Weather conditions hampered Vincentian athletes at World event says Coach

Coach of the St Vincent and the Grenadines team to the World Athletics Under-20 Championships, Chester Morgan, believes the weather conditions in Chile at the time, affected the performance of the three Vincentian athletes. Held in Lima, Peru, from August 27-31, the three athletes- Keo Davis, Devonric Mack and Tyhra Charles, all returned below par efforts.

Davis, competing in the Men’s 200m placed fifth in his heat with a time of 21.70, while Devonric Mack, also in the 200m finished in a time of 22.01s. Neither athlete progressed to the next round. Similarly, Charles, did not get past her heat- the Women’s 400m, as she timed 55.87s to end at the back of the field.

In his assessment, Morgan told SEARCHLIGHT, “The athletes were prepared however, the weather conditions were very unfavourable to them…. “ It was very cold, and the wind chill was up and these did not help our athletes”.

Morgan added, “These athletes were new to these types of conditions, therefore keeping adequately warm was another proposition”.

He said in the case of Charles, in addition to the weather, her performance was compounded by an injury that flared up during the last 100m of her event.

Morgan though believed the overall experience in Peru will serve the young athletes well in their future endeavours.