The Tribune

By BRENT STUBBS

Senior Sports Reporter

bstubbs@tribunemedia.net

With this being another banner year for track and field, Bahamian athletes are fine tuning for their participation in the IAAF World Championships in Athletics.

During the Bahamas Association of Athletic Associations' Aliv National Open Championships over the weekend at the Grand Bahama Sports Complex, many of the athletes attempted to book their trip to London for the championships, scheduled for August 5-13.

At least three national record holders in the jumps, who fell short of the qualifying standard, are to come back to Grand Bahama on Saturday, July 22 at the same complex to compete in the Blue Marlin Track Classic.

It's a Last Chance Meet for those athletes who have yet to qualify to compete before the deadline of Sunday, July 23 for the IAAF to close the door on all qualifiers for the championships.

Leevan 'Superman' Sands has yet to surpass the qualifying standard of 55-feet, 11 ½-inches in the men's triple jump, but he's confident that he will eventually book his trip to London where he wants to redeem himself after he went down with an injury at the 2012 Olympic Games.

"When I saw Jamieson Pratt go down with the injury, that made me so emotional," said Sands, who was referring to the Olympics when he suffered a knee injury in the final of the triple jump and had to be transported to hospital for surgery.

Pratt, the son of triple jump coach Peter Pratt, was unable to complete the men's triple jump after he sustained the injury. He was rushed to the Rand Memorial Hospital for treatment.

"I think that took a lot away from the competition because it brought back so many memories watching him hurting his wrist and his knee," Sands reflected. "I ran over to him and I just tried to make sure that he was okay.

"That took a lot of me. I got so emotional and tears came out of my eyes. I was there before and now to see one of the younger guys go through it, it was very emotional."

Sands ended up clearing a best of 52- 111/2 inches as he retained his title over Kaiwan Culmer, who was second with 51- 111/4.

"I was injured for the last few weeks so I couldn't get on the runaway and run because I strained the ligament in my foot," Sands said. "So this week was the first time that I was able to run on my foot.

"I'm just getting back to jumping again and I just have to work a little more on my speed because I haven't done any speed work in training over the past four weeks. Anytime I tried to go, the next day I was limping."

If he doesn't get into another meet in the next few weeks, Sands said he will be back in Grand Bahama to compete in the Last Chance Meet to ensure that he book his ticket to London.

"Hopefully I can get the qualifying mark by the middle of next month," Sands said. "I'm not concerned. I know what I have to do and I'm prepared to do what I have to do to get to London."

Without any competition from the female competitors after arch rival collegian Danielle Gibson sustained an injury in training following her final appearance in the NCAA Championships, Tamara Myers had to line-up to compete with the men.

She had to clear 46-3 ¼ to qualify for London, but only mustered a leap of 45-2 ¼. She too is confident that she will finally get a chance to get to compete in her first major senior international meet.

"I've been having a good season. I've been very consistent. This has probably been my best season since I started triple jumping," Myers stressed. "But it came down to my landing. I got two jumps over the qualification mark, but I fouled both of them."

If she doesn't outright qualify, Myers said she's aware of another route that she can take to get into London. If the 32 competitors scheduled to compete doesn't all make the standard, the next top competitors who have done 14m or better would get in.

"So I'm hoping that if I don't qualify, I can get an invite to go to London," she proclaimed.

At the nationals, Myers did all that she could to qualify, including competing with the men.

"After I saw the start list, I realized at even if I had done the qualifying standard, it would not have been legal because I needed to compete against at least three more competitors," Myers said.

"But there is a rule that even though there ain't enough females, I could jump with the men, so I did it and it was effective, by unfortunately I fouled two of my jumps that were over the qualifying mark."

While she take a wait and see approach about her position for the trip to London, Myers said she will definitely take advantage of the Last Chance Meet to attempt to officially qualify.

Another jumper that fell short of the qualifying standard was Bianca 'BB' Stuart, who cleared 20-1 in the women's long jump, but need at least 22-1 3/4 to earn her berth in London.

She too is expected to compete in the Last Chance Meet, organized by Demaris Cash, a former quarter-miler who now heads the Blue Marlin Track Club, in her bid to also qualify for another appearance at the World Championships.