TEAM TTO’s top female sprinter Michelle-Lee Ahye added a fourth medal for this country at the Santiago 2023 Pan American Games when she took bronze in the women’s 100 metres final last night at the Estadio Nacional.
“I am glad to add on to the medals for TTO. I hope they are happy with the colour. I am definitely happy with what I got,” said Ahye in the mixed zone post-race.
Ahye said yesterday’s final performance was an improved showing compared to an eventful semi-final round yesterday, featuring two false starts and colder weather.
“Today I woke up with a positive mindset and I was thinking to myself ‘I can do this’ once I go out there and execute,” said Ahye.
“I did that. I got a bronze and I am happy with my last race of the season,” added the 2018 Commonwealth Games 100m gold medallist and now two-time Pan Am Games medallist.
Ahye’s bronze added to her 2019 Lima silver medal in the same event making her one of TTO’s most successful athletes at a Pan Am Games.
On the track, the 31-year-old got out to a level start with Guyana’s Jasmine Abrams. The pair were in the lead at the 30-metre mark.
But the eventual winner, out of lane six, Cuba’s Yunisleidy García accelerated through the middle part of the race to take charge and cross the line comfortably in front. She clocked 11.36 seconds.
Ahye, exiting lane two, and Abrams, from lane five, were virtually neck-and-neck the entire dash, with the Guyanese just getting the dip at the line ahead of Ahye 11.52 to 11.53, for silver and bronze, respectively.
Brazil’s Ana De Jesus took fourth in 11.58, followed by the Dominican Republic’s Liranyi Alonso in 11.63. T&T’s Reyare Thomas, who experienced another slow break, closed steadily to claim sixth in 11.69, while Cuba’s Yarima García (11.71) and Mexico’s Cecilia Tamayo (11.75) rounded out the field.
“Seeing that this (Pan Ams) is late down in the season, all in all, I am happy that I finished and I finished healthy,” said Thomas about her final performance. ”My first goal in the 200 (today) is to get back in the final, then anything can happen from there.”
Ahye’s bronze makes the TTO tally four at these Games. One gold and one silver from ace TTO cyclist Nicholas Paul in the men’s sprint and men’s keirin event; and one bronze from the TTO men’s basketball 3×3 team.
The TTO participation continues today with the men’s national hockey team in action against Mexico in a 5th-to-8th place playoff while Thomas lines up in the women’s 200 metres event.
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