Sixth National Champs title for Russell a bridge too far?

JANIEVE RUSSELL has not been the best Jamaican over the 400-metre hurdles this season, but it wouldn’t count as the first time she has come from nowhere to win a National Championships.

In fact, the national champion didn’t look like she would have earned that title, her fifth, either.

The 30-year-old is, as it stands, not even sure of making it to the Olympics, with Shiann Salmon, Andrenette Knight, and Rushell Clayton all going faster than her 54.99-second season’s best.

Clayton, who was third at the National Championships last year, has been brilliant this year, only losing once, with a season’s best of 53.72 seconds.

Salmon, who was fourth at last year’s National Champions, more popularly known as Trials, has a point to prove ahead of the Olympics, and she has shown the form to prove it, having run 54.27 to be the second-quickest Jamaican.

Knight finished second at the last Trials, and her 54.62 suggests that she is certainly in the frame to challenge for a ticket to France.

None of Knight, Salmon, or Clayton has been to an Olympics, while Russell has been to two and even has a 4x400 bronze medal to her name.

The question is, could the chasm in championship experience and Trials experience for the five-time winner come to bear in a few days’ time?