Nelson, who opened her outdoor season with a wind-aided 22.78 in late March, was impressive indoors where she won the 60m title at the NCAA National Indoor Championships a couple of weeks earlier. Her time of 7.05 was a personal best for the Jamaican, who also set a facility record with the run.
She told Sportsmax.TV that the win was a real boost to her confidence as she headed outdoors. That confidence, she said, has her believing that making the Jamaican team to Tokyo, a real possibility.
“Making the Olympic team would be a huge deal for me and once I’m in the condition to do so I definitely intend to,” she said, indicating that she is not in the least intimidated by the depth of Jamaica’s women sprinting talent.
With the likes of Shelly-Ann Fraser Pryce, Elaine Thompson, Briana Williams, Jonielle Smith, Natalliah Whyte and Kiara Grant to contend with, making the cut will not be easy. However, Nelson said she plans to focus on her and not who is around her.
“I’d like to think I have as good a chance as anyone,” she said.
“I don’t make it a habit to pay attention to my competition but I have a great deal of respect for everyone trying to make the team. I am just planning to do my best.”
In a final where three Caribbean nations – Jamaica, Antigua and Barbuda and Grenada – were represented, Nelson stormed to victory, pulling away from the stacked field to produce a massive personal best that is both a meet and championship record, eclipsing the 7.07 held jointly by Oregon’s Hannah Cunliffe and LSU Aleia Hobbs.
The time, a school record, was also just 0.03 off the 7.02 facility record set by Tiana Madison (Bartoletta) in 2012.
It was also the second-fastest time in the world this year behind the 7.03 set by Switzerland’s AJla Del Ponte at the recent European Indoor Championships in Torun.
USC’s Twanisha Terry, the pre-race favourite, who went into the final with the fastest time, 7.09, won the silver medal in 7.14s.
It was a Jamaican 1-3 as former Jamaica national junior record holder Kiara Grant took third in 7.16.
Antigua’s Joella Lloyd, who two weeks ago set a new national record of 7.15 was sixth in 7.23 while Grenada’s Halle Hazzard, a senior at Virginia, was eighth on 7.27.
Nelson, 21, attended Mt Alvernia High School in Montego Bay, Jamaica and transferred to Oregon in October 2020, having spent her first three years of college at the University of Technology in Kingston.
In doing so, she became the first Jamaican-born female athlete to attend the University of Oregon, having expressed a desire to compete in NCAA-level athletics.
Having fulfilled her desire, she expressed her delight on Instagram afterwards saying, “What a way to close out the indoor season.”
In surging to the line, the 20-year-old turned the tables on USC all-American TeeTee Terry. Terry, the 2019 NCAA champion in the event, finished second in 7.24. Oregon senior Brianna Duncan was third in 7.30. Nelson’s time is seventh fastest all-time at Oregon.
On the previous day in the 200m, it was Terry who took top billing finishing in 23.35, ahead of Nelson who ran second in 23.53.
Nelson, the national junior double sprint champion in 2019, joined Oregon last fall after three years at the University of Technology (Utech), in Jamaica.
