TOKYO, Japan — Roshawn Clarke says he is ready to challenge for a medal at the World Athletics Championships, even as he acknowledges the strength of the 400m hurdles’ dominant trio and reflects on the lessons learnt from a nervy first-round performance.

The Jamaican national record holder advanced to the next round as a non-automatic qualifier, after misjudging his finish in the heats, a mistake that nearly cost him his spot and one he vows never to repeat.

“I was just trying to qualify as easy as I could from the first round. I checked to my right and to my left. When I checked to my right I didn’t see anybody and I continued to go through and then I saw this guy dived past me and I was like ‘I messed up there’ but I am through and the second round will be fire because I am ready,” declared Clarke, a fourth-place finisher at the last World Championships in 2023.

“It’s not a case where I tied up on the home stretch or anything like that, it was just a miscalculation. Trust me, I am super-ready right now,” he added. “In a case like this I can say it’s a learning lesson to run through the line. I was just trying to conserve as much and qualify as easy as possible.”

Still just 21 years old, Clarke understands and accepts the huge expectations placed on his young shoulders. A testament to the remarkable performances already delivered in his young career and his impressive potential that is still yet to be fully discovered.

The men’s 400m hurdles is one of the highest quality and most competitive events in international athletics, with generational competitors Kartsen Warholm (Norway), the world record holder, Olympic champion Rai Benjamin (USA) and Brazilian Alison Dos Santos have dominated the event over the past few year, posting times, in some instances, a full second faster than most others in the field.

Clarke does not care. He has set for himself, ambitions that many will consider too tall an ask, but he believes he has all the tools to pull an upset and disrupt the status quo.

“It’s a case where it’s not like the 100m where you don’t have Bolt, Gatlin, Blake at this time. I still have the three best guys ever in my event to compete against. It’s definitely not going to be easy to beat them but anybody can get beaten. I believe in my abilities, and my training has been going so well. I have run some exceptional times in training and I think I will be fine,” Clarke said.

“My objective, to be honest, it is my third major championship, we have to be on that podium somehow, some way. So my aim for this championship is to go home satisfied with my performance and with a medal. It doesn’t matter which colour medal, to be honest. If you execute a good race, you don’t know what the outcome will be,” said Clarke.

Clarke pointed to compatriot and Paris 2024 roommate Oblique Seville’s triumph in the men’s 100m as evidence that early round form is not always a predictor of final outcomes.

“Everybody thought he would crash out in the semis based on his performance but look at him, he’s the champion now. So you don’t know what will happen,” Clarke said of Seville before sharing something peculiar.

“[In Paris] we kept motivating each other and we both made it to our respective finals. Unfortunately, things happened to both of us — he cramped up and I fell. But this time around he came out on top, so let’s see what I can do,” Clarke smiled.

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