PARIS, France – National 100m hurdles champion and medal prospect Ackera Nugent arrived in the Olympic Games village on Friday, just ahead of the start of the championships on Saturday. This contrasts with the rest of the Jamaican contingent, who arrived earlier in the week.

Efforts to contact Ian Kelly, Chef de Mission of the Jamaican team, regarding Nugent’s late arrival were unsuccessful, as several calls to his mobile phone went unanswered. The first round of the women’s 100m hurdles event is scheduled to begin on August 7.

Nugent, the national champion and record holder with a time of 12.28 seconds, finished fifth in the final of the event at last year’s World Championships in Budapest, Hungary. She is the second fastest woman in the world this year in the event, behind American Masai Russell’s time of 12.25 seconds.

Megan Tapper, who failed to make this year’s Olympic team, is the only Jamaican to win a medal in the 100m hurdles at the Olympic Games, when she won bronze in Tokyo, Japan, in 2021.

– Robert Bailey