Photo: Back to back 100m and 200m Olympic gold medalist Usain Bolt will begin his hunt for Olympic immortality at the Jamaica Olympic trials which begins in Kingston, Jamaica on Thursday.
As we look forward to what is being projected to be one of the most thrilling and keenly contested National Senior Championships in recent memory, our preview series take a look at the 100m sprints in which two Jamaicans chase sprinting immortality.
Jamaica has the reigning Olympic champion for both female and male100m in Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce and Usain Bolt. They managed to defend their crowns that they first won in 2008 at the London Olympics in 2012.
Fraser Pryce will be looking to win a third straight Olympic title but her route to this historic feat will not be simple neither will it be as easy as she would hope. The National trials will be the first major hurdle to overcome, this upcoming weekend. A toe injury that hampered her early season preparation and limited her appearances across the circuit, is not yet fully healed but the diminutive sprinter is still confident she can prove to world why she is dubbed the ‘Pocket Rocket’.
Her season best run of 11.09 seconds and only victory, came at the Racers Track and Field Grand Prix earlier this month. The MVP sprinter has not lost any of the contested national 100m races since her third place finish in 2008.
2014 National champion Veronica Campbell-Brown with a season’s best time of 10.83 seconds, also achieved in June 2016, will be lining up as one of the pre-race favourites, as she aims to secure her # national 100m crown and a spot to the Rio Olympics. The double Olympic bronze medallist (2004 & 2012) over the 100m is the fastest Jamaican woman this season and is currently fourth on the IAAF world rankings for 2016.
The newly established kid on the block and one who is looking for her first national title is 2015 World Championship 200M silver medal winner, Elaine Thompson. The Stephen Francis coached sprinter has been doing pretty well on the track and field circuit and is currently ranked fifth among the females for 2016, with a time of 10.87 seconds also done in June.
The marquee sprinter had earlier defended her Jamaican International Invitational Meeting crown with a wind assisted run of 10.71 seconds and earlier in the season secured the bronze medal over 60m at the World Indoor Championships in March.
Another sprinter who are expected to challenge for a top three finish at this weekend’s championship are experienced campaigner Kerron Stewart who will be gunning for a spot to her third Olympics. Her best achievement individually was a joint silver medal in 2008. Her season best stands at 11.19 seconds. Simone Facey has also been looking good in the 100m for 2016 and her 11.00 seconds season best effort could see her being a top contender this year. The 31 year old athlete has never ran the 100m at the Olympic and will be trying to achieve that feat this year.
The likes of Christiania Williams, Remona Burchell, Gayon Evans, Jura Levy, Samantha Henry Robinson, Schillonie Calvert, Sasha Lee Forbes and 2015 runner up Natasha Morrison will be among the top athletes lining up at the national championships. The most noticeable absentee is Sherone Simpson who misses trials due to pregnancy.
In the men’s 100m, Usain Bolt will be looking to start his bid for Olympic immortality when he steps out for the National Championships. Last year he was forced to withdraw from the championship due to injury, but still went on to defend his World titles in Beijing.
It is pretty much without question, a sure spot for the superstar, bearing in mind that he competes and completes the event at the championship. He enters the race with a season’s best of 9.88 seconds, which ranks him top amongst Jamaicans and second on the IAAF rankings.
2015 National Champion Asafa Powell will have to battle tougher fields this year, with the return of Bolt and also 2012 national champion Yohan Blake. Powell finished fourth behind both men at the inaugural Racers Grand Prix Meet in June. He subsequently revealed that he suffered an injury in that race and is working to regain fitness before the start of the trials.
His season best time of 9.98 seconds might not be good enough to grant him a top three finish and it might even take a time faster than the 9.84 seconds he ran last year to secure him an individual spot to his fourth Olympic Games.
Defending Olympic silver medallist and 2011 World Champion over the 100m, Yohan Blake, is back on board and is ready to relive his 2012 exploits as he looks to contest the upcoming championship. He is currently ranked eighth globally with a season best time of 9.95 seconds. He was the last Jamaican to beat the Bolt at a National Championship and will be looking to snatch another title and a ticket to the Rio Olympic Games.
Twice runner-up over 100m at the last two senior championships, Nickel Ashmeade will be looking to repeat or better that performance which will guarantee him a spot on the team to Rio. He ran 9.94 seconds for second at the Racers Grand Prix and knows quite well that he will have to repeat that less than a month later.
The 2014 runner up Jason Livermore, was another standout performer at the Racers Meet will be looking to produce another fast race to run himself into a top spot and a ticket to Rio. He achieved a 10.03 season best and personal best time at that meet while winning the ‘B’ Race, but he is quite aware that it might take more than that to get among the top six and moreover into the top three.
The chasing packed is loaded with a host of other outstanding talents. The likes of 2014 Commonwealth champion Kemar Bailey-Cole will be among the top contenders, veteran Michael Frater, the inform Senoj-Jay Givans, Warren Weir, Julian Forte, Rasheed Dwyer and 2016 Intercollegiate and past national champion Oshane Bailey,
2016 Boys Champs winner out of St Elizabeth Technical, Nigel Ellis, along with a possible showing from hurdler Omar McLeod should make for an interesting match up.
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