AFTER years of toil, Jamaica has finally attained the sprinting legacy that it not only richly deserves, but also which the average country can only yearn.

Indeed, O’Dail Todd’s victory in the men’s 100m at the 2011 World Youth Championships last Thursday signifies the depth of talent at our disposal, on the one hand, and the sheer quality of our athletic programme, on the other.

In tandem with Fedrick Dacres’ seminal victory in the discus at the same meet, plus a few other medals in Lille, France, sports fans in Jamaica have been given a well-needed respite from the banalities of the West Indies cricket team, even as the cricketing ‘stars’ of the Caribbean face another predictable defeat against India in their three-Test series.

Undeniably, while the nation basks in the glory of another significant milestone in our escalating tradition of sprinting, one of the most important factors to bear in mind is that young Todd was, in essence, our third-string competitor in the event following the withdrawal of the talented Jazeel Murphy and Odean Skeen due to injury.

Further, it points to the mental preparation and focus that attend the Jamaican athletes in general, for which our world-rated coaches must be credited.

Interestingly, Todd, who is a 200m specialist and who has the fastest time entering today’s half-lap final at the WYC, created his own history at this year’s ISSA Boys and Girls Champs when he became the first athlete from Green Island High in Hanover to claim a medal at the high-quality meet.

A protégé of Coach Michael McIntosh, who is also a pastor, Todd and other youngsters like him who cannot in the foreseeable future realistically expect to lift the Mortimer Geddes Trophy for the overall champion high school have a less superficial, but more noble goal — that of representing their country.

In this vein, Dexter Lee, the two-time World Junior champion over 100m, immediately springs to mind. A former student of Herbert Morrison Technical in St James, Lee was clearly groomed for national representation from an early age, especially given that his school also had a negligible tradition in athletics.

Indeed, this fact was underlined by his early move into the professional ranks, even while still having a year left at Champs.

In summary, Jamaican male athletes currently own all the major global titles in the shortest dash in athletics, courtesy of Usain Bolt at the Olympic and Senior World Champs levels; Lerone Clarke at the Commonwealth Games; Lee at the World Juniors; Skeen at the World Youth Olympics and now Todd at the World Youth level.

In spite of the heroics of American Carmelita Jeter on the Diamond League circuit over the past two seasons, it should be remembered that on the female side, Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce is also the defending Olympic and world champion over 100m, while the superb Veronica Campbell Brown is the two-time Olympic 200m title-holder.

What this means is that not only has Jamaica now been fully accredited as the ‘sprint factory’ of the planet by virtue of top-class performances — particularly over the past two years — but also, that the pressure is bound to mount as it relates to in- and out-of-competition drug-testing, not to mention being targeted as the athletes to beat at all subsequent global meets, starting with the IAAF World Athletic Championships in Daegu, South Korea this very summer.

This brings to mind the matter of readiness of a few of our leading senior athletes and medal hopefuls at the August 27 to September 4 meet where, aforementioned athletes apart, Jamaica will also parade Brigitte Foster-Hylton and Melaine Walker as defending champions in individual events.

The women’s 400m hurdles continues to be the most unpredictable event insofar as the prospects of the top athletes are heading into Daegu.

In the aftermath of consecutive triumphs at the two most recent global events, in Beijing and Berlin, Walker is struggling to regain that imperious form, having been presumably injured. At this juncture, she has seemingly ceded our best chances of gold in the event to 2010 Diamond League winner and former World Junior champion Kaliese Spencer.

The national champion in the event, Spencer has twice achieved a creditable 53.45sec on the Grand Prix circuit this season and has not been beaten by Walker in a while.

However, we all know the technical, tactical and mental qualities of the latter and with some seven weeks before the big event, Walker can never be written off, especially as she has proved to be a ‘big occasion’ performer.

Despite being beaten by the Czech Republic’s Zuzana Hejnova at Friday’s Areva Diamond League meeting in Paris, Spencer equalled her season’s best 53.45 — a time she also ran at the Prefontaine Classic in Eugene, Oregon, earlier this season.

Clearly not afraid of hard work — as is exemplified by the number of flat 400s she has run over the past two seasons — and with her commercial activities in high gear, Spencer is poised to reap the benefits in Daegu and must be given an outstanding chance of finishing in the top two.

On the other hand, Walker, who was missing in action almost all of last season and had a late start to her 2011 campaign, has been a shadow of herself of late, having only run one event of note — in Brazil.

Meanwhile Bolt, who won the 200m in 20.03 at Paris on Friday, should be approaching his very high standard in both dashes. Along with Powell, who is currently the world leader over 100m with an impressive 9.78sec in Lausanne a few weeks ago, Jamaica should have little visibility troubles in a men’s sprinting line-up significantly weakened by the absence of the combative Tyson Gay.