Five top 10 ranked athletes were included in the 22-strong Jamaican team named by the Jamaica Athletics Administrative Association (JAAA) for the World Athletics World Indoor Championships to be held in Nanjing, China, from March 21 to 23.

Long jumper Tajay Gayle, sprint hurdler Ackera Nugent, sprinters Jodean Williams and Rohan Watson, as well as high jumper Raymond Richards will carry Jamaica’s hopes for medals at the three-day championships.

Team Manager Trevor Campbell told the Sunday Observer that the team was selected “from those athletes who made themselves available and showed the interest”.

Eleven men and seven women were named in individual events, while there will be a men’s 4x400m relay team.

It was reported last week that MVP Track Club Head Coach Stephen Francis said Olympic Games men’s 100m silver medallist Kishane Thompson, who was ranked fourth in the world in the 60m, would not be available as he had “picked up a niggle in training” and would have to rest “for a few days”.

The team that was published on Saturday appeared to be stronger in the field events, and Campbell agreed, saying, “We sent out invitations to the various athletes and camps and these were the ones who responded.”

Also included in the team were five US College-based athletes, the most named to any national team during the school semester, with some competing at the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division 1 Indoor Championships this past weekend.

Joanne Reid of the University of Arkansas, Jerome Campbell of the University of Northern Colorado, Demario Prince and Demar Francis of Baylor University, and Kimar Farquharson of Texas A&M University were named.

Gayle, the 2019 world champion, is ranked second in the world in the men’s long jump, and he will be joined by Wayne Pinnock, a back-to-back long jump silver medalist at the World Athletics Championships in 2023 and Paris Olympics last year.

Nugent is ranked fourth in the women’s 60m hurdles, Williams is fifth in the women’s 60m dash, Richards is fifth in the men’s high jump, and he will have Olympic Games finalist Romaine Beckford with him.

Former men’s 100m national champion Watson is eighth worldwide in the men’s 60m dash.

Rusheen McDonald, who won a bronze medal in the men’s 400m at last year’s World Indoor Championships in Glasgow, Scotland, was named in the team as well as Olympic Games men’s shot put bronze medal winner Rajindra Campbell, who failed to make a legal mark last year in Scotland.

Team Jamaica

Men

Rohan Watson

Nishion Ebanks

Jerome Campbell

Demario Prince

Rusheen McDonald

Jasauna Dennis

Demar Francis

Tarees Rhoden

Kimar Farquharson

Romaine Beckford

Raymond Richards

Tajay Gayle

Wayne Pinnock

Jordan Scott

Rajindra Campbell

Women

Jodean Williams

Natasha Morrison

Ackera Nugent

Amoi Brown

Leah Anderson

Joanne Reid

Lloydricia Cameron

Officials-

Trevor Campbell – manager

Craig Richards – assistant manager

Maurice Wilson – technical leader

Paul Francis – coach

Kerrylee Ricketts – coach

Warren Blake – doctor

Damion Rowe, Oral Thompson, Troy Evans – massage therapists