PRESS RELEASE, WILLEMSTAD, Curacao – Caribbean sports fans had a front row seat at the recently-concluded FLOW CARIFTA Games 2017 as they witnessed record-breaking performances by rising Caribbean star athletes via FLOW’s world-class coverage of the Games on Flow Sports Premier.
Ten athletic records were set over the three-day event, including the stellar performance of hometown hero and Austin Sealy Award winner, Glenn Kunst, who established a new meet record of 4.65 metres in the boys’ pole vault. Other records set at the 2017 FLOW CARIFTA Games include: Jamaica’s RojeStona in the Boys Under-20 discus (66.41m), Fiona Richards in the Girls Under-20 discus (54.19m), Britany Anderson in the Girls Under-18 100m hurdles (13.16 seconds), Sanique Walker in the Girls Under-18 400m (58.95 seconds), Daniel Cope in the Boys Under-18 shot put (18.17m) and discus (61.25m), Trinidad and Tobago’s Tyrique Horsford in the Boys Under-18 javelin (76.50m) and Jermaine Francis of St. Kitts & Nevis in the Boys Under-20 high jump (2.22m). Jamaica’s Under-18 Boys dipped below the 40-second mark for the first time in CARIFTA Games history in the 4x100m relay for a new record of 39.97 seconds.
Organisers of the FLOW CARIFTA Games 2017, including International Association of Athletic Federations (IAAF) and the North American, Central American and Caribbean Athletics Association (NACAC), have described the Games as “a big win for Caribbean sports fans, and a new standard for excellence in sports broadcasting across the region.” More than 500,000 viewers in the Caribbean caught over 15 hours of high-definition coverage live from the ErgilioHatoStadion, in Willemstad, Curacao. In addition, through partnership with US sports network, Eleven Sports, and online sports website, Flotrack.org, more than 70 million households across North America had access to the Games. To reach an even wider global audience, FLOW also partnered with www.dailymotion.com, which reported that more than 14,000 hours of live CARIFTA games coverage was viewed via the site over the three days.
“A huge success is how the 2017 FLOW CARIFTA Games will be remembered and because of FLOW the world now has the chance to see the future of Caribbean athletics like they have never seen,” said Victor Lopez, President of NACAC.
“It is the first time that Curacao has hosted a sporting event of this size and the organisers and broadcasters did a fantastic job. All the feedback I’ve received is that people are pleased with what they saw. NACAC is especially proud of the invaluable partnership with FLOW and FLOW Sports for the sponsorship and broadcast of the FLOW CARIFTA Games throughout the Caribbean and the world.”
Lord Sebastian Coe, President of the IAAF, also heaped praise on FLOW for its coverage of the Games.
“There is no Caribbean athlete (who) has graduated to the very highest level of sport that cannot look to the opportunities that the FLOW CARIFTA Games has afforded them, and I want to congratulate NACAC for establishing its relationship with FLOW,” he said during a press conference on the opening day of the Games.
He added: “It is very important there is now a relationship that allows the FLOW CARIFTA Games to be seen not just around the region, but across the globe on a number of platforms. This is the future of our sport.”