“What a difference a year makes” is a phrase often repeated through the annals of time and this same phrase can be applied to the life of Rasheed Broadbell, the 2022 RJRGleaner National Sportsman of the Year Award winner.

In 2021, the Broadbell suffered a season-ending injury just before the National Championships which ruined his chances of making his first Olympic team for Jamaica. At the time of his injury, Broadbell was the fastest Jamaican over the 110m hurdles and seemed a shoo-in to make the team to the Tokyo Olympic Games.

To his credit, the former St Jago High School standout bounced back from that major disappointment in his young career, to have an outstanding 2022.

After competing at but failing to make the final at his first World Athletics Championships in Eugene, Oregon, Broadbell went on to win gold at the Commonwealth Games in Birmingham, England, a few days later.

That performance, along with other outstanding performances in the Diamond League, saw him run out winner of the prestigious national honour, following in the footsteps of another outstanding St Jago alumnus in World Champion, Bertland Cameron.

Speaking shortly after winning the award, the 22-year-old said he was still trying to put his emotions into words.

“I haven’t really put the feelings into words as yet. It’s really a great humbling feeling right now. It’s just up from here.”

He was unwilling to say what his plans are for 2023 after such a splendid 2022 but intends to pick up just where he left off last year.

“I’m not really a man of many words. I don’t really speak about what I want to do in the season, I just go and try and execute as best as possible,” he said.

Broadbell said that his faith helped him to recover from the setback in 2021 and approach 2022 with the confidence that he did.

“The work has never really stopped. [The year] 2021 was really a down year for me. I came into 2022 with the mindset that anything is possible with God, and I think I delivered that real well.”

Broadbell also revealed his hunger for more success this year and is ready to do what needs to be done in order to achieve that.

“There is never really a comfort zone for me. There are always very uncomfortable moments if you want to get to where you are at. There is never a real comfort zone, so it’s always work, work, work for me,” he reasoned.

His club, Elite Performance Track Club, had winners of both top awards as Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce was crowned Sportswoman of the Year and Broadbell believes that is a testament to the quality of their Head Coach Reynaldo Walcott.

“It’s actually a great feeling to see the results, it shows that the work that our coach has been putting in with us is showing.”

He is hoping that his achievements will help to inspire the younger athletes at his alma mater.

“For the younger ones, they know that it’s always work, work, work and hard work beats talent any day, that talent doesn’t work hard.

“They know that, so I feel like they will come out this year stronger with a different mindset that anything is possible.”

Remarkably, Broadbell made it back-to-back wins for sprint hurdlers as Sportsman of the Year Award winners, following on from Hansle Parchment who won the award for 2021.