With 100m world champion Oblique Seville set to return to training in short order, the Jamaican sprint star says he intends to develop more strength as he eyes competing in both sprint events next season.

Seville won his first individual global medal in September in the men’s 100m at the World Athletics Championships in Tokyo, clocking a personal best 9.77 seconds.

After arriving in Jamaica on September 24, the 24-year-old underwent a procedure a day later to remove toenails on his big toes which needed at least a month of recovery.

Seville says the operation was successful and is looking forward to returning to training at the Glen Mills-led Racers Track Club.

“I think me and my team are on the right trajectory as to the surgery and as to training because when I landed in Jamaica, I didn’t wait any time. I did the surgery [right] after so right now my recovery process has been good and I think I’m ready to start training so I’m going to be back soon,” he told Leighton Levy’s Mr Analyst podcast.

Seville not only ended Jamaica’s eight-year gold medal drought in the 100m but his own personal drought after finishing off the podium in the finals at the 2022 and 2023 World Championships as well as the Olympic Games in 2024.

He also impressed throughout the year with nine sub-10 clockings including an impressive streak of seven straight since the National Senior Championships in Jamaica in June.

Seville, who stands at 5 ft 7 inches, credited his 2025 success to an increase in strength training to his relatively small frame. However, he believes he can go even faster with further strength training.

“I’m 50 per cent stronger but I still need a lot of improvement, like a lot,” he said. “When I look back at my career, I felt like a high school athlete based on what these guys are lifting in the gym and their gym programme because my coach has to customise my programme from everyone else because of my condition.”

“So when I look at last year, when I look at the years compared to this year, I said jeez, I have made a huge improvement and everyone that knows me and in my team knows what is going on so I know that for a fact that I have a lot of improvement to make.”

The former Calabar High star says a motivating factor in getting stronger is his desire to compete consistently in the 200 metres.

“I need like about 40 per cent more strength and I’m good because I want to do the 200m and the 200m comes with a lot of speed endurance and speed endurance comes with strength work as well so I have a lot of improvement to make,” said Seville.

“Strength doesn’t mean weight — strength is different from weight so all I need to do is just get stronger with the weight that I have on and just put on like a few pounds.”

This year, Seville ran three 200m races, the most in any season of his five-year professional career with three. Prior to 2025, he had only competed in four with a personal best of 20.17 seconds.

He lowered that mark in May when he clocked 20.13 seconds at the Grand Slam Track in Miami.

Seville says he’s planning to not only shatter his personal best but also make a name for himself in the event.

“I want to be as good as the top three athletes in the world that run the 200m so my aim for that is very high just like my 100m time is,” he said. “I’m putting my confidence through the roof because I really want to run the 200m and it’s an event I wanted to run for so long because I enjoy doing it. I enjoy the longer distance.”

“My aim is to break 20 seconds and then I can take it from there and see where my talent takes me,” he added.

Only 13 Jamaican men have gone under 20 seconds in the 200m, including three of Mills’ former athletes, Usain Bolt, Yohan Blake and Warren Weir.

Jamaica men’s 100m gold medal winner Oblique Seville gives the thumbs up upon arrival in Kingston on September 24, 2025, after his exploits at the World Athletics Championships in Tokyo, Japan. (Photo: Naphtali Junior)

(From left) Oblique Seville of Jamaica, Kenneth Bednarek of the United States, and Kishane Thompson of Jamaica compete in the men’s 100m final during the World Athletics Championships in Tokyo, Japan, on September 14, 2025. (Photo: Garfield Robinson)

Jamaica’s Oblique Seville reacts to winning the men’s 100m final race during the World Athletics Championships in Tokyo, Japan, on September 14, 2025. (Photo: Garfield Robinson)

Coach Glen Mills (left) gives instructions to Oblique Seville during a training session at Leichtathletik Baden-Württemberg in Stuttgart, Germany, on July 22, 2024. (Photo: Naphtali Junior)