Carifta double medalist Akanni Hislop and reigning local champion Jonathan Farinha will return to defend their respective sprint crowns and secure qualifying times for major international competitions, at the National Association of Athletics Administrations (NAAA) National Junior Championships, which starts today and closes tomorrow.
Some 800 athletes from almost all of T&T's athletics clubs will meet at the Hasely Crawford Stadium, Mucurapo, for the six divisions of track and field action.
Hislop won both the Boys Under-18 100 metres and 200m finals last year and carried his form all the way into the Carifta Games in April, when he secured gold in the 200m clocking 20.91 seconds.
He also claimed silver in the 100m in 10.47 seconds. Farinha dominated the same two distances at the last Junior Championships, winning the U-20 100m (10.25 seconds) and 200m (20.68).
Carifta gold medal winners Andwuelle Wright (Boys U-20 long jump) and Portious Warren (Girls U-20 shot put) are also set to return.
Unfortunately, Kayelle Clarke, who received three medals at the Carifta Games, including the Girls U-20 200m gold and a relay bronze double will not feature this weekend due to school commitments.
The juniors will be seeking to claim the requisite qualifying times for World Youth Games and the Pan Am Games.
Action starts from 9 am on both days. Today, the opening session will begin with finals in field events in all age divisions. The individual and heptatholon hurdles will follow from 10-10.45 am, followed by preliminaries in the 100m races.
The 400m preliminaries is between 12.40-1.30 pm. There will be an intermission and presentation of medals from 1.30-2.30 pm. In the afternoon session, there will be semifinals in the four 100m divisions, from 2.30-3.20 pm, with the highly-anticipated 400m finals following from 4.35-5 pm.
The days action will conclude after the six finals in the 100m distance, which starts at 6.10 pm.
Tomorrow, there will be finals in the 200m, 800m, 3,000m, 5,000m, the field events and the relays.
