Bahamians fail to make finals at IAAF U-20 Championships

Charisma Taylor was the only Bahamian to represent The Bahamas this weekend as the 2018 International Association of Athletic Federations (IAAF) U-20 Championships came to a close in Tampere, Finland.

Taylor failed to make it to the final round of the women’s long jump, finishing seventh in the qualifying round in group A.

She scored a personal best mark of 12.97 metres (m).

Aleksandra Nacheva from Bulgaria, went on to win the event with a meet record leap of 14.18m.

None of the athletes who represented The Bahamas qualified for the final of their respective events, however, there were some semifinal appearances. Both Joel Johnson and Jaida Knowles pulled out of the boys’ and girls’ 200’s, due to minor injuries.

Team Bahamas was made up by Taylor, Johnson, Knowles, Oscar Smith, Sasha Wells, Adrian Curry, Jyles Etienne and Kyle Alcine.

Over 1,400 athletes from 158 nations competed across 44 events over the course of the five-day meet. Local athletes are expected to return to New Providence by Wednesday.

About Randy Smith

Randy Smith is the producer of the widely-watched local television show “Beyond The Headlines” and the web content manager of Eyewitness News. He joined Eyewitness News as a sportscaster in 2018, a role he still performs, and has previously covered a slew of international sporting events, including the 2015 Pan American Games, the Nike EYBL Showcase, several IAAF World Relays, the FIFA Beach Soccer World Cup, the Commonwealth Youth Games, the Bahamas Bowl and multiple CARIFTA Swimming and Track & Field Championships. Randy has been recognized by the Bahamas Press Club with awards for “Best Sports Broadcast” as a sportscaster and “Best TV Talk Show” as a producer.