Garth Smythe, coach of Jamaica’s outstanding junior sprinter Shanoya Douglas, says his charge has nothing to fear when she lines up in the women’s 60m and 300m events at this weekend’s inaugural staging of the New York International Showcase Indoor Championships.

The championships, the brainchild of Jamaican Olympian Sanjay Ayre, is a high school competition to be held at the Ocean Breeze Athletic Complex on Staten Island January 24-25.

Douglas, 17, the 2024 World Under-20 200m bronze medallist in Lima, Peru, will be competing on an indoor track for the first time in her career. She is expected to face strong competition in both events from some of the United States’ top junior sprinters.

However, the tough-talking Smythe, who coaches Douglas at Muschett High School, said that his young charge has worked well in her build-up for the event and he is expecting a great showing from her.

“We don’t work with fear because we have worked on a lot of things in practice, so when we go out to compete there is no reason to fear anything. We leave it on the track and then we move onto the next race,” he said.

Smythe noted that Douglas, who was also part of Jamaica’s gold-medal-winning 4x100m relay team at the Under-20 World Championships last year, has been preparing herself mentally and physically to compete in both events at the meet. He stated that he is confident she will put on a great showing at the championships.

“Nothing has changed much with her preparations because we are just coming in for her to get the experience and so it is business as usual. The preparations have been according to our long-term goals for this season,” Smythe said.

“She is always ready mentally because she is an individual who loves to compete and she is always up for the task. She is in good spirits and she is ready and raring to go,” he added.

Douglas opened her season a couple of weeks ago with an impressive time of 23.62 seconds in the 200m event at the Sprint Fest meet, which was held at Jamaica College’s Ashenheim Stadium.

Smythe said he is expecting some tough competition in both events, but that Douglas is ready for the challenge.

“She is also very excited because this is the first time that she will be running indoors. She has had a lot of regional and international races and so she is excited to run indoors and is looking forward to it,” he said.

“Without a doubt, we are expecting some tough competition because most of the American kids will be adept at running indoors in previous years, but she is ready for it,” Smythe emphasised.

Douglas is the defending Class Two girls’ 200m and 400m champion from the 2024 Inter-secondary Schools Sports Association GraceKennedy Boys and Girls Athletics Championships.

— Robert Bailey