2023 BLAZING IN BUDAPEST
TRACK + FIELD EQUALS A MORE ROUNDED TEAM I n 2012, the Golden Age of Jamaican sprinng was in full cry. At the London Olympics, legendary Usain Bolt led world champion Yohan Blake across the finish line in the 100 in 9.63 seconds, the second fastest me ever, and returned four days later to lead clubmates Blake and Warren Weir to sweep of the medals in the 200. In addion, Shelly‐Ann Fraser‐Pryce and Veronica Campbell‐Brown took gold and bronze over 100 metres and Fraser‐Pryce was second in the 200. To cap everything, Nesta Carter, Michael Frater, Blake and Bolt outran the USA with a world record 36.84 seconds in the 4x100. Even now, 13 years later, it is the only sprint relay me ever run under 37 seconds.. Months earlier at the CARIFTA Games in Bermuda, however, cracks were beginning to show. Jamaica dominated the medal table but floundered in the 100, 200 and 400 metres. “It should be a concern and I think Jamaica’s sprint coaches need to wake up,” reported Jamaica head coach Michael Vassell to the Jamaica Observer . “The non‐tradional events are here. The under‐17 girls discus record being broken, we managed to win the under‐17 shot put boys, shot put Under‐20 boys, discus under‐20 girls, it shows that our non‐tradionals are here,” he connued.
Commonwealth and NCAA high jump champion Lamara Distin (left) and top-ranked shot putter Danniel Thomas- Dodd. Jamaica has never had as many global contenders in eld events as in 2023.
“We managed to win almost all middle‐distance races on display; however, out of the 12 sprints events, we won two,” observed a concerned‐looking Vassell. Only Jazeel Murphy and Shauna Helps managed to win individual sprint tles, in the boys under‐ 20 100 and girls under‐17 100, respecvely. The fragilies starng appearing a year earlier, when Jamaica hosted the Games in Montego Bay. Murphy had won the under‐ 20 100 there too, as the gold medal take from the 100, 200 and 400 was 3 from 12. Blame Bolt’s rerement in 2017, and the subsequent departure of Asafa Powell, Carter and Frater for contribung to the void. Even though Blake, Oblique Seville, 200‐metre specialist Rasheed Dwyer and 400‐metre men Demish Gaye, Ackeem Bloomfield and Christopher Taylor have reached World and Olympic finals, medals have been impossible to come by. Despite that, Jamaica has kept its medal haul at respectable levels, scoring 12 at the 2019
World Championships, 9 at the 2021 Olympics and 10 at last year’s Worlds in Eugene, Oregon. Contribung to these running performances is a rise of the Jamaican excellence in the field. In 2019, Tajay Gayle shocked the world with a naonal record 8.69 metres to win the naon’s first long jump gold. Fedrick Dacres and Danielle Thomas‐ Dodd won equally historic silver medals in the men’s discus and the women’s shot, respecvely. Shanieka Rickes won Jamaica’s second triple jump medal in those Doha World Championships – 14 years aer Trecia Smith triumphed in 2005. Good signs are emerging for the near future. In Eugene, Lamara Disn and 2019 Pan‐American bronze medallist Kimberly Williams became the first Jamaican women to reach a world high jump final, placing 9th and 11th. A few weeks later, Disn took Jamaica’s first high jump gold at the Commonwealth Games since 1958 with Kimberly Williamson third.
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