Gifted Jamaican sprint hurdler Janeek Brown is back on the island and training with MVP Track Club in a move that is hoped will recover the career of an athlete once considered among the world’s most promising.

Brown, the former national record holder in the 100m hurdles and now the third-fastest Jamaican in the history of the event, had her first training session at the club’s University of Technology base on Monday, her first steps towards getting back on track.

Micheal Carr, the man who coached Brown at Wolmer’s High School, welcomed the move and believes that the athlete will rediscover her form under the guidance of the Stephen Francis-led MVP coaching team.

“It’s the best move, I am happy to know that she is here and I think she is at the right place. This is probably where she should have been from day one but nothing happens before it is supposed to happen,” Carr told the Jamaica Observer.

“Janeek is a warrior and whatever she puts her heart to, she will achieve. It is unfortunate that she is just picking it up again but she is poised to do great things. Remember she has a PR of 12.40 seconds and when she gets back in shape, believe me, that 12.40 will be much lower. I have a lot of confidence in her and I expect her to do exceptionally well,” Carr said, who implored the athlete to stay focused.

“I just want to encourage her to be herself and once she does that, it will be awesome. Being in the MVP camp now will enhance her potential even more. I had this girl from when she was in first form, I taught her hurdling so I know what she can do; she will be back for sure,” said Carr.

Interestingly, the 24-year-old has not competed in the 100m hurdles since 2019 and has only featured in 14 competitive races over the past two years — a period that has brought crippling lows and bitter uncertainty for the athlete.

However, she is among several new faces at MVP where sprinter Jonielle Smith, the 2019 World Championships relay gold-medal winner, and starlets Tina and Tia Clayton have been training in recent weeks.

Brown’s move to MVP comes after a nasty row with her former partner, American sprinter Sha’Carri Richardson, which saw both athletes taking to social media and other platforms to accuse each other of mental and physical abuse.

It was an episode that showed the athlete in a light far removed from the 12.40s performance that took her to the NCAA Championships title in 2019 while competing for the University of Arkansas. She would later finish seventh in the final at the World Athletics Championships in Doha, Qatar, as she began to flex her muscles among the world’s elite.

She later joined the reportedly disbanded MVP International Track Club in Florida but was unable to reclaim her best form.

Smith, who was also a member of MVP International, is also looking to get her career back on track after dealing with a number of setbacks over the past couple of seasons.

The 26-year-old athlete was at the peak of her performance in 2019, clocking a personal best of 11.04 seconds in the 100m at the National Senior Championships. She would later represent Jamaica at the World Championships in Doha, finishing sixth in the final in 11.06 seconds before helping Jamaica to the gold medal in the women’s 4x100m relay.

Since then she has only faced the starter on six occasions and only managed an eighth-place finish in the final at the National Senior Championships in June.

Smith won gold in the 100m at CAC Games in July 2018 and took the silver at the NACAC Championships a few weeks later.

Meanwhile, Nigel Ellis has departed the club and will now be coached by Reynaldo Walcott at Elite Performance Track Club.

Ellis and Walcott worked together while the sprinter was a student at St Elizabeth Technical.