Sat | Jul 6, 2024

National champions take on the world before Olympics

Published:Thursday | July 4, 2024 | 12:07 AMRaymond Graham/Gleaner Writer
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Hansle Parchment (right) looks across at Rasheed Broadbell (centre) and Orlando Bennett during the JAAA/PUMA National Junior and Senior Championships on Sunday.
Ian Allen/Photographer
Hansle Parchment (right) looks across at Rasheed Broadbell (centre) and Orlando Bennett during the JAAA/PUMA National Junior and Senior Championships on Sunday.
Malik James-King (centre) powers to the finish line during the men’s 400-metre hurdles final at the National Stadium on Friday. Roshawn Clarke (right) and Jaheel Hyde were the second and third-place finishers, respectively.
Gladstone Taylor/Multimedia Photo Editor
Malik James-King (centre) powers to the finish line during the men’s 400-metre hurdles final at the National Stadium on Friday. Roshawn Clarke (right) and Jaheel Hyde were the second and third-place finishers, respectively.
Shanieka Ricketts in the women’s triple jump during the JAAA/PUMA National Junior and Senior Championships inside the National Stadium on Saturday.
Ian Allen/Photographer
Shanieka Ricketts in the women’s triple jump during the JAAA/PUMA National Junior and Senior Championships inside the National Stadium on Saturday.
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DEFENDING OLYMPIC champion Hansle Parchment and world champion Grant Halloway of the United States will renew battle in the men’s 110-metre hurdles on July 12 at the Meeting Herculis EBS, Wanda Diamond League in Monaco.

Despite indifferent form this season, with Parchment only managing third at the JAAA/PUMA National Junior and Senior Championships on Sunday and a season’s best of just 13.19, there is still expected to be an epic clash with Halloway, who has a world-leading 12.88.

With just two weeks between the Meeting Herculis and the Olympic Games, the winner would grab an important psychological advantage.

Despite dominating this event among his peers, Halloway, who is known for his very quick start, will be wary of the slow-starting Parchment, who beat him at the Tokyo Olympics.

At the recent Jamaica ‘Trials’, Parchment got off to a very good start and if he can replicate that, he could give the American a lot to think about just ahead of the Paris Olympics.

The United States’ Cordell Tinch, with a season’s best 13.03 and Japan’s Shunsuke Izumiya with a season’s best 13.17, could make it an even more interesting affair.

After a breakout season, Malik James-King will face an acid test when he competes in the men’s 400-metre hurdles.

After an upset win over defending champion Roshawn Clarke at the JAAA/PUMA National Junior and Senior Championships, producing a personal best of 47.42 seconds, James-King will face a crack field, led by world record holder Karsten Warholm of Norway, who has a season’s best 46.70 seconds.

Others in the field include Allison Dos Santos of Brazil, whose season best is 46.65, and Qatar’s Abderrahman Samba, who has a season-best 47.97 and a personal best of 46.98.

After a massive upset to win the men’s 400 metres finals at the Trials in a new personal-best 44.48 seconds, to be crowned new national champion, Deandre Watkin will make his first Diamond League appearance.

The Jamaican will battle world leader Christopher Morales Williams of Canada, along with the United States trio of Quincy Hall, Vernon Norwood, and Michael Norman.

Triple jumper Shanieka Ricketts is the other Jamaican down to compete.

The six-time national champion will be hoping to improve on her season’s best of 14.58 metres so she can take advantage of the absence of Venezuela’s Yulimar Rojas.

But the lanky Jamaicans isn’t the only person thinking this way.

Dominica’s Thea Lafond with an indoor jump of 15.01; Leyanis Pérez Hernández of Cuba with 14.90 metres outdoors; her teammate Liadagmis Povea with a best of 14.73; and Spain’s Ana Peleteiro-Compaoré with a season-best 14.85, all have similar chances of Olympic glory.