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Date Posted: July 16, 2008.
 Small
Islands win medals in the World Junior Championships held in
Poland.
As the 12th Edition of the World Junior Championships has
now concluded , one cannot help but marvel at the spirited
performances produced by the athletes. Although Anguilla’s
Denvil “Skywalker” Ruan did not advance past the first round
of his heat, he improved his time in the 100m dash. The
experience has rejuvenated his desire to increase his long
jump standards. At these championships one normally expects
the larger countries to dominate the championships; however
several small countries begged to differ.
There is an old cliché that states “it’s not the dog in the
fight but the fight in the dog that is needed to win a
fight”. Several of the small Caribbean islands came with a
lot of fight in them. ST.Kitts and Nevis was one such
country that fought very hard to earn a medal. The team
which comprised six females stunned the world when Ms.
Meritzer Williams ran home with the silver medal in the
women’s 200m dash. The 4 x 100m relay team also did well as
they made it to the finals of the relay competition.
 Grenada
showed its prowess by showcasing their ing two sub 47
seconds 400m runners and a 100m and 200m female sprinter.
One of the 400m runners, Mr. Kerani James was in a “no
nonsense” mood as he pressed his United States adversary in
what could only be described as a spectacular race.
Though he fell short of the gold medal he improved his time
to 0:0:45:54 seconds
and took home the silver. Ms. Janelle Redhead also made her
coach, Mr. Albert James very proud as she ran a personal
best and secured a bronze medal, giving Grenada two medals
from the competition.
 Trinidad,
the land of calypso continued to produce quality athletes
such as Janeil Bellille who won the silver medal in the
grueling 400m hurdles. She led the race with only 100m but
was unable to bring home the gold as she was unable to keep
up with her United States rival.
Barbados also came in for high recognition as several
athletes made it to the semi finals and finals of the 100m
hurdles, 400m hurdles and 4x100m women relay. The United
States and British Virgin Islands showed that they are
capable of progressing through the rounds of this elite
competition. David Waters (100m sprinter; 0:0:10:67), Leslie
Murray (400m hurdler; 0:0:52:00) were able to move to the
semi final rounds. Unfortunately, injured Allison Peter
(100m; 0:0:11:91,200m; 23.99) could not equal the feat of
her country men.
As expected, Jamaica and Cuba did well by winning six and
eight medals respectively, the former doing so by dominating
the 100m and 200m sprints and placing in the relays while
Cuba excelled in the field and hurdle events. With the 12th
World Junior Championships now concluded Anguillian athletes
must train harder to obtain good results.
(Results provided courtesy of the IAAF. Other results can be
viewed at www.iaaf.org)
100m men Wind: -0.8 m/s
100m women Wind: -0.6 m/s
200m men Wind: -0.9 m/s
Women 200m Wind: -0.9 m/s
400m men
400m women
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JAM
RSA
USA
SWE
CUB
SRI
CAY
GBR
BAH
BRA
ROU
SKN
RUS
FRA
GER
AZE
UAE
KSA
GRN
ALG
NED
POL
AUS
CAN
IRL
NGR
ZAM