Race with no winners at the CARIFTA Games leaves fans stunned

The current edition of the Central African and Caribbean Games, aka CARIFTA Games, left everybody stunned. During the 4x100m semifinals for the Under-17 category, an incident happened that left the race with no winners at all.

According to the video shared by Track and Field Gazette on their X account, runners from various Caribbean countries competed in the Under-17 4x100m relay semifinals. However, apparently, during the baton exchange in the third leg, all the athletes crossed the prescribed exchange zone, and every team was disqualified.

Fans expressed their surprise at this unexpected event by commenting on the X post. One fan commented on the ground reality as he posted:

"Relays are harder than they seem"

Another guy stated the obvious as he wrote:

"Nobody progressed from this semifinal 😂😂😂😂"

Some users took potshots at the men's 4x100 relay team from the USA, who were disqualified from the finals at the Paris Olympics. One user predicted:

"USA at the 2025 World Relays"

Another user took a jibe at the American athletes and wrote:

"OMG! Was the USA coaching all these teams? LMAO"

One user couldn't help but ask:

"Who did they give the win to? This raise [race] needs to be ran over"

The current edition of the CARIFTA Games will be held from April 19-21 at Port of Spain in Trinidad and Tobago.

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What are the CARIFTA Games?

Athletes in action at the Carifta Games [Image Source: World Athletics]

The CARIFTA Games is an annual youth track and field meet hosted by the CARIFTA, i.e., the Caribbean Free Trade Association. The athletics meet has two categories: one for the Under-17 and the other for the Under-20. The competitions are held annually around the Easter period, with athletes competing in 150 different categories.

The foundation for the CARIFTA Games was laid out in the early '70s, when the president of the Amateur Athletic Association of Barbados, Austin Healy, decided to bring along the English speaking countries of the Carribean archipelago under one roof after the dissolution of the West Indian Association.

However, the competition went on to include the French and Dutch Antilles as well, and in 1972, the first edition of the CARIFTA Games was officially held. It was subsequently recognized by the IAAF [now known as World Athletics] and is considered on par with the World Championships.

CARIFTA Games has given some of the greatest track and field athletes to the world, including Usain Bolt, Kirani James, Pauline Davis-Thompson, and Veronica Campbell Brown.