Nineteen-year-old Anthonique Strachan of the Bahamas turned in 22.32secs (+0.9m/s), her best time yet, to win the women’s 200 meters final at BTC National Open Track and Field Championships in Freeport, Grand Bahama on June 22.
Her time became the second fastest in the world this year only for a day, when Jamaica’s Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce took the lead with 22.13secs (+1.0 m/s) at the Jamaican National Championships on June 23. At the time of writing, Strachan had moved down to third place behind Fraser-Pryce and Nigeria’s Blessing Okagbare (22.31, +1.3 m/s).
Her latest win was the second time she went below the ‘A’ qualifying standard for the International Association of Athletic Federations (IAAF) World Championships, August 10-18, in Moscow, Russia.
A professional athlete who lives and trains in the US, Strachan represents Puma and has been running on the Diamond League circuit to fine-tune her preparation for Moscow.
Jamaica’s Goule Louisiana State University middle-distance queen and 2013 NCAA 800meters champion Natoya Goule broke the two-minute barrier when she ran 1 minute, 59.93 seconds to win the women’s 800 meters at the Jamaica Trials last month.
A true front runner, she took the lead in the first lap and completed it in 58.11 seconds. Her time eclipsed the “A” qualifying standard for the World Championships and broke her own school record of 2:00.06 that she set to capture the NCAA Division I Outdoor Track & Field Championships in Eugene, Oregon.
At 22 year old, the former star athlete of Manchester High School in Jamaica is one of a number of young athletes on Jamaica’s team to the Moscow Worlds.
After her victory, she described the experience as “a dream come true” for her to be able to do it on her home soil in front of the cheering crowd, whom she said supported and motivated her greatly.