Ghanaian track and field athletes in the United States and Europe have started off the 2019 Indoor Athletics season in great form.
Sean Safo-Antwi (60 meters)
Sprinter Sean Safo-Antwi (Neon Green shirt) started the season off at the Paris Indoor Meet in France in January.
Safo, who made the World Indoor 60m finals for the first time last year, stormed to the finish line in 2nd with a time of 6.60sec, same as Ivorian Arthur Cisse who only just picked first place by the whisker.
Emmanuel Yeboah (60 meters)
Emmanuel Yeboah got his indoor season off to a great start with a new Personal Best in the 60m at the the 2019 Texas Tech Matador Open final with a time of 6.58 sec. He finished first in his race. The time moves him up to 3rd in the all time fastest times over 60m in the NJCAA and he currently ranks number 19 in the world this year.
Joseph Amoah (200 meters)
Joseph Amoah is another sprinter who has made a mark so far this season. He clocked 20.90 seconds at the 2019 Bruce Lehane Scarlet and White Invitational in Boston. He finished first in Heat 1.
Martin Owusu-Antwi (200 meters)
Martin Owusu-Antwi boast the country’s fastest time over 200m in the indoors this year after breezing to a 3rd place finish in the 2019 BU Last Chance Invitational at Boston University on Sunday.
The national indoor 200m record holder crossed the finish line in a time of 20:81sec to take 3rd place in a tightly contested race.
The Western Kentucky University Graduate student’s time was also a record for the university.
He was also part of Western Kentucky’s 4×400-meter relay team that notched a facility, school and Conference USA record time of 3 minutes, 04.24 seconds to earn a spot at the NCAA Indoor Championships.
Abraham Seaneke (Long Jump)
Long Jumper Abraham Seaneke broke a 42 year old school record in the men’s long jump at the Power 5 meet at Mountain Lion Fieldhouse in Colorado.
The West Texas A&M student broke Curtis Lofton’s long jump record set back in 1977 with a leap of 7.59 meters. That mark is the third-longest in Division II this season and automatically qualifies the senior for the NCAA Championships.
Martha Bissah (800 meters)
Martha Bissah continues to improve at the Norfolk State University. Now in her 3rd year, Bissah placed second in the 800 meters at the Penn State National Open with a new indoor PR of 2:04.27. It was Bissah’s first 800m race of the season and she made the most of it, running the fourth-fastest time in the US so far this indoor season.
Deborah Acquah (Long Jump)
At the South Eastern Conference Championships in Arkansas, two female jumpers made great impressions. Long jumper Deborah Acquah won Silver for Texas A&M University with a Personal Best jump distance of 6.31 meters. That mark also moved her to the number 1 ranking in Africa.
Abigail Kwarteng (High Jump)
High Jumper Abigail Kwarteng meanwhile set a new National Indoor Record of 1.82 meters in the women’s High Jump. She also holds the national record in the outdoors with 1.87m set in 2018.
She’s now the continent’s number one ranked female high jumper in the indoors.
Kwarteng transferred from Western Texas College to Alabama University last summer. Alabama has been home to many Ghanaian athletes in the past including 8-time All American Andrew Owusu.
Gemma Acheampong (60 meters)
Gemma Acheampong clocked 7.37 secs in 60m when she made her debut in the Indoors at the 2019 Harvard Crimson Elite in Boston in January. A key member Ghana’s female 4x100m, Acheampong could be set for a great year ahead of her.
With the All Africa Games and the World the World Athletics Championships to come later this year, these athletes would hope to keep up their performances ahead of a very eventful year in athletics.
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Fentuo Tahiru/citinewsroom.com/Ghana