KINGSTON, Jamaica — Jamaica’s 2023 400m World champion Antonio Watson will make his long-awaited seasonal debut at the Camperdown Classic on Saturday, February 8 inside the National Stadium.

The 23-year-old Watson has not raced since pulling up injured at the Jamaican Championship on June 27, 2024 which ended his Olympic dreams.

Watson, along with his Racers teammates will be out in their numbers on Saturday and will be severely tested. Running in Heat E, he will face the likes of Demish Gaye (44.46), Malik James King (45.22), Delano Kennedy (45.27) and Jeremy Bembridge (45.55).

Watson, who has a personal best of 44.13 in the 400m and 20.49 for the 200m, surprised the world in 2023 when he struck gold at the World Championship in Budapest and ended a 40-year gold drought in the event for Jamaica.

The legendary Bert Cameron was the last Jamaican to win gold in 1983 in Helsinki, Finland in the first edition of the World Championships.
Cameron followed in the footsteps of Arthur Wint and George Rhoden, who won Olympic gold medals in the 400m in 1948 and 1952, respectively.

But Watson was no stranger to winning as he won the Under-18 world title in 2017 and showed his versatility being a part of the NACAC Under-23 relay that won gold in the 4×100.

Much is expected of Watson as he carries the hope of a nation in a 400m event loaded with world-class competitors running some superb times.

Watson, who is from Trelawny, starred for Petersfield High before joining Racers in 2021 under the tutelage of Glen Mills, the man who guided Usain Bolt, and his improvement was rapid.

In 2023, he won nine out of ten 400m races, setting multiple personal bests, culminating in victory at the World Championships. He suffered his only defeat at the Jamaica National Senior Championships a month earlier.

The eyes of the world will be on Watson to see what kind of form he returns in and they will know late Saturday evening.

— H W