Sat | Jul 6, 2024

Pryce, Smith sign professional contracts

Published:Thursday | July 4, 2024 | 12:07 AM
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Nickisha Pryce (centre) runs to a second national title during the JAAA/PUMA National Junior and Senior Championships inside the National Stadium on the weekend. Stacey-Ann Williams (right) was second.
Gladstone Taylor/Multimedia Photo Editor
Nickisha Pryce (centre) runs to a second national title during the JAAA/PUMA National Junior and Senior Championships inside the National Stadium on the weekend. Stacey-Ann Williams (right) was second.
Ackelia Smith competing in the women’s long jump on the opening day of the JAAA/PUMA National Junior and Senior Championships at the National Stadium.
Gladstone Taylor/Multimedia Photo Editor
Ackelia Smith competing in the women’s long jump on the opening day of the JAAA/PUMA National Junior and Senior Championships at the National Stadium.
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NICKISHA PRYCE and Ackelia Smith are the latest Jamaicans to join the ranks of professionals.

Pryce, who won the national title over 400 metres this weekend at the JAAA/National Junior and Senior Championships, was also the NCAA National Division One Championships winner.

Running for the University of Arkansas, Pryce won the NCAAs in a national record, 48.89 seconds, breaking the 49.30 decades-old record of Lorraine Fenton.

The 23-year-old was winning her second national title in as many years, this time, stopping the clock at 50.01 to do so.

Pryce’s first challenge will be the Diamond League meeting in London.

Representing the University of Texas, the 22-year-old Smith also had a good season.

Smith won the Division One long and triple jumps.

At the national Trials, Smith won the long jump with 6.53 metres, before going on to finish second in the triple jump with a hop, skip, and jump of 14.44.

Shanieka Ricketts claimed her sixth national title with a jump of 14.53.

The two Jamaicans join Shericka Jackson and Elaine Thompson Herah, while internationally, the brand includes Olympic champion Italy’s Marcell Jacobs, 5000-metre runner Konstanze, marathon runner Molly Siedel, and 200-metre Olympic champion Andre de Grasse, pole vault world record holder Mondo Duplantis, high jumper Yaroslava Machuchikh, and St Lucia’s Julien Alfred.