Olympic 200m bronze medallist Warren Weir, and Kemar Bailey-Cole, a 4x100m relay gold medallist and Jamaica's newest member of the sub-10 seconds 100m club, with a best of 9.97, lead that group, which also includes Jason Young, who has a personal best of 19.86 200m, and World Junior Championships 100m finalist Jazeel Murphy. "It's going to take a little time and depends on how well he adapts to the corrections and training and so forth though," [Mills] warned, before explaining some of the issues the lanky sprinter has had to overcome.
"I decided to change citizenship and jump for Jamaica, as I just felt like I needed a change," [Nicholas Thomas] explained. "I am in good shape but the weather messed me up - the rain and the wind. So it set the standards down a little bit." Thomas said after the event. "But it was good competition and I enjoyed it and, hopefully, I can go further in the next couple of weeks." "I am yet to burst on the senior level properly, but I have had a lot of injuries ... over the last four or five years." Thomas explained.
"I am not disappointed because right now I am unfit. I'm not at 100 per cent so I didn't expect anything," the Boys' Champs Class One champion told The Weekly Gleaner following his fourth place finish in Saturday night's, March 26, final at the Dwight Yorke Stadium. A silver medallist at last year's Carifta Games in Bermuda, [Rose] clocked 10.58 seconds, again beaten by last year's champion Daniel Bailey of Antigua & Barbuda (10.36).
Vaz Prep's Travis Johnson practices his technique under the watchful eyes of World 400 metres champion, Sanya Richards-Ross, as she assisted in the school's track-team training session. Looking on are Jahvid Ferguson and Alija Cox. The school is preparing for the upcoming inter-Prep Schools track and field athletics chamionships. "I am happy to be back at Vaz Prep because this school has a special place in my heart, because this was where it all began." said Richards-Ross, who pointed out that the institution played the most important part in her track and field career.
"I want to go," [Warren Weir] revealed. "From a very long time, I have said that there should be a meet somewhere on the European circuit that allows us to run the 4x200m." "Seeing that there is a meet in the Caribbean, I would want to go, even if the other Racers athletes are not thinking of going. I would like to put a team together and go," Weir said. "I want to have my name on a world-record plaque somewhere that will stand for a very long time and I don't think the big man (Bolt) will turn down a world record, so we should look forward to that." "It was a wonderful season and I am pleased with everything I have accomplished," Weir said. "Hopefully, I will be number one for the 200m. We will see when next season ends. But that would be only the icing on the cake."
With Bolt emerging as the overall 100m champion of the recently concluded Diamond League series he, along with defending 100m world champion Yohan Blake, qualified for a bye to the World Championships. "I think Blake has earned his right to compete in the 100m by winning the 100m at the last World Championships, so I was always going to run the 100m," he added. "For the 200m, that will have to be determined based on what the JAAA decides, because I think that they are the ones who pick which wild card they want," [Bolt] said.
World Youth 400 metres hurdles champion, Marvin Williams, of St Elizabeth Technical High School (STETHS) and Calabar High's Javon Francis were the stars at S's Youngster Goldsmith Meet at the National Stadium as both athletes clocked fast times in their respective events. Williams clocked 52.70 seconds to win the Boys' Under-20 400 metres hurdles event.
"I was scared for a bit (to come public) because everybody always know me as Novlene Williams-Mills and now they will know me as Novlene, the breast cancer survivor," Williams-Mills said. "It is approaching that time soon, being faced with breast cancer and for me, it is time to start thinking about my family and that is something I want to do soon," Williams-Mills shared. "I am just going to take it month by month and see everything, but I would love to be at the Commonwealth Games. I am not sure about Indoors as yet."
"We have to give God thanks for everything that we have accomplished and just look forward to 2012. We got a national record and I am really thankful to be a part of the team that did it. I'm grateful for my teammates and I think that with this team, we would definitely go far with more baton changes and we'll continue to give it our best shot," said [Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce]. Things didn't look too good for the Jamaicans in the semi-finals, which took place just over an hour prior to the final, as the baton exchanges between Fraser Pryce and [Kerron Stewart] on the first handover and Stewart and [Sherone Simpson] were terrible. But the latter believes that the experience of the girls helped to correct the problems in the short time that was available.
Jamaica closed out the 13th IAAF World Championships in Athletics in explosive fashion, bringing down the curtains with the championships' only world record; a blistering 37.04 seconds run in the men's 4x100m relay. In a race not void of incident, Bolt kept his cool, collected the baton from 10Om champion Yohan Blake and powered through to the finish to better the country's own 37.10 world record, which was set at the Belling Olympic Games in 2008.
