The Tribune

By BRENT STUBBS

Senior Sports Reporter

bstubbs@tribunemedia.net

IZAAK Bastian collected his second medal – a bronze – for swimming’s third and Denvaughn Whymns claimed another bronze in athletics on Friday as the Bahamas continued their impressive showing in the sixth Commonwealth Youth Games.

Add Bastian and Whymns achievements to the pair of bronze medals from Karra Hanna and Mya Beneby in judo; Lilly Higgs’ silver in swimming and Adrian/Curry’s bronze in athletics and after three days of competition, the Bahamas is now sitting in 17th place with two silver and five bronze for a total of seven.

England tops the chart with 8 gold, 11 silver and 6 bronze for their total of 25 medals. New Zealand is in second with 8 gold, 7 silver and 5 bronze for 20 and South Africa rounds out the top three with 8 gold, 3 silver and 3 bronze for 15.

Bastian, coming off his silver medal in the men’s 50 metre breaststroke and on the heels of Higgs’ medal in the women’s race on Thursday, was one of three Bahamians to make it to a final yesterday at the Betty Kelly Kenning Swim Complex.

Doubling up in the 100m breaststroke, Bastian clocked one minute and 03.74 seconds to hold onto the bronze behind Michael Houlie of South Africa, the gold medalist in 1:01.86 and Samuel Zongxian Khoo from Singapore, the silver medalist in 1:03.41.

“It was pretty good,” said Bastian after his second medal feat. “I was eighth coming off the turn. But I brought it home as strong as I could and gave it whatever I had in the tank.”

After winning his first medal the night before, Bastian said he gained the confidence that he could go out there and perform again for the Bahamas.

“I can’t even tell you how proud I am right now,” he insisted. “I just want to represent my country well and do the best that I could.”

Just before his race, Higgs came real close to duplicating the medal performances from Thursday night, but she just missed getting on the podium again.

In her third final appearance so far, Higgs’ time of 1:11.40 was just shy of the bronze, won by Christie Chue of Singapore, who did 1:11.07. Hanim Abrahams of South Africa won the gold in 1:10.14 and Ciara Smith of New Zealand picked up the silver in 1:10.72.

Also in the race was Victoria Russell, who had to settle for eighth place in 1:14.82. Russell will travel with Bastian and Higgs to compete in the World Junior Championships in Indianapolis, Indiana, in August.

At the Thomas A. Robinson National Stadium, Whymns managed to soar to a bronze medal in the men’s long jump as he regrouped from his long trip from the IAF World Under-18 Championships in Nairobi, Kenya.

Coming off his eighth place finish in his specialty, Whymns cleared 7.15 metres to get the Bahamas second athletic medal in two nights. Sheldon Noble of Antigua & Barbuda won the gold with 7.64m, while Benjamin Schmidtchen of Australia was the silver medalist with 7.54m.

“After a really long season, it was kind of hard trying to adjust to where I was,” Whymns said. “I just wanted to do my best and try to get a medal.

“It felt nice being here at home, but it wasn’t enough in the crowd to push me. But I was still pleased with what I did. The other two guys were just better than me on the day.”

The medal was presented to Whymns by Bradley Cooper, the Bahamian discus and shot put legend, who won two medals in the Commonwealth Games.

Whymns’ teammate Michael Adderley came in fifth in 6.60m.

“I didn’t do as well as I wanted too, but unfortunately I wasn’t able to take advantage of some of them who were under pressure, but it was a great encouragement for me to continue to push and get better," Adderley said.

“I didn’t do as good as I wanted too, but UI still came close to my PR (personal best). I got into the final, so I was pleased with what I did. Unfortunately with the competition out there, I didn’t push myself.”

Adderley, however, noted that Whymns performed exceptionally well under the circumstances as he earned the bronze.

Doniesha Anderson, also a member of the team that went to Africa, struggled to catch the field ahead of her running out of lane one in the women’s 400m final.

She ran 54.81 for fifth place as Australia got a 1-2 punch from Bendere Opamo Oboya, the gold medalist in 52.69, and Ella Connolly, the silver medalist in 52.72. Amber Anning of England pulled through out of lane two for the bronze in 53.68.

In other results for the Bahamas, Acacia Astwood got fifth in the women’s discus with a heave of 36.92 with Dachye Stubbs seventh with 31.95. Canada got the gold and bronze from Trinity Tutti (49.57) and Dolly Gabri (44.70) respectively with New Zealand’s Tatiana Kaumoana (45.54) getting the silver.

Jordan Lewis did not start the men’s shot put final.

The mini Olympic style games, the first to be held in the region, will continue today at the Queen Elizabeth Sports Center and the Malcolm Park Beach Soccer facilities and wrap up on Sunday at both venues as well as the Clifton Heritage Park for cycling.