ST. CROIX — Michelle Smith, the territory’s highest-ranked track and field athlete, has set her sights on becoming the first world champion from the Virgin Islands while competing in the women’s 400-meter hurdles during an international event for competitors under 20 years old this week in Lima, Puru.
Smith, who has won multiple gold medals and holds numerous Virgin Islands national records, is representing the territory in Peru along with VI teammates Sofia Swindell and Brandon Pemberton during the World Athletics U20 Championships.
Keith Smith Sr., VI Track and Field Federation president, said competing in the event is a great opportunity for the three VI athletes to be on a world stage.
“We’re excited for all of them, and we’re excited for the Virgin Islands,” he said by phone from Peru with the athletes.
The biennial competition includes a record number of 1,700 athletes from 134 different countries, making it the largest single-sport event ever to be staged in Peru and the most athletes ever to have competed in the World U20 Championships in its 38-year history, according to Jon Ridgeon, World Athletics CEO.
“We really are looking forward to some truly wonderful athletics over the next few days, with Lima being the place to see future senior Olympic and world champions for the very first time in action,” Ridgeon said in a statement. “I can’t wait.”
Michelle Smith is poised to become the first track and field world champion from the Virgin Islands after improving her own national record to 55.96 seconds and becoming the fastest entrant in the women’s 400-meter hurdles.
“This is a world competition, and the Virgin Islands has never had someone who has come first for a world competition,” Keith Smith said.
The athletes in Peru must advance from a heat race to the semi-finals and then qualify for the final race in their discipline. All the action can be heard live on the radio or watched live from the World Athletics website at worldathletics.org. A link to the live broadcast as well as video posts of specific races is also available on the Facebook page for Lima World Athletics U20 Championships 2024. Peacock will provide coverage Thursday to Saturday, while CNBC will provide coverage on Friday and Saturday.
Michelle Smith, 18, completed her heat race today, finishing with the fastest time of 57.85 seconds heading into the semi-finals. Her semi-final race will be at 4:43 p.m. Friday. The final of the women’s 400-meter hurdles will be at 5:35 p.m. Saturday. She is ranked as the territory’s overall No. 1 track and field athlete, as well as the No. 1 woman to compete in the Virgin Islands, according to World Athletics, the world governing body for track and field athletics.
After placing fifth in the 400-meter hurdles at the last World U20 Championships, the teenage track star said she is hoping to become the first world champion from the Virgin Islands. She said it would mean a lot to her and the people who support her.
“I am trying to mentally prepare to be able to do that, and physically,” she said. “The physical part is just my training and trusting in it, and then my mental is just basically believing that all the work that I’ve put in is very good work, and it’ll take me to the top and take me where I need to be.”
As she races to the top, Michelle Smith will be doing so with the support of her family and teammates, an aspect of team sports she embraces.
“For me, the most exciting part is getting to compete alongside my friends and just meeting new people, the whole experience,” she said.
After graduating from Montverde Academy in Florida with honors such as Student Athlete of the Year and Athlete of the Year, Michelle Smith has started her freshman year on a scholarship at the University of Georgia. While she is majoring in biology to become a forensic pathologist, her teammate Swindell is a high school senior at The Lawrenceville School in New Jersey. Swindell qualified for the 100-meter hurdles and 200-meter flat race for her first world championships.
“I’m really excited,” she said. “I’m only running 100 hurdles just because of the schedule, but I think I’m going to put down a fast time.”
Swindell, whose exceptional performances and St. Croix roots earned her a spot on the Virgin Islands national team, will fall back on her training to excel during the event. Her heat race will be at 10:42 a.m. Thursday, followed by semi-finals at 4:05 p.m. the same day. The final of the women’s 100-meter hurdles will be at 6:05 p.m. Friday.
“In my training, I’ve been doing a lot of reps, so I know I’m consistently good over the hurdles, which will help me execute a good race,” she said.
While Swindell and Michelle Smith must maneuver the hurdles, their teammate Pemberton competed in the 100-meter dash during his first world championships.
“On the way here, I was a little bit nervous, but now that I’m actually here and seeing the competition, it kind of went away,” he said. “Now I’m just more excited more than anything.”
Pemberton, the 2024 VI national champion in the 100-meter dash, has been preparing himself for the race.
“I’ve been training, taking everything week by week, just been training as much as I can, because I’m in school too, so it’s kind of hard, but I did what I could to prepare,” he said.
Pemberton, who had his heat race on Tuesday, did not advance to the semi-finals.
Pemberton, described by the VITFF as a rising sprinting star with a promising future, is a student-athlete at Barton Community College in Kansas. He is the son of Derry Pemberton, who represented the Virgin Islands at the 1992 Olympics in Barcelona and was part of the bronze-medal-winning team in the 4x100 meter relay at the Pan American Games in 1991.
Michelle Smith also comes from an athletic family. She and her brother, Malique Smith, are the two highest-ranked track and field athletes in the Virgin Islands. When they compete, they said their minds are racing just as much as their bodies.
And as siblings, that is not all Michelle Smith and Malique Smith have in common.
They both excel at the 400-meter hurdles, winning gold medals in the event for their divisions during the Tabarie Henry Virgin Islands National Track and Field Championships on June 22 at the Ivanna Eudora Kean High School track on St. Thomas.
They both helped set a new Virgin Islands mixed-relay record while participating on a four-person team during the national championships. Even though they both continued accumulating points during the nationals in hopes of qualifying among the top 40 to compete in the 400-meter hurdles during the Summer Olympics that was held from July 26 to August 11 in Paris, neither of them made the cut. Michelle Smith ended up in 48th place, while her brother did not make the top 96.
Their parents, Keith Smith, a former Olympian sprinter and VITFF president, and Mireille Sankatsing-Smith, a former Eastern Michigan University NCAA national indoor champion, are also accomplished track and field athletes. So is their sister, Mikaela Smith, VITFF social media director.
Keith Smith said it is “gratifying” to see his children excel as track and field athletes.
“We are proud parents to say that we’ve loved and enjoyed track and field ourselves as prior athletes, and now we have our children enjoying track and field as well, and then excelling at it on top of that, so that’s a double win,” he said.
The 34th Legislature of the Virgin Islands acknowledged Michelle Smith’s talent in December 2022 with the passage of a resolution (Bill No. 34-0380) honoring and commending her for her outstanding performance in track and field, as well as for her contributions to the Virgin Islands community as a sports ambassador.
Malique Smith, who has made the finals and won medals at multiple track and field competitions, is the top-ranked man to compete in track and field in the territory. He is ranked No. 2 overall in the Virgin Islands. He earned a degree in computer science from the University of Arkansas at Pine Bluff, where he was recognized as an All-American athlete each year he attended. He lives and trains in Clermont, Florida along with his sister Mikaela Smith.
Mikaela Smith, who has won multiple medals while competing at various track and field meets, holds the territory’s record for the indoor 800-meter event. She is taking a year off from competition to rehabilitate her leg from a previous injury. She earned a degree in computer science from Austin Peay State University in Tennessee.
Michelle Smith and Malique Smith discussed what it is like competing while visiting the WTJX studio with their parents June 20 on St. Croix, during which all four appeared on “Analyze This with Neville James.”
Listen Now: "Analyze This with Neville James," Thursday, June 20 - Part 2
Michelle Smith said she thinks a lot when she is running. She said she attempts to calm her mind as she takes her position on the track, focusing on breathing.
“Most times when I’m running, I’m just saying my game plan, like ‘okay, now I have to do this, now I have to do this; OK, go, go, go,’” she said.
Malique Smith shared a similar ritual as he prepares for a race. When he takes his position on the track, he said he focuses on being quiet while falling back on his training because he’s constantly thinking.
“And that gun goes off, you’re going, you’re sprinting, you’re running, and I just take it one hurdle at a time,” he said, pointing out there are 10 hurdles. “But you don’t want to think about the last hurdle and you haven’t even gotten over the first hurdle.”
Michelle Smith and Malique Smith proudly represent the Virgin Islands when they compete nationally and throughout the Caribbean. They both said little is known about the Virgin Islands when it comes to their competitors, so they appreciate being able to educate other athletes about the territory.
“Nobody knows where we are, so being able to represent the country and put us on a map is really heartwarming in a way, and it’s encouraging,” Michelle Smith said. “I’m like, ‘I can actually make a difference what I’m doing right here and put us on the map so we can grow as a little territory.’”
