Olympian Juliet Cuthbert-Flynn has hailed the decision of the Clayton twins, Tina and Tia, to continue their track and field careers on home soil after the Edwin Allen student-athletes passed up their final year of high school to sign professional contracts.

The Jamaica Observer broke the news on Thursday that Tina, the national junior record holder in the 100m, and her sister Tia, who was part of the Jamaican team that broke the world record in the women’s 4x100m at the World Under-20 Championships in Nairobi, Kenya, last year, would be joining the St Andrew-based MVP Track Club. There they will come under the guidance of the club’s legendary Head Coach Stephen Francis.

Efforts yesterday to get a comment from the club and President Bruce James were unsuccessful but the Observer has learnt that the 17-year-old have signed with American sportswear giant Nike.

“It’s not foreign for athletes to choose staying home to train and I believe it’s always good when athletes have a choice,” said Cuthbert-Flynn, state minister in the Ministry of Health and a four-time Olympian who studied in the United States and competed for the University of Texas.

“I look forward to the day when we will see our universities granting full track scholarship to our athletes,” she told the Observer.

“[Congratulations to] the twins for an awesome junior career and now as they move into the big league I am sure they will take the same work ethics into this next phase.

“Stephen Francis is possibly the best coach we have seen worldwide and I am sure the twins will excel under his leadership as coach,” said the 1992 Barcelona Olympic Games sprint double silver medallist.

“I do hope however that they will not just pursue the training but will follow into the footsteps of others who also pursued a tertiary education along with their track career,” she noted.

Tina, the reigning World Under-20 champion, broke the national junior record in the 100m at the Jamaica Athletics Administrative Association (JAAA) national championships in June, running 10.96 seconds (1.0m/s). That time bettered the 10.97 seconds (1.2m/s) set by Briana Williams last year, and is the fifth fastest ever accomplished by an Under-20 woman.

She also won the girls’ Class One title at the 2022 high schools’ championships as later the Under-20 girls’ title at the Carifta Games, both in April at the National Stadium.

The sisters were part of the Jamaican 4x100m relay team, along with Serena Cole and Kerrica Hill, that ran 42.94 seconds at the World Under-20 championships last year.

Brianna Lyston replaced Hill in the team at the Carifta Games that ran faster, clocking 42.58 seconds. But the new time was rejected by World Athletics as only three of the four runners were drug tested after the race.