‘Nobody can match him’

RASHEED BROADBELL is the favourite to win the 110-metre hurdles at next month’s World Athletics Championships.

That’s the considered view of Maurice Wignall, the dean of Jamaican sprint hurdles. Wignall believes that Broadbell’s combination of speed and efficiency puts him ahead in the race for gold.

The tall Jamaican is undefeated this year and at the recent National Championships, he sliced through the competition to clock 12.94 seconds to move up to joint 14th alongside Hansle Parchment on the all-time world performance list. An impressed Wignall said, “Right now, if I had to make a prediction, I would say Broadbell is my favourite for the win, for the gold.”

Broadbell was eliminated at the semifinal stage in last year’s Worlds, but Wignall has seen something special from the Elite Performance Track Club hurdler in 2023.

“He has looked very spiffy, if I could use that word, for the whole entire season. He has been chomping down his times and getting very, very fast and his cadence between hurdles is second to none at this point,” Wignall reviewed, noting that Broadbell came to Nationals with a best of 13.08 and trimmed it to 13.06 in the first round before improving his lifetime benchmark from 12.99 to 12.94 in the final.

Wignall, the 2006 Commonwealth champion and a three-time World finalist himself, thinks Broadbell is so good that he will overcome the great Grant Holloway, the winner of the last two World titles.

“I’ve seen when he runs with Grant Holloway, and Grant Holloway has the same problem that he has over the years. He’s getting out very fast and he’s braking to hurdle 6, 7, which is now an opening for everybody to pass him because his long strides need to be shorter and quicker,” he analysed.

“Here now is the advantage of Broadbell, short quick strides, very powerful but very quick between,” he indicated.

Holloway lost to the Reynaldo Walcott-coached Broadbell twice last year in Budapest, Hungary, and Lausanne, Switzerland, and on May 28 this year, in Rabat, Morocco, 13.12 to 13.08.

Wignall, who coached Broadbell during his sojourn on the coaching staff at St Jago High School, did offer the Elite Performance star a word of wisdom.

“One thing I would caution though - not to be overconfident and take things for granted. Just focus on his execution, listen to the coach’s instructions and just not be too casual about what he needs to do.”

He cited a qualifying miss by Shericka Jackson in the 2021 Olympic 200-metre preliminary round as an example.

“It’s a little bit of caution to just stay hungry and continue to execute.

“If he does that, given his speed and everything, I really don’t think there is anybody that can match him.”