2023 BLAZING IN BUDAPEST
Aer years of tangling with injuries, Gayle, Dacres and
Thomas‐Dodd are on the road to good form with Danniel already notching a naonal record of 19.77 metres this year as well as Diamond League victory. As this is wrien, there are three Jamaican men in the 2023 discus world top ten: Roje Stona, Dacres and his training partner Traves Smikle. There’s even beer news in the horizontal jumps. Jaydon Hibbert is the world’s best triple jump prospect, and his University of Arkansas teammates Carey McLeod and Wayne Pinnock aren’t far away in the long jump. At the NCAA Championships in June, Hibbert won the triple, McLeod, Pinnock fellow Jamaican Jordan Turner went 1‐2‐3 in the long jump with wins also going to former Buff Bay prospect Romaine Beckford and Ackelia Smith in the men’s high jump and the women’s long jump. Like Hibbert, Beckford won the NCAA indoor AND outdoor tles. His ascendancy comes within memory of the gold medal secured for Jamaica by Brandon Ponger at the 2022 World Under‐20 Championships. One never can tell, but perhaps Beckford, Ponger or the home‐based pair of Lushane Wilson and Kristoff Bryan will eventually match or surpass the fih‐place finish by the late Germaine Mason in the 2003 World Championships. Jamaica has been brilliant in the women’s 100‐metre hurdles ever since the days of Michelle Freeman, Dionne Rose and Gillian Russell. With 2006 Commonwealth winner Maurice
Two days after long jumper Tajay Gayle gave Jamaica its rst global gold medal in a eld event, Fedrick Dacres threw 66.94 metres to take silver at the 2019 Doha World Championships.
Wignall as a role model, our men have operated at the same level with exemplars like Omar McLeod, Hansle Parchment, Ronald Levy and now Rasheed Broadbell. With the women’s sprints producing 1‐2‐3 sweeps at the 2021 Olympics and the 2022 Worlds, all that’s le is a return to glory for our male sprinters. Once again, the signs are good. Seville was a good fourth in the 100 in Oregon last year and Bouwahgjie Nkrumie has hit the jackpot twice. He was second at the World Under‐20s and at Boys’ and Girls’ Championships, he lowered the Class 1 and Jamaica under‐20 records to 9.99 seconds. Best of all, Nkrumie isn’t alone. The 2022 CARIFTA champions Deandre Daley (100) and Bryan Levell (200) both have excing potenal. The brightest prospect of them all is Akeem Blake of the Titans Track Club, where Frater is one of his coaches. Blake reached
the Eugene semis, and this year has blitzed the 100 in 9.89 seconds. The future is uncharted, but one possibility sees Jamaica with world‐class competors not only in the sprints but also in the hurdles, jumps and throws. I won’t speak for you, but I can see Jamaica teams exceeding the 2009 Berlin bonanza of 13 medals with 7 gold. The World Under‐20s provided a sneak peek. With 16 medals flying in from all angles, Jamaica nabbed 6 gold medals and ten others on the podium. It was an all‐me benchmark produced by a team of all‐round quality and depth. Oen, we refer to athlecs compeons as “track meets,” but the phrase betrays a long‐ held atude that ignores field events. This new wave of field eventers and their coaches are changing that view and bringing us closer to a Jamaican team that truly fires on all cylinders.
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