Jamaica’s rising sprint star Oblique Seville refused to confirm or deny rumours that he will join the professional ranks after he withdrew from Jamaica’s team to the NACAC Games currently on in Mexico.

But Jamaica Observer sources have revealed that Seville, who is said to be training with Racers Track Club, will soon sign with an apparel giant and will not return to Calabar High School next term.

The 18-year-old, who is highly thought of, especially since Jamaica’s waning impact in men’s global sprinting after the retirement of Usain Bolt, told the Observer, “respectfully, I have no comments at this time”.

Norman Peart, who initially guided the young career of none other than Bolt, admitted to being in charge of managing Seville’s affairs, but also refused to comment on the athletes’s impending professional status.

However, Peart did try to shed some light on the immediate path for Seville. “I am at present organising his transition and putting together a programme for his continued education and development and that the decision of the family be respected.”

Seville, who has a 100m personal best of 10.13 seconds, which is just a whisker away from the Champs record of 10.12 seconds set by his new training partner Zharnel Hughes while attending Kingston College, explained his withdrawal from the NACAC Under-18 Championship.

“I am just focussing on the Pan Am Under-20. The other thing, it will be a stress on my body because I was running all season,” he told the Observer. The Pan Am Games begins July 19.

Seville has had a meteoric rise to stardom after he arrived from Holmwood Technical to Calabar High with a personal best of 10.89 in 2017. He was sixth in the Class Two 100m final behind winner Sachin Dennis of St Elizabeth Technical High School, who stopped the clock at 10.51 seconds.

Also ahead of Seville in that final were Michali Everett of Jamaica College, Xavier Nairne of Wolmer’s Boys’, Kingston College’s Roshaun Rowe and Daniel Chamber of St Jago High. They are now all behind him’.

He sat out 2018 and lowered his time to 10.77 before really exploding in 2019 under the guidance of Calabar’s sprint coach Omar Hawes to be joint second-ranked junior in the world along with American Mathew Boling. Both clocked 10.13 seconds, with Seville doing it twice. Lalu Muhammad Zohri of Indonesia is the world leader with 10.03 seconds.

Having conquered Champs, Seville went on to win the regional Carifta Games 100m in 10.24 seconds before returning to be crowned Jamaica’s junior champion clocking 10.13 seconds, and he showed that he is ready for the big times. There were even calls on social media for him to be included on Jamaica’s Senior team to the World Championships because of the poor display by the seniors.

Seville, if or when he officially signs, will join a number of young athletes who recently signed contracts after running fast times and it is said that he will be targeting a sub-10 clocking at the Pan Am Games, which would give him more bargaining power when signing that contract.