Jackson, Watson top RJRGLEANER awards
Published:Saturday | January 20, 2024 | 12:10 AMGregory Bryce/Gleaner Writer
World champions Shericka Jackson and Antonio Watson have capped off their impressive 2023 seasons with the prestigious RJRGLEANER Sports Foundation’s National Sportswoman and Sportsman of the Year awards at The Jamaica Pegasus hotel in New Kingston last night.
Jackson’s win came after a stellar 2023 season where she successfully defended the women’s 200 metres title at the 2023 World Athletics Championships in Budapest, Hungary. She clocked an impressive time of 21.41 seconds, setting a new national record and running the second-fastest time ever in the event.
Jackson added to an already impressive season with silver in both the women’s 100m and the 4x100m at the World Championships before securing the Diamond League titles in both the 100m and the 200m.
She had missed out on the women’s World Athlete of the Year award last month to Kenyan middle distance runner, Faith Kipyegon, but last night, Jackson had no peer as she accepted the award.
On the men’s side, Watson beat out the other nominees to be awarded the Sportsman of the Year award for the first time. Watson closed out a 2023 season he will never forget after bringing home his first senior title when he powered past Britain’s Matthew Hudson-Smith in a time of 44.22.
Watson, who had been making waves since his days at the ISSA/GraceKennedy Boys and Girls’ Athletics Championships and is highly decorated at the junior level, stepped up to the plate and saw his efforts acknowledged last night.
In a year where he also set a new personal best 44.13 in the World Championships semifinals, the 22-year-old etched his name in history as his win also signalled Jamaica’s first men’s 400m title in 40 years. Bert Cameron won the first World 400m title in Helsinki in 1983.
Watson also captured the People’s Choice Award for his outstanding run in the men’s 400m final at the World Championships.
Other notable winners last night were Reggae Boyz captain Andre Blake received his sixth Athlete of the Year award in the category of football while drivers Fraser McConnell and Sara Misir walked home with the male and female awards for Athlete of the Year in the category of motorsports.