Calabar High’s extraordinary athlete Michael O’Hara has revealed that he was never in doubt about beating World Youth Olympic and World Youth Championship 110-metre hurdles champion Jaheel Hyde in the marquee clash of the ISSA/GraceKennedy Boys’ and Girls’ Athletic Championships last Saturday.

Hyde, of Wolmer’s Boys’ has been setting the world alight in winning the 110m hurdles World Youth title in 2013 in Ukraine, before showing his versatility by capturing gold at the World Junior Championships over the 400m hurdles.

Only a month later, Hyde ran a world youth best time of 12.96 seconds in winning the gold at the Youth Olympics in the 110m hurdles.

O’Hara in that time, was also beating the world and had won gold at the World Junior Championships in Oregon, capturing the 200m in a splendid 20.45 seconds.

The stage was now set for two of Jamaica’s most versatile and promising athletes to go head-to-head at Champs over the 110m hurdles.

There was a buzz around the National Stadium, then a silence for the start of the race, then suddenly there were two shots from the starter’s gun. A false start! “Hyde gone,” shouted a spectator.

It was like you could hear the pounding of everyone’s heartbeat. “Oh no”, said a lady covering her face. Then the stadium erupted into cheers, as an oficial waved a green card to indicate that no one was disqualified. Had it been a red card, someone would have been sent packing.

The two giant screens inside the National Stadium surprisingly showed no replay and at the second time of asking, Hyde, the 400m hurdles champion, left the blocks like a bullet and led up to the sixth hurdle before O’Hara, the 100m champion,  joined him at the seventh hurdle and went on to win fairly comfortably in 13.49 seconds. Hyde clocked 13.52 seconds.

The stadium had just witnessed one of the all time great clashes at Champs. O’Hara put his hand to his ear, apparently wanting to hear what the fans were saying. He raced around to the Calabar section to lap up the adoration of his fans. But it was not just the green and black of Calabar that were celebrating, but the green, black and gold  of Jamaica.

Asked whether he was confident of beating Hyde while his school celebrated their 25th Champs victory last Monday, O’Hara said:

“As an athlete you have to always be confident at all times no matter what. So I was always confident in myself. If you are not confident, there can be mishaps, you may hit a hurdle and fall down.”

Hyde has been beating the world, but O’Hara has been beating Hyde since Class Three and although it might have been a surprise to some people, it was not for O’Hara.

“As I said earlier in the season, the race is not for the swift but who can endure it and I guess I endured to the end,” he added.

Last year O’Hara had, by his standard, a relatively poor Champs following a disqualification in the semi-final of the 100m, finishing third in the 200m and failing to win an individual event.

But the Champs MVP of 2011, 2012, 2013 bounced back in style winning four gold medals – 100m, 200m, 110m hurdles and 4x100m relay to be crowned Champion Boy for 2015 for the fourth time.

“Right now I am feeling extraordinary. I train very hard and to come out victorious is a very good feeling,” said O’Hara.

Having led Calabar High to four consecutive titles, the 18-year-old is not sure if he will be back for another assault at Champs next year.

“Well that’s between my mother and I, it’s a family decision,” he told the Jamaica Observer.

Both O’Hara and Hyde are ambassadors for two rival telecommunication providers, so on the track in this instance, Digicel got the better of LIME.

But this battle could continue on the international scene as O’Hara, though not sure which event he will specialise in, said his heart is with the 110m hurdles.

“It gave me my first gold medal, so as Jamaica would say I am sticking by my roots,” said O’Hara.

“But I’m still contemplating, I am not sure as yet. The 200m is a very good event for me, and with the start that I have, if I get a bad start I can always gain coming off the turn or in the straight. So the 200m is where my focus could be at, but I am not sure,” he reiterated.