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.
Bradley Jacks is a budding journalist and an avid sports fan. His love of research and sports has led him to SportsMax.tv, a place where those passions work hand in hand to allow him to produce content.
Shericka Jackson on the verge of becoming the greatest women combined sprinter of all time
Two-time world 200m champion Shericka Jackson is now the second-best female combined sprinter of all time and could soon to become the greatest of all time if she runs faster in the 100m, 200m or 400m in the coming season.
As at the end of the 2022/2023 season when she won her second 200m world title in championship record time of 21.41 at the World Championships, Jackson now boasts personal best time of 10.65 in the 200m, 21.41 in the 200m and 49.47 in the 400m.
The super-talented Jamaican, who is also the only athlete to win global medals in all three events, has amassed ranking points of 1277 for her lifetime best of 10.65 in the 100m, 1301 for her national record time of 21.41 in the 200m and 1227 for her personal best 49.47 in the 400m for a tally of 3805 points.
Only one woman has more points and that is Germany’s Marita Koch, who ran times of 10.83 for the 100m, 21.71 for the 200m and a remarkable 47.60, the world record, for the 400m for a total of 3809 points.
It was not that long ago that Jackson was further down the list behind the likes of Florence Griffith-Joyner (3), Marion Jones (4), Shaunae Miller-Uibo (5), Allyson Felix (6), Gwen Torrence (7) and Marie Jose Perec, (8) all of whom are ranked among the top 10 best combined sprinters in history.
She is the highest-ranked Jamaican with the iconic Merlene Ottey (10.74/21.64/51.12) ranked 13th, Grace Jackson (11.08/21.72/49.57) ranked 16th and Veronica Campbell-Brown (10.76/21.74/52.24) ranked 22nd.
In fact, in 2021, Jackson was 21st in the list before her outstanding performances over the last three seasons saw her rocket up the list to the number two slot. In 2021, Jackson has lifetimes bests of 10.76/21.81/49.47 for the 100m, 200m and 400m, respectively.
Breaking the world record of 21.34 in the 200m, a goal that is well within her reach, dipping under 10.60 for the 100m or running 48 seconds over the 400m and she will take her rightful place of Greatest Of All Time among women combined sprinters.
Arnicka Louis hits four as St Lucia roll over Guadeloupe in Group B of League C
Arnicka Louis scored four goals to lead the way in a 5-1 victory for St Lucia at Guadeloupe in Group B of League C on the Road to the Concacaf Women's Gold Cup on Tuesday at the Stade Pierre-Aliker in Fort-de-France, Guadeloupe.
St Lucia came storming out of the ages, taking a 1-0 lead just one minute into the match when Shamalyn Albert made a dashing run down the left flank and crossed for Louis, who had an easy finish into net. It was the earliest goal scored by a player at this stage of the tournament.
Guadeloupe had a great chance at pulling level in the 20th on a well-struck left-footed free kick from Jalna Lepante, but Saint Lucia goalkeeper Kenna Lionel did enough to parry it off the post and out of play.
Lepante would get another chance though, this time in the 37th during the run of play and she finished with aplomb, stroking a shot past St Lucia back-up goalkeeper Renala Francis to even the score at 1-1.
Back came St Lucia and it was Louis again finishing an incredible 70-yard run in first half stoppage time for a 2-1 lead.
Arnicka Louis then picked up where she left off, completing her hat trick less than two minutes into the second half by tucking away a shot after a deflection in the area to make it 3-1.
Louis then capped off her memorable outing with an excellent finish in the 80th off a long ball from defender Eartha Pond for a 4-1 advantage.
The 5-1 scoreline was completed in the 87th with Eartha Pond again providing service with a long ball and Ellaisa Marquis polishing things off with a goal.
Dafne Schippers' race 'stops here': Two-time world champion, hampered by injury, hangs up her spikes
Two-time 200m world champion Dafne Schippers, who famously chased down and beat Jamaica’s Elaine Thompson-Herah at the line in the finals at the 2015 World Athletics Championships in Beijing, China, has retired.
The 31-year-old Dutchwoman, who won a silver medal in the 100m final behind Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce that year, has been plagued by injury over the past few years, impairing her ability to compete at the highest level.
On Tuesday, she announced on Instagram that her race has been run.
“The race stops here,” she announced.
“As an athlete, you always know this day will come, that at one point, your career will be a moment in time—a collection of memories and hopefully medals. Today, I have decided to take my life off track to pursue and embrace whatever comes next, but not without saying a massive thank you for all the endless support. It has been a journey without regret.”
She expressed gratitude to all who have supported in a career that did not quite materialize in the way she would have liked.
“My family, my team, my fans, and my sponsors, you made it all worthwhile.”
At her peak, Schippers was among the greatest ever short sprinters.
She set a championship record of 21.63 in Beijing after chasing down Thompson-Herah and nipping the Jamaican, who ran a then personal best of 21.66, at the line. Veronica Campbell-Brown was third in 21.97.
At the time, Schippers’ time was the third-fastest ever run over the half-lap sprint. Only Florence Griffith-Joyner (21.34) and Marion Jones (21.62) had run faster. The Dutchwoman had earlier run a lifetime best 10.81 to win the silver medal behind Fraser-Pryce in the 100m final.
At the 2016 Rio Olympics, Schippers won the silver medal behind Thompson-Herah in the 200m, running a time of 21.88. She was a disappointing fifth in the 100m final due to injury. She won the 200m world title at the 2017 World Championships and was third in the 100m.
An adductor injury forced her to withdraw from the 2019 World Championships in Doha and persistent back injuries limited her ability to compete internationally for more than a year. She last raced in the 100m in Belgium in July 2022 finishing second in her heat in 11.37.
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