T&T’s Nikoli Blackman made it three gold medals from as many finals while countryman Zarek Wilson added a bronze in the men’s 50m freestyle final on the final night of swimming at the 2023 Commonwealth Youth Games at the National Aquatic Centre in Balmain Couva, last night.
The 18-year-old Blackman who leaves for the University of Tennessee next week signed off from the CYG, his last meet on local soil with a winning time of 22.36 seconds to lead a Caribbean sweep of the event with Bahamian Marvin Johnson Jr, taking silver in 22.54, and 18-year-old Wilson, who also heads off to the University of Alabama, third in 22.95.
The others in the final were Fiji’s David Young who placed fourth in 23.02, followed by Singapore’s Zhi Loo and New Zealand’s Harrison Klouwens, both in 23.30, England’s Nick Finch in 23.54, and Scotland’s Stefan Krawiec, in 23.59.
In the morning heats, Blackman was the fastest qualifier overall after he won the eighth and final heat in 22.81 seconds, the lone swimmer under the 23 seconds barrier, while Klouwens (23.37) and Loo (23.48) were second and third in the heat for the fifth, and sixth best times overall respectively.
Young won heat seven in 23 seconds with Finch, second in 23.61 as both qualified for the final with the second and seventh best times while Johnson Jr with a time of 23.02, the third best in the leads was joined by Wilson who 23.07 as qualifiers from heat six with Krawiec, who won heat two in 23.67 securing the final spot in the final.
A member of Marlins Swim Club, Blackman, previously won this country’s first gold medal of the CYG in the men’s 200m freestyle in a new personal best time of one minute, 49.94 seconds on Sunday last, and returned one day later to add the 100m freestyle title in 49.60 seconds.
On Tuesday, Wilson swam to gold in the 100m butterfly in a new games record time of 53.70 seconds which bettered the 2017 mark of 53.87 set in the Bahamas by Lewis Fraser of Wales.
It was the second medal in two nights for Wilson, who on Monday got silver in the 50m backstroke final in 26.18 seconds to trail champion and new games record holder Matthew Ward of Scotland who touched the wall in 25.51.
Local cyclists, Syndel Samaroo and Danell James secured T&T’s first medals in the sport, a silver and bronze respectively in the men’s Match Sprint at the National Cycling Centre in Balmain, Couva, yesterday.
In the men’s Sprint final, Samaroo was beaten in the gold medal contest by Australian Tayte Ryan in two straight rides.
In a battle of 17-year-olds, Ryan won the first ride in 10.894 seconds with Samaroo, trailing by 0.200 seconds while the Aussie also won the second ride against the T&T cyclist who celebrated his birthday on August 2 comfortably.
James then added a bronze medal to T&T’s medal tally in the Sprint as he got the better of Malaysian Darwish Muhd Sanusi, winning 2-1 after losing the first ride.
In the opening ride, Sanusi rode to victory in 11.258 with James, behind in 0.183 seconds.
However, James then kept his hope of securing a medal alive by taking the second ride with a time of 11.328 seconds, 0.183 seconds ahead of Sanusi to set up a winner-take-all third ride.
In the decider, James, spurred on by the home spectators and teammate Samaroo, edged his way to victory in 11.654 with the Malaysian crossing just behind in 11.763.
Earlier on in the semifinals, Tayte swept Sanusi in two rides in 11.019 seconds, and 10.932 seconds while Samaroo out pedaled James in the other semifinal in 11.062, and 11.446.
When the flying 200m qualifying event took place on Tuesday, Samaroo was timed at 10.706 for the second spot, behind Ryan who clocked 10.670 as both men advanced straight to the semifinals.
James was the third best in the qualifying heats in 10.794 and in his quarterfinal against sixth-placed qualifier, Indian, Jitendra Jadhav, who qualified in 11.988, the T&T cyclist won in two straight rides, in 11.231, and 11.413 to secure his place in the semifinal while Sanusi won his quarterfinal with Wales’ William Salter in three rides to complete today’s semifinal quartet.
T&T Cycling Federation President, Rowena Williams, speaking from Scotland where she is with the T&T cycling contingent at the UCI World Championship congratulated both Samaroo and James.
She said: On behalf of the T&TCF we want to congratulate both Syndel and Danell on an outstanding performance at the Youth Commonwealth Games Match Sprint event today.
She added, “I think these guys have done the hard work and this is where it’s paid off and I want to really congratulate them and encourage them to work hard for them to go further in the sport.
“This is just the beginning of what we can see coming from our young cyclists in the future and I just want to say that we continue to give them all the support and we look forward to T&T coming out and giving more support to our youngsters.
Williams also congratulated women’s cyclists Makaira Wallace and Alexia Wood.
Williams said, “The ladies participated in the Match Sprint event but did not medal while in the Road Race, we did not have any medals either, but they definitely went out there and represented.”
T&T medal won so far
Gold
Nikoli Blackman (swimming): men’s 200m freestyle
Nikoli Blackman (swimming): men’s 100m freestyle
Zarek Wilson (swimming): men’s 100m butterfly
Nikoli Blackman (swimming): men’s 50m freestyle
Silver
Janae De Gannes (athletics): women’s long jump
Zarek Wilson (swimming): men’s 50m backstroke
Syndel Samaroo (cycling): men’s Match Sprint
Jaidi James (athletics): men’s high jump
Bronze
Sanaa Frederick (athletics): women’s 100m
Danell James (cycling) men’s Match Sprint
Zarek Wilson (swimming): men’s 50m freestyle
Position Teams Gold Silver Bronze Total
1.Australia 15 12 13 40
2. England 9 12 5 26
3. Scotland 9 7 2 18
4. South Africa 6 3 3 12
5. T&T 4 4 3 11
6. Wales 3 4 4 11
7. Northern Ireland 3 1 2 6
8. Nigeria 3 1 0 4
9. Kenya 2 3 0 5
10. Cayman Islands 2 1 2 5
11. Jersey 1 2 2 5
12. Guyana 1 1 1 3
13. New Zealand 0 2 3 5
14. Bahamas 0 2 2 4
14. Fiji 0 1 2 3
16. India 0 1 1 2
16. Malaysia 0 1 1 2
18. Canada 0 1 0 1
19.Barbados 0 0 2 2
19.Isle of Man 0 0 2 2
19. St Lucia 0 0 2 2
19. Namibia 0 0 2 2
23. Cyprus 0 0 1 1
23. Grenada 0 0 1 1
23. Jamaica 0 0 1 1
23. Uganda 0 0 1 1