Strong 45-member U-20 squad off to Cali

Tina Clayton, the defending female 100 metres champion, heads a strong 45-member squad which left the island yesterday for the August 1-6 World Athletics Under-20 Championships in Cali, Colombia.

The team will be hoping to emulate the island’s performance in Nairobi, Kenya, a year ago where the athletes pocketed 11 medals, including three gold, to finish fifth on the medal table.

Following another excellent season the Jamaica team is expected to have another great championships despite the presence of big rivals the United States, who did not attend last year’s meet.

Several Jamaican athletes are highly ranked in their events into the championships. Tina, who won last year’s 100m in a then personal best (PB) 11.09 seconds, has gone faster this season, lowering her PB to 10.96 in winning the National junior title in June . She is ranked at number two on the World Athletics Top list but it is unlikely that World number one, Tamaria Davis of the United States, with a best of 10.91, will be in Cali.

Tina’s teammate at Edwin Allen High School , Serena Cole, with a season’s and personal best 11.13 is ranked at number four. Tina and her sister Tia, who recently signed a contract with Nike, will both be competing professionally for the first time.

The outstanding Brianna Lyston, a finalist in the 200m last year, could go all the way in the event this year where she is ranked number three after clocking a season’s and personal best 22.53. Lyston was fourth in the event last year but was disqualified after a lane violation.

A year ago, Jamaica’s Ackera Nugent grabbed gold in the women’s 100m hurdles in 12.98 seconds and Hydel High School’s Kerrica Hill who finished seventh in the 100m last year is in top form in the hurdles and could make it back-to-back wins in the event for Jamaica. Hill is the world leader in the event with 12.95. Teammate Alexis James of Petersfield High School is ranked number four in the event with 13.13. Hill’s teammate at Hydel, Oneika Wilson, is ranked number two with 13.00 but was ruled out of the National Championships with an injury.

After a world record performance of 42.94 seconds in the 4x100 metres relay last year in Nairobi , the same quartet of Tina and Tia Clayton, Hill and Cole will be in Cali. At the Carifta Games earlier this year the team with Lyston replacing Hill blazed to a super fast 42.58 in Kingston, but the time was not ratified as a world record by World Athletics as a member of the team was not drug-tested after the event.

Among the males, Kingston College’s Jaydon Hibbert is the country’s best hope for an individual medal. Hibbert, the Carifta Games Under-20 champion, is the world leader in the men’s triple jump with 16.66 metres, and another big jump is expected from the University of Arkansas-bound athlete.