Fitz Coleman, the reason for it all

OLYMPIC 110 METRES hurdles champion Hansle Parchment has dedicated his 2023 World Championships silver medal to his coach, Fitz Coleman.

Earlier this week, Parchment described Coleman as a guiding force in all his achievements.

Parchment raced into second place at the World Athletics Championships in Budapest, Hungary, garnering a silver medal to match the one he earned in 2015. Writing on social media on Monday, the 33-year-old hurdler said: “This year’s World Championships in Budapest was special as I received a second medal for my coach. Mr Fitz Coleman has been my coach for 14 years and counting.”

The partnership has produced a series of historic feats. In 2011, after Parchment went to the University of the West Indies, he won the World University Games gold medal, the first for Jamaica in the hurdles. A year later, he won Jamaica’s first Olympic medal in the 110 hurdles, with third place in London, England.

The tall St Thomas native was the first Jamaican to break 13 seconds - with a run clocked in 12.94 in Paris in 2014 - and his silver at the 2015 Worlds was the first for the island at those Championships.

“He has been a friend and a mentor,” Parchment wrote about the soft-spoken Coleman.

Coleman’s steady work helped Parchment to become Olympic champion in 2021. This year, he lowered his personal best to 12.93 seconds weeks after his runner-up finish in Budapest. Parchment’s new personal best came in Eugene, Oregon, in a performance that won the 110-metre hurdles at the season-ending Diamond League final.

The only Jamaican to go faster is 2016 Olympic winner Omar McLeod, who holds the national record at 12.90 seconds.

Before he coached Parchment, Coleman was a key member in a formidable Calabar High School coaching team, headed by the late Herb McKenley, before successful stints as head coach at Wolmer’s Boys’ and Ardenne High School, developing hurdlers and sprinters of distinction.

Coleman has also served as coach to Jamaican teams at several international championships, including the Olympics and the Worlds.

“He’s been a guiding force in all my achievements, and I want to send a heartfelt thanks as he deserves this medal as much as I do.”