Cartagena COL - Mexico’s Ana Guevara successfully defended her 400m title in 50.99 seconds and Cuba’s Guillermo Martinez took the Javelin Throw with 84.91m, as four records fell on the first day of the athletics competition at the 20th Central American and Caribbean Games (until 29 July) at the Pedro de Heredia stadium in this city.

Mexico, Cuba and the host country won two titles each and El Salvador’s Cristina López became the first 2006 CAC athletics champion after her win at the 20km Race Walk.

Two races in one day

Guevara, 2003 World champion, renewed her CAC title after prevailing in a close 400m race with Grenada’s Hazel-Ann Regis.

Regis, the fastest in the semifinal (52.64), led the race in the first 300m, but Guevara, right next to her in lane three, found an extra gear and held off her Caribbean rival to cross the finish line first.

The women had to run both the semi-finals and the final on the same day so Guevara’s winning time of 50.99 fell short of the CAC record (50.56), set by Cuba’s Aurelia Pentón at the 1978 Games in Medellín, Colombia. It was Guevara’s fifth CAC medal, having been second at both 400m and 800m at the 1998 Games in Maracaibo, and four years later, she also won the 4x400m relay gold, as well as the individual crown

Regis (51.16) and third place finisher Kineke Alexander (52.04) gave Grenada and Saint Vincent and the Grenadines their first medals at the 20th CAC Games in Cartagena.

“If the best athletes from Jamaica and Bahamas would have come, the race would have been more demanding, but this is the reality. I respect all my rivals”, said Guevara. “I planned a faster time, but the heat and running two times on the same day prevented me from breaking the record. The most important thing is to win and give the gold to Mexico. I regret not seeing some of the best athletes here from the English speaking Caribbean”, she added.

Guevara’s countryman Juan Luis Barrios also successfully defended his 1500m gold with a time of 3:42.52. He will aim to complete the 1500m-5000m double on Friday.

Cuba begins its tally

Cuba welcomed its first two champions on the infield. 2005 World Championships finalist Guillermo Martinez improved the CAC Games record three times in the Javelin Throw - 82.16, 82.39 and a fifth round effort of 84.91 to confirm his good form. “I am happy to win my first international title and contribute to the Cuban cause in the Games. My team-mates will produce great performances here,” stated a smiling Martinez, currently placed sixth in the IAAF World Ranking for the Event.

His countrywoman Maryori Sánchez, the 2006 NACAC U23 champion, was faultless on her three attempts and cleared 4.10m in the Pole Vault, erasing Colombia’s Milena Agudelo´s record of 3.90m. Cuba’s Yarisley Silva (3.95) and Venezuela’s 2005 World Youth Championships silver medallist Keisa Monterola (3.85) followed, ahead of defending champion Agudelo (3.85), who finished fourth.

Martina and Atkins fly into final

On the track, Netherlands Antilles´ Churandy Martina and the Bahamas’ Derick Atkins flew in the first heat of the semi-finals, running 10.07 and a national record of 10.08, respectively, with a 2.0 m/s tail wind. Both dipped under the CAC Games record of 10.10, set by Cuba’s Silvio Leonard in 1978.

Martina, who improved his national record to 10.04 and ran a wind-aided 9.76 this season, and Atkins are likely to run faster in today’s final, where they will joined by Trinidad and Tobago’s 2005 World Championships relay silver medallist Jacey Harper (10.20) and Melvin Nero (10.34), Dominican Republic’s Juan Sainfleur (10.31), British Virgin Islands´ defending champion Dion Crabbe (10.36), Jamaica’s Lerone Clarke (10.28) and another Bahamian, Jamal Rolle (10.35).

Two wins for Columbia

Colombia enjoyed the wins of Luis Fernando López in the men’s 20km Race Walk and Rosibel Garcia in the women’s 1500m.

López smashed Mexico’s 40-year-old dominance in the men’s 20km Race walk, covering the distance in 1:24:20, well ahead of Mexico’s 2005 World Championships eighth place finisher Eder Sánchez and Guatemala’s 2002 Games silver medallist Luis García.

His countrywoman Rosibel García improved the 1500m record with a 4:18.29 clocking, slightly faster than Surinam’s Letitia Vriesde´s time of 4:18.45, set in 1993. Mexico’s defending champion Dulce Maria Rodriguez faded to fifth. Garcia, the 2006 Iberoamerican champion at 800m, will meet Cuba’s 2005 World champion Zulia Calatayud in the two-lap event on Friday.

In the women’s 20km Race Walk, Cristina López also put an end to Mexico’s 20-year-old hegemony in this event. Lopez, a 22-year old mother, became the second Salvadoran athlete to claim a CAC crown. Ana M. Campos (Javelin) was the first one at the 1954 Games in Mexico City.

Cuba’s Carlos Patterson leads after the first day of the Decathlon, with 3885 points, followed by his training partner Alexis Chivás (3855) and Juan Jaramillo (3722) of Venezuela.

The British Virgin Islands' Tahesia Harrigan was the fastest in the women’s 100m semi-finals with a wind aided 11.19 (3.2m/s). Harrigan wants to become her lands first female CAC athletics champion and will be challenged in the final today by US Virgin Islands´ Laverne Jones (11.30), Saint Kitts and Nevis´ Virgil Hodge (11.34), Cuba’s Virgen Benavides (11.43), Trinidad and Tobago’s Ayana Hutchinson (11.50w), Jamaica’s Nyoka Cole (11.52w), Dominican Republic’s Marleny Mejia (11.54), and Colombia’s Yomara Hinestroza (11.59).

Francique, the fastest qualifier

Grenada’s Alleyne Francique, the two-time World Indoor champion, led the men's 400m qualifiers for the final with a 45.48-second win in the first heat, where five men ran faster than 46 seconds. On Wednesday, he will be challenged by Dominica Republic’s Arismendy Peguero (45.48) and defending champion Carlos Santa (46.37), Jamaica’s Ricardo Chambers (45.50), the Bahamas Michael Matthew (45.90), Cuba’s Willams Collazo (45.97) and 2003 Pan American Games silver medallist Yeimer López, who won the second heat in 46.02. The eighth finalist is Venezuela’s Luis Luna (46.58).

Cubans will start as the top favourite in the finals of the sprint hurdles. Anay Tejeda (12.76w) and Haiti’s Nadine Faustin (12.86w) won their respective 100m Hurdles semi-finals, while in the men’s 110m Hurdles Cuba’s Dairon Robles (13.32w) and Yoel Hernandez (13.60) were the heat winners. Haiti’s defending champion Dudley Dorival (13.78) also is through.

Nine finals are scheduled on Wednesday (26 July) on the second day of athletics: the men’s 100m, 400m, 10000m, 110m Hurdles, High Jump and the Decathlon, as well as the women’s 100m, 100m hurdles and Long Jump, as well as the first four events of the heptathlon.