Once again, there is cautious optimism that help is on the way for Jamaica’s tarnished reputation in the men’s 400m on the global level and the most optimistic of the track and field fans are hoping the resurgence will be imminent.

After a few false starts, there appears to be a light at the end of a very long tunnel after three men, 26 year-old Sean Bailey and Antonio Watson and Zandrion Barnes, both of who will turn 22 later this year, have all run under 45.00 seconds already this year.

Additionally, Jevaughn Powell has also run under 45.00 seconds, setting his lifetime best 44.87 seconds last year.

With the Jamaica Athletics Administrative Association (JAAA) National Championships set for July 6-9 at the National Stadium, there is hope that they will run faster, as will the other men who are also chasing spots on the team to the World Athletics Championships in Budapest, Hungary, in August.

It will take faster times than those run so far to get into the final of the men’s 400m at the World Championships but after not being a factor in men’s quarter-mile for a long time, there is hope that a new era of Jamaican men are ready to take their places among the elites of the event.

All three men along with World Championships and Olympic Games finalist Christopher Taylor are the Jamaicans who have so far qualified for the individual event at the World Championships.

Taylor’s inclusion in next month’s National Championships and the World Championships are at this time unsure as he was provisionally suspended by the Athletics Integrity Unit (AIU) for violating the World Anti-Doping Agency’s (WADA) Anti-Doping Code Article 2.3, after a six-month investigation determined that the 23-year-old evaded a doping test in November 2022.

Bailey, the national champion in 2021, ran his personal best 44.43 seconds in late May, in Los Angeles; Watson, who appears to have rediscovered his love for the one lap event, was one of the highlights of the Racers Grand Prix where he won the B race in 44.75 seconds and then last weekend lowered his personal best in the 200m to 20.49 seconds, while Barnes, the former football player, ran 44.90 seconds at the Racers event.

Powell, who helped the University of Florida win the NCAA Division 1 men’s title a few weeks ago, scoring in the final of the men’s 400m and was part of the 4x400m relay team, could be a factor for a place in the individual event.

Jamaica has won medals in the men’s 4x400m relays in four of the last five World Championships and a strong pool will be required to ensure another medal.

Outstanding schoolboy Delano Kennedy, as well as the veteran Rusheen McDonald, Javon Francis and Akeem Bloomfield, if fit, could be part of the squad.