CARIFTA 2024: Robert Miller claims Jamaica's 2nd record, breaks Newbold's 14 year record

The 16-year-old Robert Miller has proudly secured Jamaica's second record at the CARIFTA Games 2024 finals in the under 17 400 metres hurdles event. Miller broke Bahamian Stephen Newbold's 14-year-old record, which was made at the 2010 Carifta Games held in The Cayman Islands.

The Jamaican crossed the finishing line in 52.19 seconds to erase Newbold's record of 52.75. He was followed by Akanye Samuel Francis of St Kitts and Nevis who earned silver in 52.88 seconds while another Jamaican Fransico Williams stook 3rd, earning bronze in the same event in 53.19 seconds.

The first record of the meet for Jamaica was made by Nickecoy Bramwell in the U17 Boys 400m finals, who broke Usain Bolt's 22-year-old record with a time of 47. 27 seconds. Miller's record was one of the three gold medals secured by Jamaicans in the 400m hurdles finals. Natassia Fletcher claimed gold in the U17 girls final while Shamer Blake and Princewell Martin stood first and second respectively in the U20 boys final. The results from Jamaica's fantastic performance in the hurdles at the CARIFTA games are as follows: Girls Under 17 Nastassia Fletcher 1:00.10 (Gold) Girls Under 20 Kelly Ann Carr 57.07 (Silver) Boys Under 17 Robert Miller 52.19 (Championship Record – Gold) Boys Under 20 Shamer Blake 51.21 (Gold) Princewell Martin 51.34 (Silver)

In addition to this, Javontae Smith broke another record for Team Jamaica at the Carifta Games 2024 with an impressive throw of 18.80m in the Under-17 Boys' Shot Put finals. Also, Alikay Reynolds secured another gold in the U17 Girls 800m Semi-Final with a time of 2:17.35.

Notably, the 2024 Carifta Games were hosted in Grenada from March 30 to April 1. This event is the premiere junior championship of the Caribbean countries, and more than 20 countries have registered to participate in this edition​​. The track and field events took place at the Kirani James Stadium in St. George.