Champions of the lanes

Jamaica’s status as a sprint giant has been underlined by the latest edition of a list of world records for each lane on the track. Updated recently by the American publication Track And Field News, the list shows how good Jamaicans have been in the 200 metres and the 4x100 metres.

The list reviews the best performance in each lane for the 200m, 400m, 400 metres hurdles and the 4x100m, with Jamaica most prominent in the men’s 200m and 4x100m and the women’s 4x100m.

Usain Bolt scorched lane five to lower his own 200m world record to 19.19 seconds at the 2009 World Athletics Championships in Berlin, Germany. His compatriots, Yohan Blake and Jason Young, account for three more entries on the list, with Blake having the best times ever for lanes seven and four, 19.26 and 19.44, respectively.

Young holds the lane-two world record at 19.86 in 2012.

Jamaica, with four entries, Canada and the USA are the only countries on this list for the 4x100m. Jamaica rules lanes four to seven, with the world record of 36.84 seconds set by Nesta Carter, Michael Frater, Blake and Bolt in lane five at the 2012 Olympic Games.

The women’s world 200m record - 21.34 seconds - was set in lane five by American Florence Griffith Joyner. World champion Shericka Jackson now has the lane four and six records at 21.45 and 21.55, and 2016 and 2021 Olympic champion Elaine Thompson-Herah is the fastest of all time in lane seven at 21.53 seconds.

Jamaica and the USA each have four entries on the women’s 4x100m list. The Americans were in lane seven when they set the world-record 40.82 seconds at the 2012 Olympics, with Jamaica owning the best performances from lanes four, five, six and eight.

The lane-eight run by Briana Williams, Thompson-Herah, Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce and Jackson established a national record of 41.02 seconds at the 2021 Olympics.

The only other Jamaican to appear on this list is 400m hurdler Melaine Walker. Her time of 52.73 seconds for the silver medal at the 2011 World Championships was accomplished from lane eight.

There is an additional Caribbean presence, as Bahamian Shaunae Miller-Uibo clocked the fastest-ever lane-seven 400m time - 48.36 seconds - to repeat as Olympic champion last year.