Caribbean

  Straight out the gates, the Caribbean athlete served notice of his intention to defend the crown he won in Doha, at the 2019 edition.  Peters went straight to the head of the pack with a massive throw of 90.21.  The athlete went on to register another three 90m throws, including his winning distance of 90.54 in the final round.

The Grenadian was the only athlete on the day attaining the 90m standard.  Second spot went to India’s Olympic champion Neeraj Chopra who registered a mark of 88.13 in the fourth round.  The Czech Republic’s Jakub Vadlejch claimed the bronze medal with his best of 88.09, which he achieved in the third round.

Peters heading into the event as the athlete in form, having registered a world-leading mark of 93.07 in Doha, Qatar in May.

James finished comfortably ahead of the United States Bryce Deadmon and Brendon Norwood.  The athlete’s latest win was the third occasion that he has claimed the title, adding to wins in 2011 and 2015.

The Grenadian has enjoyed somewhat a bit of resurgence in recent seasons after recovering from injury and illness.  In July, the athlete captured silver in the event at the World Athletics Championships in Eugene, Oregon.  

“I am feeling good. It feels great to be the diamond race winner. The race was good, very competitive, against the best guys in the world,” James said following the event.

“Although it was very unfortunate that Matthew got injured during warmup and had to pull out at the last minute.

He is the European champion and I would have liked to compete against him,” he added.

“I have one more meeting coming, I try to enjoy every moment and represent my country. It is special for me to win here today after eleven years when I also won in Zurich.”

Like many others the Guyana national champion found herself upended with heavily disrupted training sessions, the majority of meets cancelled, and even eventual postponement of the Olympics.  Still, she endeavored to make the best use of the situation and found unexpected benefits.

“Despite the Games being cancelled and a whole lot of meets being cancelled it was the reset that I needed,” Abrams told SportsMax.TV.

“Sometimes you just need to step away from track and pursue and do other things that you enjoy.  When you come back to doing it, you can rekindle that flame that you had,” she added.

“A lot of things of things were shut down but I got a chance to spend some time with the people I love and recover my body and my mind.”

For the 24-year-old, Tokyo will represent her second appearance on track and field’s biggest stage, and in addition to being in a better frame of mind, she is also feeling in better physical shape.

“It’s been five years from 2016 to the 2021 Olympics, I was able to compete internationally and do well at Worlds and at Pan Ams, so I have more experience, I’m in better physical shape as well.  I’ve also run faster than I did heading into the first Olympics,” Abrams said.

The quarter-miler, who has a personal best of 51.13, has targeted cracking the 50-seconds barrier in Toyko, but in a highly competitive field that may not be enough to earn a place among the top eight women in the world.  Win or lose though, the plucky athlete certainly intends to give it her best shot.

“I haven’t been running the third 100 of my race the way that I want to this season, so I have been working on how to better execute that.  The problem has been the second part of my race.  Once I set that up, I’ll be in good standing,” Abrams went on.

On her Olympic debut in Rio, Abrams exited the competition in the first round, she has much higher targets this time around.

“My ultimate goal this time around is to make it to the final that would be a success for me."

Neufville was found dead on Monday morning, in an open lot in Portmore, St Catherine, alongside a female passenger.  The athletics coach was 38 years old.

Up to the time of his death, Neufville had worked as part of the successful Calabar high school program and the newly formed Legacy Track Club.  Neufville was, however, also involved with the national team and was part of the Jamaican delegation that participated at the Pan American Under 20 Athletics Championships in Puerto Rico in 2019.

“He became a part of that cadre of coaches that would have travelled with the junior teams over the years and there were great expectations for him moving forward,” Wilson told TVJ Sports.

“He was one of the best coaches in both the long and triple jump.  He coached at the high school level, but his skills and skillsets could have taken him anywhere,” he added.

Before going on to be part of the multi-title winning Calabar high school team, Neufville had previously represented the corporate area high school.

The effort was the latest in a series of philanthropic acts undertaken by the athlete, who also recently donated tablets to student-athletes and printing machinery to the Jamaica Cancer Society who produces large volumes of readouts of pap smears, mammograms, and testicular cancer screenings on a daily basis.  Williams also conducted a Christmas treat, in Montego Bay, in December.

The 18-year-old, who is also a patron of the Caribbean’s largest charity event, the Sigma Sagicor Run 2021, was lauded by the Prime Minister for her charitable efforts. 

“I am happy that our young people are being agents of change and are willing to help build our great nation through service. Keep up the good work, Briana,” he wrote on his social media pages.

For Williams, it was inspirational to meet the Prime Minister once again.  She was awarded the Prime Minister’s Youth Award for Excellence in sports, in 2018, following her outstanding performances at the World Under-20 Championships and CARIFTA Games, where she won the coveted Austin Sealy award.

“It was an honour to sit with him and he was just so encouraging and inspirational. Just being able to speak to him about my training and my preparations was so uplifting for me. He also promised to match my donation by purchasing printers for distribution to more schools as well. I know that if each of us contributes in some way, we can help Jamaica recover stronger, so I’m just happy to play my part,” said Williams.

Williams was accompanied by her manager Tanya Lee and Dominique Walker, CEO of Printware Online who provided the printers.

Sixty-six countries, including the Caribbean islands of Antigua and Barbuda, Bahamas, Barbados, Cayman Islands, and Haiti had boycotted the games entirely because of the Soviet Union’s invasion of Afghanistan.  Security at the athletes' village was robust, with armed soldiers and barbed wire unfamiliar sights for the quadrennial spectacle of global goodwill.

At the time, Parris, now looking back, admits that all of that mattered very little.  After all, he was there for one thing and that was to win gold for Guyana, a country which despite its reputation for being rich in earthly minerals, had yet to mine a spec of precious metal on the Olympics stage. 

With that singular focus in mind, Parris recalls spending the majority of his time at the Games training in his hotel room, with the air conditioning stuck at its lowest setting, to help with acclimatisation.  Even so, once the moment arrived, once he stepped out onto the global stage, the gravity of the moment did not entirely escape him.

“I was nervous.  Nobody was calling for Guyana.  I lost at least a bucket of sweat from my face and arms.  The crowd was just so big, and you see maybe one little Guyana flag.  It doesn’t matter where you go in the world, someone from Guyana will always be there.  I saw a little flag somewhere in the crowd,” Parris recalled of stepping into the middle of the ring.

“But, when I was fighting, I never focused on the crowd, not even the coach.  When I was in the ring I only focused on the other fighter, his movement, my movement, to see when I had hurt him,” he added.

Parris began the bouts with a win over Nigeria’s Nureni Gbadamosi, in the round of 32, followed by another win over Syria’s Fayez Zaghloui in the round of 16.  Another solid performance saw the referee stop the contest between himself and Mexico’s Daniel Zaragoza, in the quarterfinals, before he faced Cuba’s Juan Hernández in the semi-finals.

 Unfortunately for Parris, the competition ended there, with the Cuban going on to outpoint him before defeating Venezuela’s Bernardo Piñango in the final to claim the gold medal.

Even if the mission wasn’t fully accomplished, the job had been well done.  Parris’ performances assured him of a bronze medal.  The long journey, which began in sunny Georgetown, Guyana had culminated with a spot on the podium nearly 5,000 miles away, in the chilly Russian city.  Forty years have passed since the monumental occasion, but for Parris, looking back, winning the country’s first and only Olympic medal to date still fills him with a deep sense of pride.

“I didn’t know if I was standing or sitting, or what, when the flag went up in the air.  The excitement, I don’t even remember if I was standing.  To see the flag raised, of 100s of other countries the Guyanese flag was up there.  It was just so good.  Some of our other athletes had flags waving as well, I was checking up on them and they thought they should have won medals as well and such,” Parris recalled.

“It was really exciting everything about it.  Everything, the crowd, the first time the Guyana flag was raised at a Games.  Many athletes went to the games before me.  The first time I went, thankfully, I qualified and was able to bring back the bronze,” he added.

Parris’ achievement is yet to be equalled.  Even the late Andrew ‘Six heads’ Lewis, who went to be WBA World Welterweight Champion, did not match his achievement at the Olympic level.  Lewis failed to advance past the first round at the 1990 Olympics after losing to Germany’s Andreas Otto.

Parris is convinced that the country’s lack of outright success, since then, at the Olympic level, is not due to a lack of talent but more a case of not being enough done to fully harness the potential of young Guyanese athletes.

“We need to find a way to support our athletes.  We need to look closely at these athletes, support them and you’ll get the best out of them.  Support them and expose them, they need financial programs and stuff like that.  Any sports you can think of Guyanese are good at it, whether it be running, swimming, cricket they just need the backing.”

He admits, however, that he has recently been encouraged by the approach taken by a newly elected government, which came into power last year, and the appointment of sports minister Charles Ramson Jr.

“I have been encouraged that we have a young sport’s minister, with this new government.  He looks like he is ready to push things ahead, so we may get a few more Guyanese medalling at the Olympic Games soon,” Parris said.

If there is one regret, Parris, now 63, says is that he has not been able to work with some of the country’s youth boxers, as he was never given the opportunity.  Still, he does his part to attempt to inspire the next generation.

“It’s been a great feeling, but the only thing I wish is when I came back with the medal, I would have loved to give something back to the youth.  I never got the chance because no one called upon me to say come and help us with the coaching program or whatever.  When they have summer camps now though, sometimes I drive around with the medal to show them so they can see it and feel it.  I want to inspire them. I want them to know they can do it as well.”

Having added the World Championship title to two Olympic gold medals, at the Oregon World Champions last week, the 28-year-old sprinter has expressed a desire to break new ground.  As such, Miller-Uibo has targeted trying her luck full-time over half the distance.

These days, however, the half-lap event is not for the faint of heart.  Three of the fastest times in the event’s history have been recorded in the last year.  Two Jamaicans, Olympic champion Elaine Thompson-Herah, and world champion Shericka Jackson have the world record in their sights. It's a competitive field.

Despite the fierce competition, however, the Bahamian is confident about making her mark.

 “The plans for me are the 200 which has always been my first love and get back into that,” Miller-Uibo said.

“I have run 21.7 without proper training. Once we go at it, I think we can do better,” she added. 

“They’re setting the stage pretty high.  I’m so proud of the girls and I think that they’re really showing out right now and showing the world exactly what we can do. I can’t wait.”

The athlete will have her first test next Saturday when she faces Jackson in Poland.

On Saturday, the athlete put in a strong display to finish just behind another Caribbean athlete, St Lucia’s Julien Alfred who took the event in 11.02, with Nelson clocking an identical time. 

To secure a spot in the country’s spot to the Eugene Games, the athlete knows she could have to go a good deal faster.  Typically, legendary track stars Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce and Elaine Thompson-Herah have accounted for the first two spots.

Recently, however, the two have been joined the upper echelons of world sprinting by Shericka Jackson and the trio top the top three spots at last year’s Olympic Games.  If things go according to expectations, it could leave just one spot on the team up for grabs from a deep field of talented young female athletes.

“My National Trials is coming up where I will be running against way faster women,” Nelson said of the event, which will take place from June 23-26^th.

“My start is good, so I just have to work on my finish and relax, to get my hips up at the bottom end and that will really help. I really hope I make the team."

Earlier this week, the sprinter clocked a speedy 10.62 at the Monaco Diamond League meet.  The time was the athlete’s best this season and just two hundredths of a second outside her personal best.  Even more remarkable was the fact that the performance marked the sprinter’s 6^th sub-10.7 time this season, the most by any female athlete in history.

Despite all that she has achieved so far, the sprinter is not quite ready to end the season just yet.

“To be able to run 10.6 consistently means a lot to me. It is remarkable. It is very hard to keep the speed at this high level,” Fraser-Pryce said.

“It is important for me to deliver fast times because I´m looking forward for myself to having a great season,” she added.

“I´m in my late thirties, and I think I feel like I have more to give. I look forward to doing my Personal Best for the rest of the season and running fast.

“As a sprinter, you always want to run on the fast track. The only target I have for the rest of the season is just to run fast. Now, we break, and then we come again. Not sure about Lausanne yet.”

With five events to go Fraser-Pryce is also in contention for the 100m Diamond League title.

In truth, the majority of the arguments have come from feuding sides of the Jamaica vs the United States track and field rivalry, which has amplified in recent months since the American burst onto the scene.

The flamboyant Richardson has certainly played her part in fueling debates in recent months, even if her performances have not quite lived up to expectations, the number of eyes on track and field certainly seems to have increased.

The American was initially expected to face a high-powered Jamaica trio of Fraser-Pryce, Elaine Thompson-Herah, and Shericka Jackson at the Olympic Games, but ended up missing the top-billed event after picking up a one-month suspension for using marijuana.  At the event, Thompson-Herah broke the longstanding Olympic record with Fraser-Pryce second and Jackson third.

There was for Richardson and some fans, however, the sense of a missed opportunity and a much-hyped meeting of the American facing the Jamaica trio in Eugene two weeks later was presented in that light.  Things did not go as planned for Richardson, however, as she had plenty to say before the event but finished in last place.

The result was the same as the Olympics with Thompson-Herah finishing first, Fraser-Pryce second, and Jackson third.  However, it was Fraser-Pryce who went viral following the sprint as she was caught on camera passing an animated Richardson interview with a mirthful look and knowing smirk.  The fans had a field day, but she insists there wasn’t too much to it.

“I mean, seriously, it was just a look,” Fraser-Pryce told sports lifestyle magazine The Undefeated.

 “I was having a conversation with my teammate and she said something, and then I looked. But it wasn’t – it was just what it is. It was just a look, you know? It was just a look. Yeah. There was nothing more behind it, if I’m being very honest, there was nothing more behind it,” she added.

In her mind, the fiery mentality that the American brings to the sport is also good for track and field.

“I like her. I like her personality,” Fraser-Pryce said.

“…for us as women, we’re somehow supposed to just stand at the line, look cute and just run, [and] wave. We’re not allowed to express ourselves or show our emotions.”

Fraser-Pryce, now 34, entered the Tokyo Olympics as favourite for the 100m title but had to settle for second behind compatriot Elaine Thompson-Herah.  In the 200m event, she finished just outside the medals in the fourth position behind Thompson-Herah, Namibia’s Christine Mboma, and the United States’ Gabrielle Thomas.

Despite admitting to some amount of disappointment, Fraser-Pryce who turns 35 at the end of the year expects to press on, for now.

“A lot of persons believe that you’ve reached a certain age, you’ve achieved so much, why do more?” Fraser Pryce said.

In Tokyo, the athlete won her fifth Olympic individual medal, two of which have been gold.  In addition, she has five individual World Championship gold medals.

“I believe there’s more to give.  As you can see, I ran 21.9, I ran 21.7 earlier at the Jamaica National Champions.  I ran 10.6, I’m still running 10.7s.  It just shows the power of God and the gift and the talent that I have been given.  When I’m ready when it’s time I’m hoping that someone along the way has been inspired."

The athlete has repeatedly said that she expects next year’s IAAF World Championships in Oregon to be her final major Games appearance.

After a superb run that led to her blowing away the country’s best athletes, in a season-best of 54.04 seconds, to claim the Women's 400m Hurdles title at the Jamaica National Championships, it was clearly a great choice but for a long time, one that wasn’t even on the cards.

In fact, Russell spent the majority of her junior career as a long jumper and competed successfully at the ISSA Boys and Girls Championships for her high school, Holmwood, in the event.  The 2019 World 400m hurdles silver medalist now believes wholeheartedly that the track itself called her to her destined event after the unexpected way she ended up competing in it.

"I believe the track was choosing my destiny for me because I really love long jump; that was my main event back in high school and by some chance, I was entered to the 400m Hurdles because someone on the team had to pull out. And then, I just continued, went to MVP and the coach said you are going to stick to the hurdles, not the long jump,” Russell explained.

Russell has had a solid career, and in addition to the three national titles, has picked up wins at the Commonwealth Games and World Cup.

Winning her third national title was a special moment for Russell, who admitted that she fully expected to be up against a challenging field. Her top priority though was to finish in an automatic spot, then channel all her energy to focusing on Tokyo.

"It is a tough field in the 400m hurdles event this year, so I am just using these trials to work on my mental state and I am just really happy to come out on top because my aim was just to be in the top three and just be on the Olympic team,” Russell said.

Off the back of a rectus femoris injury (acute tearing injury of the quadriceps) that she suffered in 2016, Russell insists that she has gotten stronger physically and mentally. 

"My MVP team and I have been working hard on our mental training, been working on my physical (fitness), ensuring that I am not injury prone, because, trust me, two weeks or one week before any trials I have always had an injury. I have been very careful this year, I have been eating properly, I have been doing everything by the book and I am just really grateful again to be out here by the grace of God to compete injury-free and to be on top."

Though she is a decorated nine-time gold medalist at the CARIFTA Games and a double gold medalist at the 2012 World Junior Championships, Russell’s ultimate aim is to match the feats of Deon Hemmings and Melanie Walker who both won gold medals for the country at the Olympic level.

"I will definitely try, as I said before it is a very tough field. I am just going out there with guts and to just represent my country, come out with a personal best and just do the best I can."

The Olympic Games Tokyo 2020 will run from July 23 to August 8.

Jackson, who began her senior career as a quarter-miler, and in fact has an Olympic bronze medal in the event from the 2016 Olympics, surprised many with her decision to drop to the 100m and 200m sprints ahead of the Tokyo Olympics.

The results, however, speak for themselves. Jackson achieved personal bests of 10.76 and 21.82, times which undoubtedly put her among the elite echelons of the events.  In addition to that, the athlete claimed a bronze medal behind compatriots Elaine Thompson and Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce in Tokyo.

“As a quarter-miler stepping down a lot of people would have said, oh you can’t do it but a lot of quarter-milers have stepped down and shown it is possible.  When you show up at the line, you give your best, my best was good enough, I got a medal,” Jackson told members of the media ahead of Saturday'ss Diamond League meet in Eugene Oregon.

With the World Championships expected to get underway in just around a year’s time, the sprinter will have a decision to make, stick to the 100m, 200m, attempt the 200m, 400m or return to just the 400m.  She, however, believes there is plenty of time to sort that out.

“The good thing about this is that I can switch the events at any time.  I can run all three.  It has to be a decision me and my coach will make.  I still have a lot of love for the 400m, it’s not that I stopped running the 400m.  I just took a break and the break was really good for me.”

The athlete finished third in both the 100m and 200m at last month’s Jamaica National Championships but admits for a few weeks leading up to the event she was not sure she could have taken part.

The 29-year-old said that leading up to the national trials, she suffered from an Achilles injury that earlier forced her to withdraw from the Gateshead Diamond League event that she was scheduled to compete in on the 23rd of May.

“It’s that same Achilles injury, it’s been bothering me for almost five years now…it’s not that bad for surgery but it’s overworked I guess, so I have to monitor it properly, Thompson-Herah revealed.

The athlete put in a dominant performance at the Rio Olympics five years ago, where she won gold in both sprint events and silver in the women’s 4x100m relay.

The result at the national trials might not have been exactly what she wanted, but Thompson-Herah maintains she is grateful that she managed to at least finish third in both events, and with that securing the chance to win back-to-back Olympic titles.

“It’s been a challenging month, over the last month I have been in a lot of pain. I drew God closer and said God I am talking to you now, help me to do this at the trials,” Thompson said.

“I spoke to my coach and asked coach ‘will I be able to go to the trials?’ because I was in so much pain. But, I can’t complain, I am not frowning I am smiling through my pain, I have made my second Olympics and I am super excited, the work has to go on.”

Despite the fact that she was hampered by the injury, Thompson-Herah knows that she had to work that much harder, as the competition to secure spots on the team remains fierce.

“A lot of females are out here, and they are hungry for the Olympics, it’s the Olympics, everybody wants to go to the Olympics. I am the reigning Olympic champion, so everybody wants to get to that line (first), myself included.”

As the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games inches closer, quizzed about her expectations, Thompson-Herah insisted she would not be placing any pressure unnecessary expectations on herself, as she focuses on herself and her well-being.

“Honestly, I wouldn’t put any pressure on myself, my main focus is me and my health, I just put in some more work, reset and refocus.”

On Saturday, at the JAAA Destiny Series, in Kingston, Fraser-Pryce ran the fastest women’s 100m time since Florence Griffith-Joyner set the world record 33 years ago. 

The multiple-times Olympic and world champion stopped the clock at 10.63, moving her second on the list of the fastest times in history.  The time, which obliterated her previous national record of 10.70, is only bettered by Griffith-Joyner’s 10.49.

“I was just making sure that I had a good run before the National Championships, because I don’t have any more races before that.  I was just looking forward to putting in a solid race,” Fraser-Pryce said following the event.

“I was focused on getting my technique and everything together ahead of the national championship.  So, in terms of the 10.6, I really wasn’t expecting it to be honest and maybe that was a good thing,” she added.

Heading into her final Olympics, Fraser-Pryce had insisted that she would prioritise running fast times, having already won several gold medals.  The race was the athlete’s fourth over the distance this season, having opened with a fourth-place finish at the Diamond League meet in Gateshead.  In Doha last week, she recorded the then 3^rd fastest 100m time this season after crossing the line first in 10.83.

Williams finished runner-up well behind the Dominica Republic’s Fiordaliza Cofil in a time of 50.15.  Cofil took the top spot with a personal best 49.80.  Having dipped below the 50-second mark for the last two races, the result was a little surprising for the sprinter who believes she lost some power down the final stretch.

“I feel a little bit disappointed it wasn´t what I´m capable of. I was not able to speed up in the final stretch. It was good to run here it was hotter than I expected. Right now, I will review the race and see where I can improve. On to the next race,” Williams said after the race.

Belgium’s Cynthia Bolingo was third in a national record 50.19.  Jamaica’s Candice McLeod was further back in fifth place after clocking 50.76.  With 32 points from 6 races, however, Williams still leads the 400m standing for this season's Diamond League.

Although the sprinter turned 34-years-old this year, an age that in past decades would ordinarily see most sprinters, well outside prime years, looking to hang up their spikes, Fraser-Pryce’s performances last season proved she did not fall into that category.

In June, Fraser-Pryce ran the then fastest time of her career over 100m, clocking what was then the second-fastest time ever run over the distance at 10.63.  The sprinter had to settle for second spot at the Olympics behind the irrepressible Elaine Thompson-Herah but even so, there was little doubt that the duo was in a different class.

A month later, however, Fraser-Pryce bettered the time she set earlier in the year after clocking 10.60, the third-fastest time ever run over the distance, behind Thompson-Herah’s 10.54 and Florence Griffith-Joyner’s longstanding world record of 10.49.  Now, age aside, the diminutive Jamaican is hoping to push those boundaries even further.

“I’m at the peak of my career. It’s so mind-blowing that I think I owe it to myself, I owe it to the next generation of women that will come after me and those that are still here, to push this to another level,” Fraser-Pryce told Sky Sports News.

“I said to my husband and my coach, it’s so strange because I’ve heard of people when they are about to retire they say they’re feeling so much pain. And while you understand their journey, I’m looking at it like, I still feel good! And if I feel good, why not go for it,” she added.

Fraser-Pryce is one of the sport’s most decorated athletes having won a total of 11 World Championships and 8 Olympic medals.

The 32-year-old Blake was once considered the heir apparent to celebrated compatriot Usain Bolt.  In fact, it is Blake that still holds the second-fastest times over both the 100 and 200m sprints.  Devasting injuries, which happened to the sprinter in the 2013 and 2014 seasons, however, largely curtailed that promise and left the sprinter unable to step into the void.  In a barren stretch of results, Blake has gone without a medal since the 2018 Commonwealth Games.

Since the 2012 Olympics, the athlete has finished outside of the medals at the last four major championships and failed to make the final at the last two. 

Despite the lack of success in recent seasons, however, Blake is feeling confident of a late-career revival this season, on the back of a decent showing at the Birmingham Diamond League last week.  The Jamaican finished second in the men's 100m, clocking 10.18 behind Canadian Aaron Brown who took top spot in 10.13.

“I think I took it too easy at the end and didn't see the guy in lane 8. I was focused forward. It was challenging because it was cold. The two false starts were tough but I am used to dealing with these things. I am feeling good after coming back. I want to stay hard to beat and move from being second fastest in the world to be fastest,” Blake said following the race.

“I have been here before and I am used to the pressure. I am looking forward to the trials and getting back to my best and challenging the American top sprinters. I have done it before and can do it again.”

Following the most successful year of her career, the 29-year-old made the controversial decision to part ways with the Steven Francis-led MVP track club, one of the most high-profile in international track and field.

Instead, the sprinter now trains with her husband, Derron Herah, and ahead of another big year in track and field is feeling comfortable.

“I think the change matches my aspirations and what I want this year,” Thompson-Herah told members of the media on Wednesday, ahead of the Rome Diamond League meet.

“I am definitely getting the love and support that I want for what I am working on.  Sometimes I think a change is good.  I am grown and I know what is best for my career and I’m sure I’ve chosen the right path.”

Heading into Thursday’s Diamond League showdown, over 200ms, the sprinter has won all of her races so far this season.

On the back of a season where she claimed the sprint double at the Olympics, and went on to register the second fastest time ever recorded for a woman over 100m, Thompson-Herah was in the news again following the announcement to split from longtime coach Stephen Francis.

If the majority of the athlete’s times and performances are anything to judge by that decision, an alliance with husband Derron Herah is yet to bear fruit.

“My expectations coming off last year were high and I was looking forward to this year.  Right now, the way I want my story to be written is not the way I want it to go but whatever God has in store he will put it together at the right time,” Thompson-Herah told members of the media ahead of Friday’s Diamond League meet.

“I’m just staying patient and I’ll keep working.  I always wanted to get my first World title but I’m still working towards that, I want that to be a part of my tally to be a defending World champ.  I was really grateful and excited to achieve my first 100m medal, a bronze…the 200m was not the best but I’ve moved past that,” she added.

“I think I’m having a good season so far.  The fact that I’m adjusting to a new system, new coach, and everything.  I’m still learning.”

After missing out on the World Championship titles Thompson-Herah went on to win the sprint double at the Commonwealth Games.