Dacres had his best throw in three years at the 2023 Tucson Elite Classic on Thursday.
Fedrick Dacres threw a season’s best 68.57m to win the men’s discus at the 2023 Tucson Elite Classic on Thursday.
The 2019 World Championship silver medalist had three throws over 67m (67.84m, 68.27, 68.57) that exceeded the 2023 World Championships qualifying standard of 67.20m and makes him the third Jamaican behind Roje Stona and Traves Smikle to achieve the standard this season.
Samoa's Alex Rose, who has thrown over 70m this season, finished in second place with 66.91m with Sam Mattis throwing 64.64m to snag third place.
It was a welcome performance from Dacres, who delivered his best performance with the disc since he threw 69.67m at Excelsior High School in Kingston in February 2020.
The 29-year-old Dacres, the 2018 Commonwealth Games, NACAC and Diamond League champion, who boasts a personal best of 70.78m, a national record, has been hampered by injury and have undergone surgeries on his knees and wrist in the past few years.
Thursday’s performance makes him the sixth-best thrower in the world this year supplanting his training partner and friend, Smike, whose achieved his personal best of 68.14m in Kingston in February and just behind Stona, whose personal best effort of 68.64m came on May 13 in Baton Rouge.
The mark was also more than two metres better than his previous season-best of 66.32m in February.
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Carifta Under-20 discus champion Abigail Martin to attend Texas A&M University
Jamaican discus thrower Abigail Martin will get to display her skills on the NCAA circuit next season after committing to Texas A&M University, the school announced on Thursday.
“A good one for the throws squad,” the school posted on Instagram.
Martin, currently at St. Jago, has a personal best in the event of 55.87m done at the JAAA Budapest Quest meet at the National Stadium in Kingston on May 27.
The 19-year-old took discuss silver in the Class 1 Girls event at the ISSA Grace Kennedy Boys and Girls Championships in March before, a week later, winning Under-20 gold at the Carifta Games in the Bahamas.
Oblique Seville and Ackeem Blake withdraw but still plenty to look forward to at Racers Grand Prix
Oblique Seville and Ackeem Blake have been withdrawn from this weekend’s Racers Grand Prix at the National Stadium in Kingston.
Fresh off his lifetime best 9.89 while defeating Coleman at last weekend’s LA Grand Prix there was much anticipation for the rematch between Blake and the American this coming Saturday.
Blake ran a personal best of 9.89 to defeat Coleman (9.91) but according to his coaches, the 22-year-old sprinter was a bit sore after that run and only managed to resume training on Wednesday. As a result, they have taken a decision to withdraw him from the meet as a precaution.
Seville, reliable sources have said, suffered a hamstring injury in training and won’t run on Saturday. Calls to his coach Glen Mills went unanswered but Seville’s name was not among the remaining names on the men’s 100m start list for Saturday’s meet.
Notwithstanding their absence, there is still plenty to look forward to at the meet that will feature World 200m champions Noah Lyles and Shericka Jackson, Zharnel Hughes and Wayde van Niekerk.
There is also a potential mouth-watering clash between the 2022 100m hurdles world champion and world record holder Tobi Amusan of Nigeria and teenage sensation, World U20 Champion and U20 world record holder Kerrica Hill.
Commonwealth Games champion Rasheed Broadbell and Olympic Champion will go head-to-head in the men’s sprint hurdles.
Carifta Under-17 double silver medallist, Naomi London, wants to help put St. Lucian sprinting on the map- “St. Lucia has a lot of talent!"
Carifta Under-17 Girls 100m and 200m silver medallist, Naomi London, wants to help put her country on the track & field map.
The 16-year-old St. Lucian sprinter has enjoyed an excellent season, so far, with her best results coming at the 50th Carifta Games held from April 7-9 at the Thomas Robinson Stadium in Nassau, The Bahamas.
The Vieux-Fort native first ran 11.72 to claim silver in the 100m, her country’s first ever sprint medal at the Caribbean junior showcase.
The Vieux-Fort Comprehensive Secondary School attendee then produced 23.72 for silver in the 200.
“I went out there to get the gold but God gave me the silver so my Carifta season went pretty well. I executed my race as planned and I got on the podium,” London said on the latest edition of In Case You Missed It hosted by Mariah Ramharack on SportsMax.TV
“It felt great that I had some competition in the race. I was competing with some of the best and I pulled through to get on that podium so, right now, I feel great about myself,” she added.
After her Carifta exploits, London said she returned home to a celebration.
“Oh my gosh! A lot of celebration happened. When I got home, everybody was around and just cheering ‘Naomi London! Naomi London!’ It was so much support. I love the fact that my community supports me no matter what I do,” she said.
Although happy with her silver medals, London expressed her desire to one day upgrade to gold.
“It would be a life-changer for me and for my country,” she said. “Gold is many, many more than silver.”
London also does well in the classroom and credits good time-management skills and sacrifice for that.
“I prioritize my work and I do have good time-management skills. After I come home from training, I will sacrifice the time to go study or do an assignment,” she said.
Her next quest on the track will be at the Commonwealth Youth Games set for August 4-11 in Trinidad & Tobago.
“One of my goals is to medal at the Commonwealth Youth Games and my second goal is to run a personal best at any meet that I attend,” London said.
To date, St. Lucia’s greatest export on the track is current University of Texas star and Commonwealth Games 100m silver medallist Julien Alfred, someone London says she looks up to.
“Julien Alfred is one of my inspirations from young. Me and her grew up in the same field in track and field. She used to run in the higher division and I used to always look out for her and we used to talk about all the races. I’m very proud of her achievements,” she said.
“I would say the success of the St Lucian athletes is making the young athletes want to do more and want to go out there to represent their country. I think track is a great sport and St Lucia has a lot of talent. We can go out there, do our best and put our country on the map,” London added.
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