EUGENE, Oregon — “Focused and Ready to go” is the word coming out of the Jamaican camp as the 18th World Athletics Championships are set to start today at the new Hayward Field in Eugene, Oregon.

Despite the challenges of new registration requirements and last-minute glitches that had members of the coaching and management teams busy for most of Thursday, Technical Leader Maurice Wilson and Team Manager Lincoln Eatmon said the Jamaicans were ready to get into battle, and the expectations are for double-digit medals.

One medal will be on offer today, the 4x400m mixed relays, which will have its first round in the morning session and the final later in the day, and the Jamaicans are hoping to start reaping medals from the first day.

Additionally, eight other Jamaicans, led by the three male 100m sprinters, will be in action on today’s opening day, the first of 10 days of action that the organisers are anticipating will be one of the best World Championships ever.

Up to the time of writing, there was no confirmation whether defending champion Tajay Gayle would line up in the men’s long jump that will have its first round this afternoon, local time.

It will be the first time that the United States are hosting the event since it was first held in 1983, and it will be the second time it was held in the Americas after it was held in Edmonton, Canada, in 2001.

The organisers have announced that all 10 afternoon sessions have been sold out in the 30,000-seat stadium that was renovated at the cost of over US$250 million specifically to host these championships.

Hayward Field is one of the best-known track and field stadia in the United States, which also hosts the PreFontaine Classic, a Diamond League event, the last two National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division One championships, as well as the Pac-12 outdoor championships this year.

Meanwhile, Wilson told the Jamaica Observer in-between meetings Thursday that, “Based on my observation, it is obvious that the athletes are focused and ready,” adding that the new stipulations for registering athletes had stretched the staff.

“The fact that we are working virtually, in terms of confirmations and declarations, things are a little bit different and so we are trying as best as possible to stay on top of these situations as they arise,” he said.

Wilson stated that it was important that the Jamaica Athletics Administrative Association (JAAA), the body that administrates the sport in the island, “learn from this experience so we can have more persons on the ground based on the developments that I am seeing,” he said, “as we move forward we may need to increase our numbers of managers as the logistics are many and changing.”

The experienced technical leader said: “I want to make it clear that the luxury we had of making physical declarations are no more, we used to be able to go down to the last minute, especially with the relays, but now they have to be made up to two hours before.”

Regardless, Wilson said he was expecting “double-digit medals”, and his sentiments were echoed by Eatmon who said, “The team is well focused…it could be the best we have seen in a while, in terms of quality.”

Eatmon added that, for all intents and purposes, “Most things in the camp are settled, there are always small things here and there, but we are good. Logistically this has been a little bit more challenging than before, new rules and the travel issues, and accommodation is a bit different.”

Jamaica have won 127 medals at the World Championships since 1983 — 35 gold, 49 silver and 43 bronze and, with the exception of 2017 when they won just four medals in London, Usain Bolt’s final major international championships, Jamaica has won at least three gold medals at each of the last six championships.

Jamaica won seven gold medals in 2009 and 2015 and six in 2013.

Today, the team of Demish Gaye, Roneisha McGregor, Tiffany James-Rose, and Karayme Bartley will seek to get Jamaica off to a good start as they seek to add to the silver medal they won in Doha in 2019.

Jamaica are in the second of two preliminary heats and will take on Dominican Republic, Germany, Ireland, Brazil, The Bahamas, South Africa, and Spain.

The first three from each of the two heats and the next best two times will qualify for the finals set for later.

Yohan Blake, the 2011 100m champion in South Korea and two youngsters, Ackeem Blake and Oblique Seville, will be seeking to restore Jamaica’s reputation in the event after failing to medal at any global event in years.

Yohan Blake’s season’s best of 9.85 seconds, done at the Jamaican national championships, is his best time in over a decade, while Seville (9.86 seconds) and Ackeem Blake (9.93 seconds), all in the top 11 fastest men in the world, gives Jamaica a fighting chance at a medal tomorrow.

They are expected to go up against Americans Fred Kerley, the fastest man in the world with 9.76 seconds, Trayvon Bromell and Christian Coleman as well as Africa’s fastest Ferdinand Omanyala.

While Gayle’s condition was not known as he looked uncomfortable in practice on Wednesday at Lane Community College, NCAA champion Wayne Pinnock, who is coming off a personal best 8.14m at the National Trials, will fly the Jamaican flag in the men’s long jump.

Gayle, who set a national record 8.69m to win the gold medal in Doha three years ago, had been suffering from a knee injury and has been in rehab after bruising his right knee at the national championships.