Caribbean athletes shine at the 2005 World Athletics Championships

‘Keep trying, keep going!’

Originally published on Global Voices

Much of the world has its attention focused on the 2025 World Athletics Championships, which began in Tokyo, Japan, on September 13. As is often the case, athletes from the Caribbean performed admirably, inspiring an outpouring of Caribbean pride.

An unforgettable farewell

It began with a full-circle moment on September 14, the second day of the games, as Jamaica’s beloved Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce ran the last individual race of her career — the Women’s 100 Metre final. Eighteen years before, at the 2007 World Championships held in Osaka, Japan, Fraser-Pryce swept her way into people’s hearts when — as a reserve on the Jamaica women’s Relay team — she copped a silver medal with a performance that signalled she was someone to watch.

According to a photo essay published on the site of her footwear sponsor, Nike, this year’s final, in which the 38-year-old sprinter placed sixth, signalled Fraser-Pryce bowing out of the athletics arena on her own terms, as the most decorated 100m sprinter in history. “The next handful of seconds,” the introduction to the essay began, “were to honor everything that had brought her to this moment”:

Green, yellow, and black hair whipping behind her — a self-proclaimed ‘daughter of the soil,’ who chose to wear the colors of her nation’s flag for her final finish — [Fraser-Pryce] exploded off the blocks, [ending her 100m career] in the same way she began racing 18 years ago in Japan — with fierce speed, strength, and composure. It was a bold tribute to Jamaica, the nation whose unyielding support has carried her through two decades at the top of the sport. […] What athletes everywhere, and especially young girls, can take from Shelly-Ann’s lead: The courage to run your own race.

On his Instagram page, fellow Jamaican track and field icon Usain Bolt paid tribute to Fraser-Pryce's “incredible legacy,” calling her “a real legend,” and welcoming her to “the retirement club.”

A long-awaited comeback

On September 18, Trinidad and Tobago’s Keshorn Walcott, who won Olympic gold in the Men’s Javelin Throw when he was just 19, finally copped the World Championships gold medal 13 years later with an impressive throw of 88.16 metres, bettering his 2012 Olympic throw by 3.58m.

When asked about his extended absence from the winner’s circle, Walcott replied, “Where have I been? I’ve been trying. […] It's been a long 13 years. And tonight is finally my night once again.”

He added that he was “grateful to be able to deliver” the World Championships gold medal to his country. Walcott also spoke of the value of persistence, and of having the right people there to support you — “Keep trying, keep going!” — and thanked his coach for trusting him. “We made some good changes,” he explained, “and you can see it paid off.”

For regional sports fans, the fact that the two-time world champion Anderson Peters, who hails from the island of Grenada, secured the silver in the same event, heightened the joy of the moment.

A silver-streaked finish

Meanwhile, sprinter Jereem Richards from Trinidad and Tobago claimed the silver in the Men's 400 Metres in a time of 43.72, sandwiched between the winner Busang Collen Kebinatshipi (in a world-leading time of 43.53) and bronze medallist Bayapo Ndori (44.20), both from Botswana.

A peer of Keshorn Walcott, albeit just a year younger, Richards’ performance also succeeded in breaking the Trinidad and Tobago national record in the event.

Caribbean women shine

In the Women's Triple Jump event, Cuba’s Leyanis Perez Hernandez, a four-time world champion, copped gold in a world-leading jump of 14.94 metres.

Finishing right behind her to claim the silver in a season’s best of 14.89 metres was Dominica’s Thea LaFond, who brought home her country’s first-ever Olympic medal in 2024.

In the Women’s 400 Metres, meanwhile, Marileidy Paulino clinched the silver medal for the Dominican Republic.

In the Women’s 100 Metres, Jamaican Tia Clayton and St. Lucian Julien Alfred placed second and third, while in the 200-Metre event, Jamaica’s Shericka Jackson secured the bronze. The Caribbean also managed a podium showing in the Discus, with Cuba’s Silinda Moráles taking third place.

Other stellar performances

Jamaican male sprinters enjoyed their fair share of time on the podium. In the Men’s 100 Metres, Oblique Seville and Kishane Thompson won gold and silver, respectively, outpacing the USA’s Noah Lyles, who came in third.

It was the first time a Jamaican man had won gold in an international 100m event since Usain Bolt’s stunning run at the 2016 Rio Olympics, putting an end to what The Jamaica Observer dubbed a “near decade-long global men’s 100m gold drought.”

In the Men’s 200 Metres, Bryan Levell, also from Jamaica, placed third. The Men’s 110-Metre Hurdles saw the Jamaican duo of Orlando Bennett and Tyler Mason cop silver and bronze, while their compatriot Tajay Gayle placed second in the Long Jump. Finally, in the Triple Jump, Cuba’s Lázaro Martínez came in third place.

The 2025 World Athletics Championships will come to a close on September 21. The latest results can be found here.