Terry Finisterre (oecsathlete.com) for the IAAF
30 March 2002 - Nassau, Bahamas - Trinidad & Tobago's brightest young track star shone brighter than ever Saturday evening, winning his second consecutive Carifta gold medal in the under-20 100m.
Darrel Brown, the reigning World Youth champion, must have been buoyed by the address some 24 hours earlier of IAAF president Lamine Diack, visiting the Caribbean for the first time.
Diack was one of several dignitaries to take the podium on Friday, but a day later the stage belonged only to Brown. Not only did the Trinidadian beat hometown competitor, Grafton Ifill III (10.62 seconds), into second place by almost half a second, but he established a new Carifta record for the second year in a row.
The eighteen-year-old clocked I0.22 seconds to win in Nassau, beating the 10.24 he ran in Bridgetown last year.
Unchallenged after twenty metres or so, Brown cruised home easily, suggesting his potential for faster times to come.
Later this year, he will contest the Central American and Caribbean Junior Championships and the World Junior Championships, and will still be able to look ahead to 2003, his last year as a junior, when Trinidad & Tobago will host the Caribbean's junior track and field championships.
