2023 BLAZING IN BUDAPEST
the final (48.03 seconds) to move to number 3 on the Jamaica all‐ me list. At the Naonals, Hyde set a season’s best 48.45 but lost to his former training partner Roshawn Clarke who equalled the world under 20 record of 47.85 seconds. The CARIFTA champion is now the second fastest Jamaican ever. Both could reach the Budapest final where the three fastest men in history will match spikes again. Norway’s Karsten Warholm is back from injury and should win ahead of perennial runner‐ up Rai Benjamin of the United States and Brazil’s reigning world champion Alison dos Santos. Improved American CJ Allen will pick up the bronze if dos Santos is not 100 percent fit. Men’s long jump: The return to health by 2019 champion Tajay Gayle is huge but he has been searching for the ideal run‐up all season. He isn’t alone as the long jump is now one of Jamaica’s best events. NCAA Indoor and outdoor winner Carey McLeod and 2022/2023 Naonal champ
the NCAA final.
His hands will be full for two reasons: firstly, he is doing the 100/200 double at a major championship for the first me and secondly, his young compatriot Erriyon Knighton is coming into his own. Men’s 400: Jamaica’s pairing of Sean Bailey and 2017 World Under‐18 champion Antonio Watson is very promising. Bailey, lile brother to a certain Veronica Campbell‐Brown, beat Grenadian hero Kirani James to set a personal‐ best 44.43 seconds in Los Angeles and edged Watson 44.48 to 44.54 to win the Naonals. He has every right to be targeng Jamaica’s first World Champs 400 medal since a bronze garnered by Michael Blackwood in 2003. With reigning champion Michael Norman floundering aer an unsuccessful foray in the 100 metres, Olympic champion Steven Gardiner of the Bahamas is probably the favourite ahead of James. The two‐me winner, Wayde van Niekerk, looked great in Kingston in June, and since then has his me down to 44.08. Both have to look out for US champ Bryce Deadmon, whose best me this year is 44.22. Men’s 800: A bright 2022 season put Navasky Anderson on the fringes of world‐class 800‐metre running. Represenng Mississippi State University, he lowered Seymour Newman’s 44 year‐old Jamaican record to 1:45.02 seconds and placed second in
In Eugene, the tall “People’s Champion” ran into traffic and was eliminated in the first round. Injuries slowed him in 2023 but he rescued his season with a last‐ minute run on the last day of the qualifying window, clocking 1.44.70 to equal the World Championship standard. That performance makes him the first Jamaican to break 1.45. Men’s 110 hurdles: This is now Jamaica’s best men’s event. Rasheed Broadbell has refined his technique under the watchful eye of young coaching expert Reynaldo Walco and at the Naonals, he was polished and fast, with a world‐leading 12.94‐ second victory over veteran Hansle Parchment. Both have beaten the double defending champion Grant Holloway and could do so again in Budapest. Before Broadbell’s blast, the world lead belonged to American Cordel Tinch who was selling mobile phones this me last year. Tinch, fellow American Daniel Roberts and Swiss star Jason Joseph are the likeliest other dangers. Roberts has had disasters in the first round of the last three major championships and he must be due for a smooth run. Men’s 400 hurdles: Jamaica is making progress. In Eugene, Jaheel Hyde ran to the red line and produced a personal best in
Wayne Pinnock have been brilliantly prepared by the University of Arkansas and
are raring to go. However, don’t ignore the consistency of Miladis Tentoglu, the Greek Olympic and European champion, or the big jumps by the Indians Aldrin (8.41) and Sreeshankar (8.42). Tentoglu was surprised by Wang last me and the Chinese athlete has leapt 8.26 this year.
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