Dwyer eyes sub-20 seconds in 200m at National Champs

Reigning National 200 metres champion Rasheed Dwyer has a personal best of 19.80 seconds for the distance but the last time he went sub-20 seconds in the half-lap event was seven years ago at the 2015 Pan American Games in Toronto, Canada.

Dwyer says he is very determined to break the 20-seconds barrier again when he competes at the National Championships this weekend. Conditioned by veteran coach Maurice Wilson at the SprinTec Track Club based at G.C. Foster College in St Catherine, Dwyer ran his personal best time in the semi-finals of the 200m before returning to clock 19.90 seconds to place second in the Pan Am Games final.

The 33-year-old has only run two 200m races this year after a number of “niggling injuries”, and currently holds a season’s best time of 20.65.

He told The Gleaner that he has been preparing himself mentally and physically for the championships and he is now ready and raring to go.

“I want to go below the 20-seconds barrier this year hopefully, because I have been putting in a lot of training throughout the background season and hopefully it will come together when it should,” said Dwyer.

“Every year, I have been very close to it, I have run like 20.1 and so it is full time for me to go beyond the 20 seconds, but I am not putting any pressure on myself, but that is definitely the objective this year,” he said.

Dwyer’s season’s best time makes him the joint fourth-fastest Jamaican this year behind his compatriot Nigel Ellis, who is the fastest Jamaican in the event for 2022 with a time of 20.43.

He pointed out that the 200m field at the championships is going to be very competitive but he is confident that he will finish in the top three and secure his place on the team, because his main focus is to be on the podium at the World Championships.

“I want to make the team and go to the World Championships and make the final and to be on the podium. However, it is going to be really hard because the competition in the world is considerably high,” Dwyer said.

“I have been getting myself mentally prepared because the work has already been put in throughout the season. So it is more mental right now,” he said. “Once I go out there and I am not injured, then I definitely have a shot at the podium at the Trials, but the 200m is going to be very competitive because I think that there are some tremendous guys out there,” he said. Dwyer, who won gold as a member of the 4x100m squad at the 2015 World Athletics Championships in Beijing, China, placed seventh in the 200m final at last year’s Tokyo Olympic Games.