ACTION JACKSON!
Shericka Jackson backed up her promise from Friday that she was going to produce something spectacular in the 200m and she delivered in the most unbelievable fashion on Sunday’s final day of the Jamaica Athletics Administrative Association Jamaica National Senior and Junior Athletics Championships with 21.55 seconds (0.0m/s), the third-fastest time in history.
Jackson’s massive personal best is bettered only by Florence Griffith-Joyner’s world record 21.34 seconds set in 1988 and Elaine Thompson-Herah’s national record 21.53 seconds set last year at the Olympic Games.
Her previous best was 21.81 seconds set last year and it also beat the world-lead 21.77 seconds set earlier in the day by American Abby Steiner to win the American Championships in Eugene, Oregon.
Jackson, who completed the sprint double, has now won national senior titles in three events, 100m, 200m, and 400m.
There was a buzz around the stadium as the athletes got into their blocks in anticipation, and she delivered magnificently, leading from the start to run away with the victory. She was followed by Olympic champion Elaine Thompson-Herah, who was second in 22.05, and Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce, third in 22.14.
“Honestly, I am shocked by the time, I never expected to go that fast, I knew that I had something special in my legs, but to run that fast? I’m just grateful,” Jackson told reporters.
“I wanted to run the curve as hard as possible because yesterday coach told me to run the curve hard, ‘I don’t care what you do after the first 100m’, so today, I just wanted to get out hard because the curve has always been one of my problems. I’m not running the curve hard enough. So I’ve been practising and training. And I think I did really, really well on the curve today. And I’m just grateful,” she said.
Jackson said learning to run the rounds has been one of the biggest differences for her improvement this year.
American-born Andrew Hudson won the men’s 200m race in 20.10 seconds (0.5m/s), beating 100m champion Yohan Blake (20.31) and Nigel Ellis (20.41).
Olympic Games champion Hansle Parchment won the 110m hurdles in 13.14 (1.0m/s), taking charge late in the race after former World and Olympic champion Omar McLeod got off to a flying start.
Rasheed Broadbell was second in a season’s best 13.20, with Orlando Bennett third in 13.28.
McLeod, who hit the third hurdle, finished eighth.
Britany Anderson, who was eighth in the Olympics last year, will hope to atone at the World Championships as she won the 100m hurdles, coming from behind over the last three hurdles to win in 12.53 seconds (0.6ms).
The fast-starting Megan Tapper, the defending champion, was second with a season’s best equalling 12.60 seconds, with 2015 World Champion Danielle Williams third with her season’s best 12.66 seconds.
Jevaughn Powell of the University of Texas-El Paso prevailed in a competitive and exciting men’s 400m final, outlasting a strong field to win in 45.50 seconds.
Nathon Allen was second with 45.64 seconds, just a hair’s breadth ahead of Anthony Cox’s 45.65 seconds.
Cox, the former St Jago High and York Castle runner was the surprise of the event, lowering his personal best twice in the championships and winning his semi-finals on Saturday but is yet to make the qualifying mark of 44.90 seconds.
Powell, Allen, and Christoper Taylor, who was seventh yesterday, are the men with the standard.
Olympic finalist Candice McLeod of Pelican Track Club who was second last year, flipped the script, beating last year’s winner Stephenie Ann McPherson in the women’s 400m, running 50.29 seconds.
McPherson the World Indoors bronze medallist, was second in 50.49 seconds and Charokee Young was third in 50.76 seconds.
Navasky Anderson, who set the national record in the men’s 800m two weeks ago, obliged with 1:48.53 seconds for his first national title as he was led through the first 400m in just 59 seconds and took over with just under 300m left.
Kimar Farquharson was second with 1:49.36 seconds and Tarees Rhoden was third with 1:49.89 seconds.
All three are attending college in the USA, Anderson of Mississippi State University was second in the NCAA Division One Outdoors championships, Farquharson attends South Plains College, and Rhoden attends Clemson University.
Chris-Ann Gordon-Powell upset eight-time national champion and Olympic finalist Natoya Goule-Topping, who has won all the women 800m national titles since 2013.
Gordon-Powell who made the transition from the 400m to the 800m this season ran 2:00.25 seconds as Goule took second in 2:00.83 seconds, and Adelle Tracey was third in 2:01.18 seconds.
Goule is the only Jamaican with the World Championship standard of 1:59.50 seconds, but Gordon-Powell has a personal best 1:59.52 seconds set earlier this month and is ranked 27th in the world and should be at the World Championships.
Kingston College schoolboy Jaydon Hibbert added the national senior title to his impressive list as he took the men’s triple jump with 16.41m (-1.2m/s).
Hibbert set records at the Inter-secondary Schools Sports Association boys champs and Carifta Games and also won at the Penn Relays, all in April.
Jordon Scott was second with 16.30m (-0.6m/s) and Tevin Dunn third with 15.94m (-0.4m/s).
World Championships bronze medallist O’Dayne Richards won his ninth national title after taking first place in the men’s shot put yesterday with a mark of 19.58m.
Richards, who has a season’s best 19.91m set in Puerto Rico in mid May, led from the first round as Calabar High schoolboy Kobe Lawrence, who was also second in the Under-19 section, took the runner-up spot with 17.67m, while Brandon Gayle of St Jago was third with 16.23m.
Former Petersfield High thrower, Daniel Cope of Clemson University, won his first men’s hammer throw national title with a personal best 62.28m, beating national record holder Canniggia Raynor, who threw 60.09m.
Nayoka Clunis took the women’s hammer with a season’s best 67.35m, just outside her personal best 67.40m set two years ago.
Erica Belvit, who threw 67.66m earlier this year, was second on Sunday with 66.64 seconds, while Marie Forbes was third with 58.24 seconds.