T&T athletics team ended its campaign at the World Masters Track and Field Championships in Tampere, Finland with three medals courtesy of field athlete Gwendolyn Smith.
Smith nabbed gold in the women’s 55-59 javelin and two silvers in the shot put and throws pentathlon, respectively. She along with Romona Modeste were the last two members of the nine-team contingent in action on Wednesday.
However, there were other T&T-born athletes competing at the Championships for men and women over the age of 35, Marsha Mark-Baird and Inga Mc Intyre for the United States.
Mark-Baird copped bronze in the women’s 45-49 heptathlon. The two-time Olympic representative has won several gold medals for T&T at previous editions of the World Masters. Her latest was the heptathlon and long jump titles at the 2016 World Outdoor Championships in Perth, Australia to retain both crowns she won in 2015 in Lyons, France.
She was due to compete in the long jump in Tampere but withdrew due to injury.
The former national heptathlon holder was also part of the victorious national women’s 35-39 4x100m relay team in 2015. Mark-Beard teamed up with Sasha Springer, Ayanna Hutchinson-Britton and Donnel Stafford to set a new women’s 35-39 World record of 47.65 seconds.
Meanwhile, Mc Intyre reached the semifinals of the women’s 40-44 100m and competed in the heats of the 200m.
T&T was carded to be represented by 10 athletes (five women, four men) at the Championships, which closes Sunday, but Sheldon Mason did not make the trip due to the birth of his son.
Along with Smith, who also competed in the discus and Modeste (W35 400m), making up the women’s team were Suzan Garcia (W55- discus, javelin), Cheryl Reyes (W65- shot put, hammer throw, weight throw) and Michelle Sturge (W55 - 100m, 200m).
Among the men were Chevon Simpson (M35- 100m, 200m), Murrien Mitchell (M45 - 100m, 200m), Raymond Smith (M60 -100m, 200m) and Curtis Brereton (M60- 1,500m, 5,000m).
