Freddie Evans is confident that Bermuda’s athletes will again shine at the upcoming Carifta Games as the squad continues to take shape.

As things stand, nine athletes — Jaeda Grant, Elise Dickinson, Arima Turner, Jake Brislane, Kyah Richardson, Denver Tucker, Cameron Adkins, Miles Outerbridge and Noree Robinson — have already hit the qualification mark for the Games in Grenada in March.

While that number is still some way short of the 31-strong squad who represented the island last year in Nassau, Bahamas, Evans, the Bermuda National Athletics Association president, is adamant the team will continue to grow substantially in the coming weeks.

“This year there is an early window to qualify for the Games and it is closing fast,” warned Evans, speaking after the latest Bermuda National Athletics Association track meet, at which no one hit the required standards.

“However, we are very happy with where the squad is at the moment and also with the progression others are making.

“There are plenty of athletes such as Amaris Munya, Lashee Jones, Charles Fox, Saniya Place, Jayson Simons, Tobiah Goodchild, Laura Golding, Simeon Hayward, Tajari Rogers, Zenji Washington and a host of others who have been close to qualifying and I’m sure will do so.

“In fairness to a lot of our athletes they have not had loads of opportunities to compete in conducive conditions recently.

“Take this past weekend, the 1,500 metres started in sunshine and quickly turned into torrential rain and wind. I have no doubt that if we get some good conditions to compete in, a lot more of our athletes will be meeting the standards.”

At last year’s Games Bermuda won a total of five medals with Khazi Sealey leading the way with silver and bronze, while Brislane, J’Auza James and the under-17 4×100 relay team of J’Naz Richards, Pria Wilson, Jones and Arima Turner also added further bronze medals.

With expectations of being able to name a strong team, Evans has challenged the island’s athletes to surpass that total, citing past experience at the event as a key contributing factor.

“You always want to be able to build on past performances and this year is no different,” Evans added. “This year we already have a good crop of athletes who have competed and had success at this level before.

“That minimises the unknown factor and so our athletes already understand the process of competing at the Games and what it takes to succeed.

“That past experience is a major factor because they are competing against the region’s best at one of the world’s best youth meets and that can be a lot to cope with.

“However, our athletes have that past experience and have won medals at that level so should not be intimidated by what is to come.

“Just for scope, we are one of the smallest countries in the region, but whenever we go away to compete on this sort of stage our athletes punch well above their weight. I’m in no doubt they will go on again to represent the country brilliantly, break national records and win some medals.

“Obviously you don’t want to get ahead of yourself, but I believe something special can happen with our athletes because they have a chance to shine.”

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