Titchfield’s Shavan Jarrett produced an excellent performance to claim Class One Boys 800m gold on Saturday’s fifth and final day of the ISSA/GraceKennedy Boys and Girls Championships at the National Stadium in Kingston, Jamaica.
The Seattle, Washington-born Jamaican started her week with a 4:03.67 effort to advance to the semi-finals of the women’s 1500m.
A day later in the semi-finals, Tracey brought out her best and produced a time that would have been good enough to get to any other major championship final with 3:58.77. That effort is a national record and makes Tracey the first Jamaican woman to dip below 4:00 in the 1500m.
Despite Tracey’s time being seventh-fastest overall in the semis, she failed to advance to the final due to a seventh-place finish in her individual semi-final. The top six finishers in the two semi-finals advance to the final.
Tracey’s chance for redemption came in the 800m where, on August 23, she finished second in her heat with 1:59.82, a season’s best at the time, to make it to the semi-finals.
Two days later, the 30-year-old produced a personal best 1:58.99 to finish fourth in her semi-final and advance to the final as one of the two fastest losers.
The final then saw Tracey once again lower her personal best, this time clocking 1:58.41 to finish seventh.
“5 rounds, 3 PB's in one week, x2 2024 Olympic QT's, a National 1500m Record, and all the smiles doing it!!” Tracey said in a social media post on Monday.
“I am so grateful for the progress and every step of this process! Special thanks to my team and to everyone for all their support,” she added.
Tracey will next line up in the 800m at the Zurich Diamond League on Thursday.
Tracey produced a personal best 1:58.99 to advance to the final as one of the fastest losers after finishing fourth in the third semi-final. Mary Moraa (1:58.48), Athing Mu (1:58.78) and Halimah Nakaayi (1:58.89) were the top three finishers in the race.
This continues an excellent week for Tracey. She also competed in the 1500m, running a national record 3:58.77 in the semi-finals.
Natoya Goule-Toppin competed in the second of three semi-finals but failed to advance after running 2:00.78 to finish third behind Great Britain’s Jemma Reekie (2:00.28) and the USA’s Raevyn Rogers (2:00.47).
In 2024, the world’s best athletes will once again take the stage in athletics’ premier one-day series, competing at 15 meetings across four different continents.
Athletes will compete for points in their chosen discipline at the 14 series meetings between April and September, with the most successful qualifying for the Wanda Diamond League Final in Brussels on September 13th-14th.
The season begins in Xiamen on April 20th, with the men’s 100m, women’s 200m and a 100/110m hurdles double bill among the headline events. Each discipline will then be staged at least four and up to eight times on the Road to the Final, giving athletes from across the globe enough opportunities to earn points.
Two meetings will be held at a different location in 2024 due to stadium renovation works in their usual locations. The Meeting International Mohammed VI will move from Rabat to Marrakech, while the Wanda Diamond League Shanghai will take place in Suzhou.
The 14 series meetings will each take place in a two-hour TV world programme and will all stage at least 14 Diamond Disciplines. The Wanda Diamond League Final in Brussels will be the only meeting to feature every single discipline, with all 32 Diamond League champions crowned over the course of two days.
The season calendar and the allocation of disciplines remain subject to change.
A list of disciplines for each meeting will also be available under the 'programme and results' page on each individual meeting website.
As well as the Diamond Disciplines, each meeting may also include additional disciplines in their programme, in which athletes will not earn points on the Road to the Final.
The disciplines are as follows: 100m (M,W), 200m (M,W), 400m (M,W), 800m (M,W), 1500m/Mile (M,W), 3000m/5000m (M,W), 3000m Steeplechase (M,W), 110m Hurdles (M), 100m Hurdles (W), 400m Hurdles (M,W), High Jump (M,W), Pole Vault (M,W), Long Jump (M,W), Triple Jump (M,W), Shot Put (M,W), Discus Throw (M,W), Javelin Throw (M,W).
The former Kingston College standout jumped out to 8.00m to secure victory ahead of Florida State’s Jeremiah Davis, who also achieved 8.00m, a new personal best, while his Florida State teammate Isaac Grimes was third in 7.97.
Pinnock has now completed the NCAA double having won the indoor title in Alabama, in March, with a 7.92m effort.
The Caribbean will be well represented in the final of the Men’s 400m through Barbadian Olympian and Texas athlete Jonathan Jones and Jamaican UTEP and former Edwin Allen and Kingston College quarter miler Jevaughn Powell.
Jones ran a comfortable 44.97 to win his semi-final while Powell advanced after finishing third in his semi-final with 45.47.
Jamaican Mississippi State junior Navasky Anderson will contest the Men’s 800m final after running 1:45.94 to win his semi-final.
Barbadian New Mexico senior Rivaldo Leacock advanced in the Men’s 400m hurdles with a 49.86 clocking.
Jamaicans Jaheem Hayles of Syracuse and Lafranz Campbell of Clemson both advanced in the Men’s sprint hurdles with times of 13.44 and 13.48, respectively.
Trinidadian Olympian Eric Harrison of Ohio State ran 20.18 to win his 200m semi-final.
The Men’s finals will take place on Friday, June 10th while the Women’s section gets underway on Thursday, with the finals coming on Saturday.
Jamaican Clemson junior Oneka Wilson, Bahamian Florida junior Anthaya Charlton and Vincentian Olympic finalist Shafiqua Maloney were all among the winners on Saturday’s second day of the Tom Jones Memorial at the Percy Beard Track in Gainesville, Florida.