Jamaicans ready for World Indoor Championships
Quarter-milers Stacey-Ann Williams and Charokee Young are set to be the first Jamaicans in action on the opening day of the highly anticipated World Indoor Championships in Glasgow, Scotland.
Williams, coached by Reynoldo Walcott, enters the championships with a season’s best time of 51.86 seconds. The 24-year-old, a rising star Jamaican quarter-miler, was a member of Jamaica’s silver medal-winning women’s 4x400m relay team at the World Championships in Budapest, Hungary, in 2023. She boasts a personal best time of 50.12.
Young, also part of Jamaica’s silver medal-winning women’s 4x400m relay team in Budapest, goes into the championships with a season’s best time of 52.83. The 23-year-old, a former standout at Hydel High, holds a personal best time of 49.87 in the event. The event is scheduled to start at 5:20 this morning (Jamaica time).
In the previous championships in Belgrade, Serbia, the Jamaica team secured three medals, inclusive of one gold and two bronze, and finished 12th on the medals table.
Garth Gayle, the president of the Jamaica Athletics Administrative Association (JAAA), said he is expecting some quality performances from the country’s athletes at the championships.
“Whenever Jamaicans put on the national colours and go into competition, they are always seeking to do well, and so I believe in them and their coaches. We are looking forward to the best possible results.”
National 400m record holder Rusheen McDonald, the lone Jamaican man in the event in Glasgow, is set to compete in the preliminary round at 6:00 am. McDonald, with a national 400m record time of 43.93, enters the championships with a personal season’s best time of 47.08.
Veteran shot putter and national record holder Danniel Thomas-Dodd, a silver medallist at the 2018 World Indoor in Birmingham, England, is to contest the women’s final at 6:06 am. Thomas-Dodd, who finished sixth in the final at the last championships in Belgrade, enters the competition with a season’s best mark of 18.75 metres.
Rajindra Campbell will contest the final of the men’s shot put event scheduled for 3:20 pm Jamaica time. Veteran distance runner Natoya Goule is set to run the heats of the women’s 800m at 6:45 am Jamaica time.
Sprinter Ackeem Blake is slated to run in the men’s 60m at 6:50 am.
The Jamaican team also includes quarter-miler Stephenie-Ann McPherson, a bronze medallist in Belgrade, listed as part of the 4x400m relay team; and triple jumper Kimberly Williams, a bronze medallist at the last championships.
