15 yr. old track star wins silver at CARIFTA Games

He is an inspiration to athletes across the country and a constant source of amazement for his coaches…and he’s only fifteen. Local track and field star Jaheed Smith is making headlines again by becoming only the second Belizean athlete to bring home a medal from the CARIFTA Games, held over the weekend in Nassau, Bahamas. Smith stopped by our studios this afternoon to show off the silver medal he earned in the one hundred meter dash.

Jaheed Smith, Silver Medal Winner, CARIFTA Games

“It felt great because I’m the second person in [Belizean] history to ever bring back a medal from the CARIFTA games. And it was a big achievement for me because I know the Caribbean is a very intense, those guys are intense so it felt great. The guy from Jamaica, Matthew Palmer, he ran good; he didn’t beat me all that far. It was a good competition between me and him for the first place, he just edged me out. Right now I’m going to take a rest then get back to some training so I can go back and redeem myself and bring home gold.”

Janelle Chanona

“What’s the next event you plan to participate in?”

Jaheed Smith

“The Central American Junior Games in May, that’ll be coming up in May. Hopefully I go there and do something.”

The last Belizean to earn a medal in the CARIFTA Games was William Mahler who won bronze in the five thousand meter race in 1993. He was eighteen years old at the time.