Athletics trio confirmed for World Youth Championships

Bermuda’s middle-distance running talent Kyrah Scraders will take on the world’s best after she was confirmed in the squad for the IAAF World Youth Championships in Donetsk, Ukraine from July 10.

The island’s Young Athlete of the Year, who won Carifta gold and the 400m, 800m and 1,500m at the National Championship the past weekend, will be joined by 100m runner Taahira Butterfield and triple-jumper Justin Donawa after all three achieved the qualifying marks in their respective disciplines.

Bermuda National Athletics Association president Donna Watson said in a press release: “We are very proud of these athletes and feel they will perform very well at this event up against the best in their age category in the World.  

“We will be closely watching Kyrah Scraders as she has had a great year and has come out as number one from Carifta to all of the races she has entered in Bermuda, and it will be great to see her compete with the best in the world.

“Justin had to move up to the Under-20 age group at Carifta but during this event he will be competing against athletes in his age category.  

“Taahira has only just returned from a meet in Florida where she ran a PB and she also won the 100m National Championships so we are looking for a good performance from her.  

“The team will be leaving around July 2 as they will be attending a camp for a week before the competition which begins July. Travelling with the team will be Brian Wellman as coach and Mia Black as Team Manager.”

Scraders time of 2min 10.93sec was quicker than the qualifying mark of 2:13.50, while Butterfield also eased into the Championships by clocking 12.14sec, which was under the 12.45 cut-off point.

Donawa’s jump of 14.92 was way beyond his qualifying distance of 14.60m.