One Virgin Islands native came away wearing gold, while a second had a medal, only to have it stripped away over the weekend during the 2023 Pan-American Games in Santiago, Chile.
St. Thomas’ Ian Barrows — sailing for the United States with teammate Hans Henken — won the men’s skiff (49er) gold medal after dominating the class over the seven days of racing off Chile’s Pacific coast.
“Winning gold feels amazing,” Barrows said in a prepared release after Friday’s medal win. “There’s been a lot of hard work put in with our team and to be able to come here and pull it off against some good teams [feels great].”
Meanwhile, St. Croix’s Michelle Smith appeared to have earned a bronze medal in the women’s 400-meter hurdles final after race winner Gianna Woodruff of Panama was penalized for appearing to not clear a hurdle properly.
However, less than 45 minutes after the final, a jury of appeal overturned the penalty on Woodruff, putting her back atop the medal podium — and pushing the 17-year-old Smith off it.
Smith, a senior at Monteverde (Fla.) Academy, had finished fourth in the final at Santiago’s National Stadium in 57.53 seconds. But she moved up to third — and the bronze medal — after Woodruff was penalized for not clearing the ninth of the 10 hurdles in an approved manner.
Had the ruling stood, Smith would have ended the U.S. Virgin Islands’ 28-year run without a medal from the Pan-Am Games. The USVI’s last medals came in 1995 in Argentina, when the team claimed three silvers — from Lisa Neuberger in sailing (sailboard), Bruce Meredith in rifle shooting and Peter Holmberg, Christopher Neal, Christian Rosenberg and Maurice King in sailing (men’s J-24 class).
But Woodruff appealed the ruling within minutes after the women’s 400-meter hurdles final, and the Pan-Am Games’ four-person jury of appeal — after viewing video of the race — overturned the race judge’s decision.
That put the gold medal back around Woodruff’s neck, with the silver medal going to Brazil’s Marlene Santos and the bronze to Costa Rica’s Daniela Rojas.
As for Barrows, it’s the first international-event gold medal for the Antilles School grad and four-time sailing all-American at Yale since he won at the 2010 Youth Olympic Games in Singapore, China.
And Barrows and Henken — who likely have earned a spot in the 2024 Paris Olympics — were dominant nearly from the start, winning five out of 13 races (including the double-points medal race Friday) and finishing inside the top four in all but one of their remaining starts.
That left Barrows and Henken with an eight-point advantage over silver medalists Hernan Odini and Fernando Becerra of Uruguay (26-34), and 18 ahead of bronze medalists William Jones and Justin Barnes of Canada (44).
St. Thomas touring pro Alexandra Swayne missed out on making the medal podium in women’s golf Sunday, finishing sixth overall in the four-day tournament at Santiago’s Prince of Wales Country Club.
The 23-year-old Swayne, who has spent the past two years on the Ladies European Tour and other events, finished the tournament at even-par 288.
That left Swayne 14 shots behind gold medalist Sofia Garcia of Paraguay, who finished at 14-under 274. Colombia’s Maria Uribe earned the silver medal at 10-under 278, with Canada’s Alena Sharp taking the bronze medal at 7-under 281.
The British Virgin Islands’ two entries in the men’s shot put final Friday at National Stadium both had their problems, and finished outside the top 10.
Tortola’s Eldred Henry, who competed for the BVI in the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, finished 11th out of 13 entries with a best toss of 16.98 meters (55 feet, 8½ inches).
Meanwhile, Tortola’s Djimon Gumbs, a late entry into the event (he competed in the men’s discus) and a bronze medalist at the 2023 Central American and Caribbean Games, finished last after fouling on all three of his preliminary attempts.
The United States led the medal board at the Pan-Am Games in both gold medals (124) and total medals (286), far ahead of Brazil’s 66 golds and 205 total medals
Mexico was third in gold medals with 52, while Canada was third in total medals with 164.
Among the Caribbean nations, Cuba led the way in both gold medals (30) and total medals (69).
The Dominican Republic was second in golds (eight) and total medals (32), with Puerto Rico third (three golds, 20 total).
Rounding out the Caribbean teams were Jamaica (one gold, six total), Trinidad and Tobago (one gold, four total), Aruba, the Bahamas and Haiti (three total medals each), Barbados (two total), and Antigua and Barbuda, Bermuda, Dominica and St. Kitts and Nevis (one total medal each).
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