Sat | Apr 27, 2024

‘Miracle’ sprinter driven by disappointment

Published:Tuesday | January 16, 2024 | 12:10 AMHubert Lawrence/Gleaner Writer
Michael Campbell (foreground) winner of the Men’s B 100m final at last year’s Racers Grand Prix at the National Stadium. Campbell won the event in 10.08 seconds.
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Michael Campbell (foreground) winner of the Men’s B 100m final at last year’s Racers Grand Prix at the National Stadium. Campbell won the event in 10.08 seconds.

Driven by disappointment, ‘miracle’ sprinter Michael Campbell has come into the new year fit and ready. His improved physical condition has given him an optimistic view on the Olympic year and his chances to represent Jamaica again.

Campbell, a product of May Day High, Jamaica College and the University of Technology, began his Olympic campaign last Saturday at the JAAA/PUMA Fuller/Anderson Development Meet at G.C. Foster College. Competing over 60 metres, the 27-year-old logged the fifth-fastest time of the day - 6.72 seconds, just 0.1 off the personal best he established at last year’s Gibson-McCook Relays at the end of February.

“I feel in good shape,” he said after the race, “because I’ve been working much harder than last year. I’ve been putting in the work and I feel fit and ready to go for 2024.”

His big 2023 disappointment came at the National Championships. In the weeks just before the Nationals, he ran his personal best - 10.07 seconds - with a time of 10.08 at the Racers Grand Prix but things didn’t quite click. He was sixth in the 100m final, and it hurt.

“I feel like I failed myself, but then again, it’s part of the track and field life, so I’ve just picked myself up this season and going back after it,” Campbell revealed at G.C. Foster.

All of those ahead of him - surprise winner Rohan Watson, Ryiem Forde, Oblique Seville, Ackeem Blake and Tyquendo Tracey - made it to the Budapest World Championships, with Seville and Forde placing fourth and eighth, respectively.

His MVP clubmates Watson and Kishane Thompson both broke the 10-second barrier at the Nationals, and Campbell’s work in the weight room is telling him that his sub-10 moment isn’t far off.

“I will break it this year,” he replied definitively. “I’m feeling fit. I can do stuff this year that I wasn’t doing last year in the weight room,” he explained.

Whatever happens, Campbell is already a sprinting miracle. Weeks after he did sprint relay duty for Jamaica at the 2017 World Championships in London, England, he suffered debilitating injuries in a car accident in Jamaica.

At first, there was fear for his life.

However, he regained his health and came back to the track in 2019, registering a 100m time of 10.68 seconds. After a 10.67 in the COVID-19 lockdown season of 2020, he ran season bests of 10.24 in 2021, 10.13 in 2022, and 10.08 in 2023.