After Rare Feat, Harrigan-Scott Focusing on Pan Am Games 100m

By BVIAA

Tahesia Harrigan-Scott in action during the 2013 IAAF World Championships in Moscow, Russia Photo: Dean “The Sportsman” Greenaway

Tahesia Harrigan-Scott in action during the 2013 IAAF World Championships in Moscow, Russia Photo: Dean “The Sportsman” Greenaway

Every athlete has a goal of competing in the International Association of Athletics Federations World Championships. Some never get the chance, others once even twice.

For Tahesia Hariggan-Scott it’s totally different. She’s coming off winning the US Track and Field Club Championships in New York on July 11. More so, her winning 100m time of 11.14 seconds with a legal wind limit of 2.0 meters per second, qualified her for a fifth successive IAAF World Championships.

This year however, was the latest in her career, that she has met the standard dating back to 2005.

“I’m very relieved that I’ve qualified for worlds,” she said. “It was tough. But now, it’s one less stress to think about and to go out and qualify with the time I did, I’m very relieved. But, to be really honest, I was feeling okay at the beginning of this season, though I had some downfalls with injuries or slight issues with recurring injuries, so that kind of set me back a little bit,” reflected the BVI sprinter from a country of less than 30,000 inhabitants.

She said the road was a little tougher, because in practices she felt like she ran okay, but when she went to a meet, she ran terrible times. “That was playing on my mind a little bit,” she noted. “I knew it was always there and it was just making some corrections. Once they fell into place, I knew there’d be a big drop in my time. It was being patient and trusting in the process.”

With a season’s best of 11.40 before the 11.14, which is .01 off her best and which she hadn’t been close to since 2011, Harrigan-Scott said it’s a confidence boost heading into Pan Ams and feels that her body is finally in synch with her mind and everything seems easier. If she’s not doing something right, her body tells her she said. “It is a confidence booster and I’ll try to come out and win a medal,” she said. “That’s the goal and to continue to drop my times and execute the race that I know I’m capable of doing.”

Since injuring her quads two years ago, Harrigan-Scott said she has developed some bad habits that she and her husband-coach have been trying to correct, including kicking back, which is less than what it was before. She said she taught her body how to run without the pain but in the process it caused poor race execution and resulted in slower times.

“Everything seem to be coming into place at the right time,” she said. “Yes, it would have been good to qualify for worlds earlier in the season, but it’s falling into place at the right time and it’s a blessing in disguise.”

Track and Field athletes up next for Pan Am Games

Track and field athletes/coaches as they arrived at the Toronto 2015 village were met by Swimmer, Elinah Phillip and coach Tracy Bradshaw.  Pictured L-R – Tracy Bradshaw, Winston Potter, Chantel Malone, Tahesia Harrigan-Scott, Elinah Phillip, Eldred Henry, Xavier Dag Samuels, Anthony Dougherty, and Karene King. Photo: Provided

Track and field athletes/coaches as they arrived at the Toronto 2015 village were met by
Swimmer, Elinah Phillip and coach Tracy Bradshaw.
Pictured L-R – Tracy Bradshaw, Winston Potter, Chantel Malone, Tahesia Harrigan-Scott, Elinah Phillip, Eldred Henry, Xavier Dag Samuels, Anthony Dougherty, and Karene King. Photo: Provided

BVI’s track and field athletes arrived in Canada last Wednesday, July 15 to prepare for the start of their competitions at the Toronto 2015 Pan American Games.

On Tuesday, July 21 Tahesia Harrigan-Scott will be running in the 100m and Eldred Henry will be throwing for the territory in the Shot Put Finals. On Thursday, July 23 Karene King will take on the 200m and Chantel Malone will be competing in the Long Jump while Eldred Henry will compete in the Discus Finals.

Toronto 2015 kicked off on Friday, July 10 with the Opening Ceremony in which squash player, Joe Chapman led the VI delegation as the flag bearer. The following day, Joe marked the start of the territory’s participation in the Pan Am Games with his match in the Men’s Squash Singles against Alonso Escudero of Peru. The game was tough and Joe succumbed to Escudero in 3 sets,  11-7, 11-7, 11-2.

Next up was swimmer, Elinah Phillip who took part in the 100m Freestyle on July 14. She swam a time of 1:00.72 and finished 24th in the event but was unable to advance to finals. Elinah followed this performance with a race in her favoured event, the 50m Freestyle. While Elinah swam a season’s best of 27.37s and finished 21st overall in the event, her score was insufficient to advance her to the finals. Soaking up this experience, Elinah prepares for the World Championship in Russia in a few weeks.

These competitions serve as qualifiers for RIO 2016 Olympic Games.

Click here for the complete schedule of competitions and results.

BVI’s athletes to compete at the Toronto 2015 Pan American Games

headerlogoThe British Virgin Islands Olympic Committee has announced the team to participate in the Pan American Games in Toronto, Canada from July 10-26.

Six (6) athletes and four (4) officials are now confirmed to attend the games.

BVI will compete in three sporting disciplines including athletics, squash and swimming.

The Toronto 2015 competitors from track and field include sprinter, Tahesia Harrigan-Scott in the 100m, Karene King in the 200m, Chantel Malone in the Long Jump and Eldred Henry who competes in both the Discus and the Shot Put. The team coaches are Winston Potter and Anthony Dougherty.

Elinah Phillip will be representing the BVI in swimming with the 50m and 100m Freestyle as her chosen events and Tracy Bradshaw as her coach.

Joe Chapman starts the ball rolling for the BVI team in the Squash Men’s Singles on July 11, with Adam Murrills as his coach.

In charge of the delegation is Chef de Mission for Toronto 2015, Mr. Xavier Dag Samuels.

Ephraim Penn, President of the British Virgin Islands Olympic Committee stated: “I am pleased we have been able to get six athletes qualified to represent us in Toronto 2015. This is double the number from Guadalajara four years ago in 2011 and it is great to have more than one sport represented. I am hopeful of solid performances from the athletes, especially in track and field and hope we can build on the excellent results we had last year at the Commonwealth and CAC Games”.

BVI’s Welcome Ceremony at the Toronto 2015 Pan American Games is scheduled at the Athletes Village on July 9th, 2015 at 7 p.m., with the Opening Ceremony due to commence on July 10th, 2015 at 8 p.m.

It is expected that live coverage will be shown on television on the ESPN-Caribbean channel, so fans at home can follow the BVI athletes in action.

Click to view the Toronto 2015 Pan American Games competition schedule.

For more information, please visit www.toronto2015.org.