The 100m hurdles final set for just after 6:00 pm on Sunday, July 9 could, on paper, vie for the most highly-anticipated event at the Jamaica Athletics Administrative Association (JAAA) National Championships set for the National Stadium.

Few countries can boast the depth and quality of female sprint hurdling as Jamaica, even in a country where there are some of the finest female sprinters of all times.

Even with the season ending injury to national record holder Britney Anderson, who was one of two Jamaicans in the World Athletics Championships finals last year in Eugene, Oregon, the three women who survive the National Championships will go to Budapest, Hungary, in August with a good chance of making it to the final.

Ackera Nugent, former world champion Danielle Williams, Olympic bronze medallist Megan Tapper, World Under-20 champion Kerrica Hill as well as a handful of other candidates will ensure a high-quality event.

After missing last year’s Championships due to injuries and switching schools — going to the University of Arkansas after two years at Baylor University — Nugent will have the bright red bullseye on her back.

The World Athletics Under-20 champion in 2021 in Nairobi, Kenya, won the NCAA double this year, her second indoors and her first outdoors crown. She has also run her lifetime best 12.43 seconds, the fastest by a Jamaican this year and sixth in the world.

In a Zoom press conference staged by the media relations department of the University of Arkansas earlier this week, Nugent said she was “ready to compete” and “was staying confident” after her exploits at the NCAA nationals.

She also said she was under no pressure when she competes as she did not allow other people’s expectations to affect her.

The veteran Williams, a finalist last year at the World Championships and gold medallist in 2019, is still a formidable hurdler. She is versed at negotiating the rounds at the National Championships, especially in years which coincide with the World Championship.

Tapper lowered her lifetime best twice last year and has since switched to the Kingston-based Elite Performance where she trains under the guidance of Reynaldo Walcott, along with Hill, who is in her first season as a professional.

United States-based Demisha Roswell did not perform as well this season as she did last year when she ran 12.44 seconds and won the Big12 outdoors, led the NCAA prelims before placing seventh at the National Championships.

Roswell was fourth at the Jamaican Trials last year and could be seeking redemption this year.