Special Olympian D’Andre Mc Guirk increased T&T’s medal haul to four after bagging a bronze in the mini javelin Level B event at the Berlin Games, Germany, on Wednesday.
Mc Guirk left his best for last, tossing the spear 16.65 metres to place third on day five of the Special Olympics World Games. The 21-year-old opened with a 13.55m effort to be in fourth place after the first round. He improved in the second round with a 14.5-throw but remained in the same position.
Mc Guirk’s 16.65m was good enough to edge out Czech Republic’s Marek Valasek (16.19m) to bag the bronze behind gold medallist Kyriakos Ioannou of Cyprus with 17.32m, his opening effort, and silver medallist Saket Kundu of Bharat with 17.05m.
Mc Guirk earned T&T’s first medal in athletics. This country now has two gold medals, one in swimming thanks to Trent Bethel in the 1,500m Open Water swim and in equestrian courtesy Nathaniel Lewis in the Level C (I) Dressage competition Division D05 and Patrice Pennie, who copped silver also in the Level C (I) Dressage (D01).
Mc Guirk had a busy day yesterday as he also competed in the long jump Level C semifinals, and so too did 31-year-old Nathan Mc Clean. The latter leaped 3.22m to place third in heat three to book a spot in the final.
Mc Guirk finished lower down the order in heat four with a 2.13m-leap. It was a similar situation for Melissa Nanan among the women in heat three. Her best leap measured 1.65m.
Their compatriot Tershana Tempro was unable to register a mark after fouling on all three attempts.
Over on the track, Tempro did well in heat one of the women’s 100m Level A quarterfinals, placing fourth with a time of 15.52 seconds. The 21-year-old and national teammate La Toya Charles moved on to the semifinals.
Charles, 21, lined up in heat two and was also fourth with a time of 15.69. Mc Clean also sped into the semifinals after his sixth-place finish in heat 18 with 13.47.
On Thursday, Charles will face the starter in heat five, running in lane seven, Tempro will line up in heat six in lane four and Mc Clean, in heat 15, in lane three in the men’s category.
Cadell Cuffy was the lone runner in the men’s 400m Level A event. The 15-year-old topped heat five in the quarterfinal round, clocking 53.45 seconds to advance to the semifinals.
Cuffy opened action at the Berlin Games in the 200m Level A. He reached the final on Tuesday and finished sixth with a 23.94-clocking.
In Equestrian
Aaron Ali just missed out on a top-three finish in the Level B (I) Dressage (D06) final. Ali aboard horse Flash scored 68.824 percent to place fourth.
In the Level B (I) Dressage (D03) final, Omari Patterson aboard Lennox placed eighth with a score of 57.353.
