By Carlena Knight
Former national female sprinter Heather Samuel-Daley has commended current female sprinter Joella Lloyd on breaking her 28-year national record.
Running at home at the Tennessee Challenge on Saturday, the Lady Vols standout sped across the line in 11.19 seconds in the 100m dash, dethroning Daley, the former record holder’s time of 11.20secs which she ran in May 1993, nine years before Lloyd was born.
Samuel-Daley, who is also Antigua and Barbuda’s Director of Sports, said it was a big accomplishment for Lloyd.
“It’s a big accomplishment. It’s the first person to run under 11.2 in Antigua and so now she has set the standard for others to follow. When records are broken it means that progress is being made, so I want to congratulate her and to wish her all the best in her future endeavours,” Samuel-Daley said Tuesday on the Good Morning JoJo sports show.
The former athlete said she expected her record to last for so long but noted that this accomplishment will impact the female standard locally.
“I never thought so because we had quite a few other promising athletes, but it didn’t materialise but I am happy that it is now that we are making progress with the standards in Antigua and Barbuda in terms of sprinting,” she added.
Lloyd’s clocking now puts her at #1 in the World Athletics rankings for U20 females, and #24 for females overall. She will now look forward to mirroring her indoor feat at the SEC Outdoor Championships from May 13 to 15.
Her time was also just outside the Olympic qualifying standard of 11.15.