Kai Selvon was T&T's lone star on Day Six of the 13th IAAF World Outdoor Track and Field Championships in Daegu, South Korea, yesterday. Selvon broke the national junior (Under-20) 200m record clocking 22.89 to finish third in Heat 4 of the women's preliminaries held during the morning session. The 19-year-old broke the 22.93 mark held by World 100m bronze 100m medallist Kelly Ann-Baptiste since 2005. Selvon, a former El Dorado West Secondary Student said she was happy to set the new mark. "I was glad and I told Kelly-Ann I was going for it and I did." The Auburn University student was aiming to improve the record in the semifinals which were run off later in the evening but had to settle with 23.11 to finish fourth in Heat 4. "The run felt good but I think the time was slowed by a head wind. All in all, I am satisfied with my performance."
Her time was not good enough to qualify for the finals. Selvon is competing at her first world championships and said she had to wait for several days to compete. "It felt great thank God. I was not nervous but just before the start I was a little anxious and I had to control." Selvon said her fourth place finish at last year's World Junior Championships and her two years competing for Auburn University has helped her to mature and get ready for Daegu. "It has helped as I have a better attitude now." The two-time World Junior representative told Trinidad Guardian that she was motivated by Baptiste's bronze medal performance.
T&T men's 4x400m relay team failed in its bid to qualify in the men's finals. The quartet led by Renny Quow, Zwede Hewitt and Deon Lendore clocked 3:02:74 to finish sixth, well short of a top three spot for automatic qualification. Hewitt ran the lead-off leg and handed over to Jarrin Solomon in seventh who completed his leg strongly to hand over to young Lendore in sixth. The three-time Pan American Junior medalist could not improve and passed the baton to Quow who despite a determined run could not move the national team up the placings. Defending champions USA won in 2:58:82 with Jamaica (2:59:13) and South Africa (2:59:31). Solomon said the team needed a good start. "If you don't get in the mix from the beginning it is hard to come back." Hewitt said he found it tough to run out of lane eight.
Results
Women's 200m
Semis: Heat 2 – Wind:-1.8m/s
1 V Campbell-Brown JAM 22.53
2 Allyson Felix USA 22.67
4 Kai Selvon TT 23.11
Prelims: Heat 6 – +0.3m/s
1 Shalonda Solomon USA 22.69
2 Mariya Ryemyen TUR 22.77
3 Selvon TT 22.89 National Junior record
Men's 4x400m Semis
Heat 1
1 USA 2:58:82
2 Jamaica 2:59:13
3 South Africa 2:59:21
4 Great Britain 3:00:38
5 Germany 3:00:68
