Photo: Javon Francis will make his Olympic debut in a very stacked heat on Friday.
Since running that amazing 45.00 flat in the Boys 400m final at the ISSA/Grace Kennedy Boys and Girls Championships in 2014 to win gold for Calabar High school, Javon Francis has quickly risen to the position as Jamaica’s premier quarter miler.
While not holding the national record, Francis has been the most consistent 400m runner in the country over the past few seasons and no one will soon forget his amazing anchor leg in 2013 in the men’s 4x400m in Russia where he helped secure an unlikely bronze medal for Jamaica.
Francis enjoyed very little success at the World Championships in Beijing, China last year, but a year later and a year wiser, the 21year old is looking to make an impact at the Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
Just what Francis has to offer the world will be put to the test quite early, as he will face a very tough field, running out of lane eight in heat three of the 400m on day one of track and field. He will have running behind him in lane one, Luguelin Santos of the Dominican Republic who won silver at the London Olympics in 2012. Jonathan Borlee of Belgium who is a seasoned campaigner runs out of lane 6 and a little matter of the World Champion, Wayde Van Niekerk of South Africa will be on his immediate inside in lane 7.
Running blind out of lane 8 means that Francis will be forced to go hard from the gun and maintain his form on the wide outside lane, if he is to secure one of the two automatic spots that will get him into the second round of competition. He may need to go faster than his current personal best of 44.50 just to make it to the semi-finals.
The stage is now set for Javon Francis to show his true pedigree against the best quarter milers in the world, as he begins his journey to write his name alongside the Jamaican greats such as Arthur Wint and Herb McKenley.
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