Commonwealth Games: Team Saint Lucia’s Run Nears End
7th August 2022
PHOTO: Micky Ferdinand
As Team Saint Lucia’s outing at this year’s Commonwealth Games in Birmingham, England, comes to an end, it’s now up to pole vaulter Micky Ferdinand to secure the island’s second medal at the Games.
Ferdinand will compete in the Men’s Pole Vault on Saturday at the Alexander Stadium. It’s Team Saint Lucia’s final chance to add to the medal count after sprinter Julien Alfred won a silver medal in the Women’s 100m Final on Wednesday.
Meanwhile, on Friday evening, Lenyn Leonce competed in Semifinals of the Men’s 200m Semifinals, after posting 21.22 seconds in the Men’s Qualifying Round Heat 5 on Thursday, placing third behind Ghana’s Paul Joseph Amoah (20.58 seconds) and Trinidad and Tobago’s Kyle Greaux (21.01 seconds). Running in Lane 3, Leonce finished in eighth place in Semifinal 2 on Friday evening in a time of 21.53 seconds, giving him an overall 22nd place in the Semifinals.
Also on Friday evening, Delan Edwin competed in Semifinal 3 of the Men’s 200m, having also qualified on Thursday in the Men’s 200m Heat 8, where he posted 21.19 seconds, finishing second behind Canada’s Brendon Rodney (20.84 seconds).
Running in Lane 8 on Friday evening, Edwin finished fifth in Semifinal 3 with a time of 21.32 seconds, giving him an overall 16th place in the semifinals.
Michael Joseph also competed on Friday evening in the Semifinals of the Men’s 400m, running in Lane 3 of Semifinal 1, where he placed sixth in a time of 47.03s, improving on his preliminaries time of 47.08s for an overall 17th place in the Semifinals.
The final competitor for Team Saint Lucia on Friday evening was Sandisha Antoine, who placed ninth in the Women’s Triple Jump Final with her third and best jump of 13.01 metres.
On Thursday, Julien Alfred received her silver medal at the Medal Ceremony for the Women’s 100m Final held at the Alexander Stadium. She joined gold medalist Elaine Thompson-Herah
(Jamaica) and bronze medalist Daryll Neita (England) on the podium.
Following the Medal Ceremony, Alfred said: “I feel happy, I feel grateful. I’m happy to make the podium. I just feel happy right now.”
She also reiterated her gratitude to everyone who supported her throughout what has been a grueling season for her.
On Thursday evening, superheavyweight Leran “Big Show” Regis, 21, came up against New Zealand’s Leuila Mau’u, 30, in Quarterfinal 3 Bout 166 at the National Exhibition Centre (NEC). Regis came out strong against Mau’u from the beginning of the bout, with both fighters trading jabs and punches. However, Mau’u scored a first round knockout over Regis, sending him to the canvas in 2 minutes, 34 seconds.
“I started the fight really well, I threw punches (and) the defense was good,” Regis said following the bout. “But, I mean, he caught me with a lucky shot. I mean, he caught me with one shot through that round and it was done. I had to keep the hands up. But I’ll get him next time.”
He added: “In the future, I have to come down in weight class because the weight class I’m in now, the guys are like six inches taller (and) heavier. I have to come down in weight class, and, hopefully, I’ll dominate in the heavyweight division.”
Regis last competed at the AMBC Elite Men and Women Continental Championships in Guayaquil, Ecuador, in March-April this year. He drew a bye to the quarterfinals, where he lost to Jerome Feujio of Canada. The referee stopped the fight in the second round after a flurry of punches and jabs by Feujio went unanswered. Thursday’s bout, Regis said, was a much better fight than his last.
“(In Ecuador), I didn’t let my hands go, I was more on the defensive,” he said. “Coming into this tournament, I would say I’ve matured, I let my hands go, I was focused, and much better. I mean, I
got caught with a shot, unfortunately, but I look to the future to do much better.”
On Thursday afternoon, Saint Lucia’s High Commissioner to the United Kingdom, Anthony
Bryan Severin, Mrs. Veronica Francis, Vice Consul at the High Commission for Saint Lucia, and staff members from the High Commission, and Sports Minister, Hon. Kenson Casimir, joined Team Saint Lucia at the Alexander Stadium.
While there, the delegation witnessed Leonce and Edwin’s competing in the Preliminary Heats 0f the Men’s 200m. The delegation then toured Team Saint Lucia’s Chef de Mission’s office and the athlete accommodation at the Athlete Village on the University of Birmingham campus, before heading over to the Shackleton Building for lunch and photo ops with the athletes and officials.
Commenting of Team Saint Lucia’s outing at the Games thus far, Chef de Mission, Joyce Huxley, said: “With Leran suffering a knockout on Thursday night, boxing is now finished at these Games for Team Saint Lucia, but the action continues with Athletics, and we look forward to more great results from our lone athlete still in competition, Micky Ferdinand, as he competes on Saturday in the Pole Vault Final.”
For schedules and results of all Commonwealth Games events, go to: Birmingham 2022 Results – Schedule.
