Levy best chance of hurdles medal – Russell-Love
Published:Tuesday | July 20, 2021 | 12:08 AMHubert Lawrence/Gleaner Writer
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Jamaica’s best chance of an Olympic medal in the hurdling events will come in the men’s 110m event. That is the forecast from 1998 Commonwealth 100m hurdles winner Gillian Russell-Love. However, the Olympian ranks Grant Holloway, the American who...
Jamaica’s best chance of an Olympic medal in the hurdling events will come in the men’s 110m event. That is the forecast from 1998 Commonwealth 100m hurdles winner Gillian Russell-Love.
However, the Olympian ranks Grant Holloway, the American who has come within a whisker of the world record (12.80 seconds by Aries Merritt), as a runaway favourite.
“I believe our best chance is in the men’s hurdles,” she reasoned last week in reference to the Jamaican trio of 2018 Commonwealth Games winner Ronald Levy, NCAA Indoor 60m hurdles champion Damion Thomas, and 2012 Olympic bronze medallist Hansle Parchment. “If we make it to the final, I think we’re in for the minor medals because I don’t think I see anybody else stamping themselves after Holloway, so I believe our best chance is in the men’s 110m.”
World Champion in 2019, Holloway scared the record with a sizzling 12.81s run at the recent US Trials.
‘PHYSICALLY PERFECT’
“How tall is he? Six-foot-two and five feet of that is legs,” Russell-Love said. “He’s just physically perfect for this event. And then he has the raw speed. Then he has the perfect technique. I don’t see how anybody can beat him.”
Despite the presence of 2015 World Champion Sergey Shubenkov and 2016 Olympic bronze medallist Orlando Ortega, Russell-Love believes the race for silver and bronze in Tokyo is wide open.
“I always feel we’re in the mix, but it’s going to take a near-perfect race to get on the podium,” she said.
Levy isn’t far off his personal best of 13.03s, after times of 13.08s and 13.10s at the National Senior Championships (Trials) last month, with Thomas setting a personal best of 13.11s in the runner-up slot, and Parchment, the 2015 World silver medal winner, third in 13.16s.
With reference to the women’s 100m hurdles, won for the second time at the Nationals by Megan Tapper, she said, “If we get one person in the final in the women’s event, I’d be happy. I think it’s going to be tough.”
Russell-Love says that Jamaicans will contest the final for the women’s 400m hurdles.
“As far as the women’s 400m hurdles is concerned, I believe we could probably get one or two in the final, but not on the medal stand,” she said of 2016 finalists Janieve Russell, Leah Nugent, and 2019 Central American and Caribbean Championships winner Ronda Whyte.
Russell-Love is encouraged by the performance at Trials by 2014 and 2016 World under-20 champion Jaheel Hyde. The lightly raced 24-year-old walloped his personal best down to 48.18s in his third 400m hurdles contest of the year.
“I was really excited to see that Jaheel ran well at Trials,” she said. “I don’t think he has enough races to get in the mix, but I’m hoping he can reach the final, just to see what that’s going to feel like and to prepare for in the future.”