Jamaica Athletics Administrative Association (JAAA) President Garth Gayle says most of the 50-member Jamaican team that will compete at the World Athletics Championships in Tokyo, Japan, next month are expected to attend the pre-championships camp in Tottori, starting on Monday.

The team of 32 men and 28 women was released on Saturday and Gayle says the management team had what he describes as “constructive” dialogue with the coaches and they expected all members of the relay teams to be in camp “so the coaches can start working with them as soon as possible”.

A 20-member management team, headed by manager Ian Forbes, was also named for the championships.

“We are pleased with the team that was named,” Gayle told the Sunday Observer. “We have depth and we see a number of youngsters making the transition to the senior ranks, and we believe this team will do well. So we urge the country to support us.

“Thanks first to the coaches that prepared their athletes. National representation is a privilege and these selected athletes earn their places to once again compete on the world stage. We have worked with the coaches and we are expecting that the majority of the athletes will be in camp early.”

Jamaica won 12 medals two years ago in Budapest, Hungary, and Shericka Jackson, one of three defending champions, has been named for both the women’s 100m and 200m event, while Olympic Games finalist Tia Clayton, who failed to make the team in the women’s 100m, was named in the women’s 4x100m relay pool.

Expectations were that Jackson, who medalled in both events in Budapest, but did not compete at the Olympic Games in France last year, despite being in the squad, would only contest one individual event in Tokyo.

National champion Tina Clayton and five-time gold medallist Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce were also named, with Jodean Williams as the alternate, while Gabrielle Matthews and Ashanti Moore were named for the 200m event.

For the first time Jamaica will have a full complement of three athletes in a middle distance race at the World Championships as Kelly Ann Beckford, Natoya Goule-Toppin, and Adelle Tracey, who will also run the 1500m, are down for the women’s 800m.

Olympic Games silver medallist Kishane Thompson and Oblique Seville as well as Ackeem Blake are named for the men’s 100m, while Christopher Taylor is part of the team named for the 200m with Bryan Levell and Adrian Kerr.

Bovel McPherson, who finished seventh in the men’s 400m at the JAAA National Championships, but has the qualifying mark, was named on the team, while national champion Rusheen McDonald and Delano Kennedy, who was second, got in via the world ranking quota route.

Ralford Mullings, who threw 72.01m to break the national record in the men’s discus, was named with the veterans Fedrick Dacres and Chad Wright, while Roshawn Clarke will hope for a medal in the men’s 400m hurdles in his third straight global championships.

Gayle told the Observer that Thomas-Dodd, a 10-time national champion who holds both national records indoors and outdoors, won the Commonwealth Games and is ranked 14th in the world with a season’s best 19.30m, indicated she would not be available.

The championships run from September 13 to 21.

Kishane Thompson

GAYLE…national representation is a privilege and these selected athletes earn their places to once again compete on the world stage

Shericka Jackson