Seventeen-year-old sprint sensation Stephon James solidified his selection to the Junior CARIFTA Games team with an impressive showing at the National Under-23 Championships held at the Police Sports Club ground, Eve Leary, last Sunday, April 17th.
James, a member of the Running Brave athletics club, stormed to victory in the 400m in 49.2 seconds to stun Inter-Services champion quarter-miler Patrick King of the Guyana Defence Force (GDF). Speaking with Guyana Times International Sport (GTIS) yesterday, James said that his upset victory against King was a major confidence booster, especially since he will be competing at the prestigious regional competition this weekend.
The Charlestown Secondary School student is expected to compete in the 200m and 400m at CARIFTA, but is especially looking forward to the one-lap event. James is just about two inches shorter than Olympic and World 100m and 200m champion Usain Bolt, who ran the 400m during his teenage years. James said the 400m is his favourite event.
Apart from his height, James said, he feels his relatively fast starts are what sets him apart from other local quarter-milers. Many athletes who compete in the 400m — the most demanding anaerobic event — tire and become fatigued after the first 300m, due to the build-up of lactic acid in their muscles.
James, on the other hand, feels he has the uncanny ability to “tough it out” and still manage to sprint home, even after going all out in a sprint at the beginning of the race. His coaches, Julian Edmonds and Sham Johnny, told GTIS that James is one of the club’s most determined athletes. The coaches also said that their charges had commenced a strengthening programme last December and James was one of the athletes who benefited tremendously from that exercise.
“He is strong and has very good endurance. The strengthening (exercise) worked for him very well,” Edmonds said.
Edmonds and Johnny said that James first impressed them at the Hampton International Games last year when he clocked 49.09s to place third on the synthetic track at the Hasley Crawford Stadium. The coaches added that they checked one of his splits on a relay leg and credited him with a 48-second 400m.
With those performances and the training that he has endured over the last eight months, Johnny and Edmonds predicted, James will be able to make the final and record a time good enough to win a medal at the games.
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