Malone wins gold again! McMaster hurdles to third in European event

By Kamal Haynes, BVI News Staff

Claiming a top-three spot in their respective events in Europe on Saturday and Monday, two British Virgin Islands Athletes have been hailed as true contenders for a medal at the IAAF World Athletics Championships in Doha, Qatar next month.

Local hurdling sensation Kyron McMaster placed third in the men’s 400-metre hurdles at an IAAF Diamond League meet in Paris on Saturday while BVI long jumper Chantel Malone won her second gold medal in two weeks.

Her latest gold was at the Meeting de Madrid track & field event in Spain on Monday.

Malone leapt to a distance of 6.56 meters to beat Jamaica’s Chanice Porter who placed second in 6.51 meters and Maria Vicente of Spain who placed third with 6.49 meters.

Over in Paris, McMaster ran a season’s best time of 48.33 to finish third in the 400-metre hurdles. Karston Warlholm of Norway won that event in 47.26 while France’s Ludvy Vaillant — who edged McMaster on the finish line for second — clocked 48.30.

McMaster leading C’bean, currently ranked 5th and 7th in the world

McMaster is currently ranked as the fifth-fastest 400-metre hurdler in the world this year while Malone is ranked as the seventh fastest female long-jumper in the world this year. No Caribbean athlete has ranked better than either of these BVI athletes since 2019.

Commending the athletes on their performances, President of the BVI Athletic Association (BVIAA) Steve Augustine said: “Both Chantel and Kyron are highly ranked. They definitely perform at the top of their game.”

“With the time Kyron has ran and the distance that Chantel has jumped, we know that going into the World Championships, we’re expecting that these are definitely persons that will be in the finals. These are athletes that will definitely contest for medals at the World Championships,” Augustine stated.

Eldred Henry, who is the territory’s national record holder in shot-put, rounds up the list of the athletes expected to represent the BVI at the World Championships and President Augustine also expects him to perform well at the international track & field meet scheduled to run from September 28 to October 6.

McMaster, Malone to compete at other games prior to World Champs

Augustine said both McMaster and Malone will be competing in other events which are scheduled before the beginning of the World Championships.

While Malone is still in the process of deciding which events she will compete in, McMaster has already been entered to race in the 400-metre hurdles at the Diamond League in Zurich Switzerland on Thursday.

McMaster who is currently ranked 5th on the IAAF charts will be going up against six of the top-10 ranked 400-metre hurdlers. These include; the number-one ranked Karsten Warlholm, the number-two ranked Rai Benjamin of the USA and the number-four ranked Yasmani Copello of Turkey.