With the World Athletics Championships, exactly two weeks away and the World Athletics Under-20 Championships slated to begin on August 1 in Cali, Columbia, the Jamaica Athletics Administrative Association (JAAA) National Championships was held last weekend (June 23-26) to select the nation’s representatives to these stellar events.

There was a lot to see throughout the championships at both the junior and senior level, with onlookers leaving with high expectations for Jamaica’s representation this summer. At the junior end, 17-year-old Tina Clayton broke the record for the women’s under-20 100m (10.96 seconds), which was previously set by Briana Williams (10.97 seconds) in May last year at 19 years old. Serena Cole finished with a personal best (11.13 seconds) for second place while Tina’s twin sister, Tia Clayton, placed third with a time of 11.25 seconds.

The junior male highlight reel featured Sandrey Davidson who crossed the line first to take the under-20 men’s 100m race at a personal best of 10.20 seconds. Following a shaky exit from the blocks, he accelerated past the fast-starting Bouwahjgie Nkrumie, who also ran a personal best 10.22s for second place, while Mark-Anthony Daley took third with a finishing time of 10.51 seconds. To cap things off, Davidson also captured the 200m crown on Sunday, June 26 with a blistering 20.84s run.

Arguably, the most disappointing moment came in the men’s 110m hurdles event on Sunday, where the 2016 Olympic and 2017 World gold medallist Omar McLeod, lined up in lane three next to 2021 Olympic gold medallist Hansle Parchment in lane four, for an expected nail-biter. McLeod got off to an excellent start but experienced missteps after the second and third hurdles which significantly threw off his game plan — he finished last, to miss a global event for the second-consecutive year. Parchment recovered from a slow start to win in 13.14 seconds, ahead of Rasheed Broadbell (13.20) and Orlando Bennett in 13.28 seconds.

However, the prestige of professional track and field has always been the short, flat course and there is very little doubt that Jamaica’s sprint section will be well represented in the coming months. Most countries would sacrifice a percentage of their gross domestic product (GDP) to have one athlete in the sprints of the Word Championships, due to start on July 15 in Oregon, USA, while Jamaica boasts the two fastest women alive and the three fastest in 2022 over 100m — these include the second and third fastest 200m women in professional track and field history.

The belle of the ball for these championships was Shericka Jackson, who is an accomplished 400m athlete and until 2021, had never participated in the 100m at the international level. At the Jamaica trials in 2021, she clocked a remarkable 10.77 and 21.82 in the 100m and 200m, respectively, for second place in both events, then ran a personal best (10.76) for 100m bronze at the Tokyo Olympics last year before a miscalculation in the 200m heats saw her miss out on qualification.

In 2022 (to date), Jackson has won three of her seven 100m races and three of four 200m, including two jaw-dropping performances over last weekend. The same 10.77 personal best that gave her second place at the trials in 2021, was good enough to see her top the podium last Friday (June 24) ahead of Kemba Nelson (10.88) and reigning Olympic champion (and fastest woman alive) Elaine Thompson-Herah (10.89). Reigning world champion at 100m, Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce opted not to compete past the heats, as she is an automatic qualifier for the World Championships over that distance.

Jackson pulled off a more spectacular run on Sunday (June 26) in the 200m, following up on a meet record 21.91 seconds in Rome on June 9 at the Wanda Diamond League meet. In a star-studded field that included Thompson-Herah and Fraser-Pryce, she clocked a blistering 21.55 seconds, the fastest time this year and the third fastest in history — bettered only by Thompson-Herah (21.53) and Florence Griffith-Joyner (21.34). Thompson-Herah finished second (22.05) and Fraser-Pryce third (22.14).

Jackson’s time came just hours after USA’s Abby Steiner had previously set a world-leading 22.77 in winning the 200m title at the United States Championships, held last weekend at the same track where the World Championships will be staged.

The senior male sprinters also had their time in the spotlight, with a 32-year-old Yohan Blake turning back the clock to run his best time in 10 years (9.85) and capture the 100m title last Friday, followed by Oblique Seville (9.88) in second and Ackeem Blake (9.93) in third. The result came on the heels of American Fred Kerley clocking 9.77 seconds to win in Oregon earlier in the day, following on his 9.76 in the heats.

Blake was denied the sprint double in the final event on Sunday, when Andrew Hudson Jr, led all the way in lane 6 to capture the 200m crown at 20.10 seconds. The 25-year-old Hudson was competing in Jamaica for the first time and used the advantage of a super start to stave off a late charge from Blake, who was second at 20.31 ahead of Nigel Ellis (20.41). Hudson was born in the United States but decided to change allegiance, based on his father (Andrew Hudson Sr), and is one of three athletes awaiting approval from World Athletics to officially make their switch to represent Jamaica.

Barring a surprise, Jamaica should contribute significantly to the mouth-watering servings in Oregon, and it could take a world record to decide the 100m and 200m winners — particularly on the women’s side. Six of the fastest 100m female athletes are Americans but one, Sha’Carri Richardson, missed out on qualifying for Team USA. Jamaicans occupy the top three rankings with Fraser-Pryce, Jackson, and Herah-Thompson, respectively, while Kemba Nelson is at number 10 and Julien Alfred (St Lucia) sits at number four.

The 200m contest is quite similar to the 100m, where Jackson is ranked first, to lead a field containing six Americans. Christine Mboma (Namibia) is at three, Favour Ofili (Nigeria) is at five and Elaine Thompson-Herah, at nine, complete the top 10 — Fraser-Pryce is ranked 11th in the 200m.

It is very possible that the Jamaican women can sweep the sprint double at the World Championships (which has never been done), and for a nation of only 2.75 million with a sprinting record that only the United States (330 million) can match, Jamaica’s black, green, and gold is expected to shine bright in Oregon.

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