting for the Nassau Guardian’s Senior Female Athlete of the Year.