The upcoming appearance will be the first for the 28-year-old sprinter since she pulled the plug on her 2020 season, in May, when the coronavirus pandemic wreaked havoc on the international track and field schedule.
The American Track League, which is part of the World Athletics Silver Tour, gives professional athletes an opportunity to return to competition as preparations begin for an Olympic year.
The meet, which is staged in four-parts, ran off in Fayetteville, Arkansas on Sunday. 2016 Olympic gold medalist in the 110m hurdles, Omar McLeod, who raced in the 60 metres, was one of several Jamaicans who took part on the opening weekend. The list also included the likes of Tyquendo Tracey, Senoj-Jay Givans, and Christopher Taylor. The meet will continue with the next three installments on January 31st, February 7th, and February 14th.
Williams, the 2019 Diamond League champion, is based in South Carolina in the USA where she trains with coach Lennox Graham at Clemson University.
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.
Bangladesh wrapped up a dominant T20 International series against a struggling West Indies team with an emphatic 80-run victory in the third and final match at the Arnos Vale Ground in St. Vincent. The win secured Bangladesh’s first 3-0 T20I series sweep in nearly two years and capped a tough tour with a resounding triumph.
The 31-years-old Praught-Leer is Jamaica’s record holder in the 3000m Steeplechase event and represented the country at the 2015 and 2017 IAAF World Championships, as well as the 2016 Olympics, where she qualified for the final.
In addition, the athlete also captured gold in the event at the 2018 Commonwealth Games in Australia. Praught-Leer has, however, contemplated switching events to try her hand at competing in the 1500m.
The athlete had hoped to make her 1500m Olympic debut at the 2020 Tokyo Games but like many others had to set aside those plans as the event was postponed due to the onslaught of the coronavirus. She has already begun her quest to qualify for this summer's Games by targeting three events, the 3000m steeplechase, 5000m, and 1500m. She currently has personal best times of 15:07.50 in the 5000m, 9:14.09 seconds in the 3000m steeplechase, and 4:05.52 in the 1500 metres.
Praught-Leer previously represented Under Armour after signing a contract with that brand in 2017, earlier this month, however, she announced via social media that her contract with the company had come to an end.
At 34, Fraser-Pryce will be one of the oldest women lined up to face the starter's gun, should the event eventually be staged in Tokyo later this year. The 32nd Olympiad was initially slated to be staged last summer but was postponed due to the impact of the global coronavirus pandemic.
The postponement of the quadrennial event has meant another year of training and preparation for some legendary athletes facing another race, the one against time. The situation will not be an entirely new one for nine-time World champion and two-time Olympic champion Fraser-Pryce. In 2019, at the age of 32, she became the oldest female sprinter to win a 100m world title. In that event, by comparison, silver medalist, Britain’s Dina Asher-Smith was nine years her junior. Showing herself to be very much at the top of her game in 2020, however, despite the havoc the global pandemic wrought on the international schedule, Fraser-Pryce is clearly in the mood to defy the odds yet again.
“Yes, I’m 33, but if I can come back from having my son and be able to stand on the podium, my age is not going to stop me. I’m still going to work hard. I’m still going to be committed and I’m grateful for the years of experience I’ve had,” Fraser-Pryce told the BBC.
"I'm probably older than most of the women in the race but so what? I'm just focusing on getting the job done and being happy."
West Indies T20I captain Rovman Powell has called on his players to use their upcoming time off to review their approach to the game after suffering a humiliating 80-run defeat to Bangladesh in the third T20I at the Arnos Vale Ground in St. Vincent on Thursday. The loss completed a 3-0 series sweep for Bangladesh and capped off a disappointing year for the West Indies T20I side.
Williams, who joined the senior ranks at the start of 2020, was joined by her management team and ‘Santa Claus’ who handed gifts to over 100 children from the community where her mother spent her childhood before migrating to the United States.
The athlete who admitted to having had a good year, despite the negatives of the Covid-19 pandemic, revealed that the event was all about giving back.
“I have been tremendously blessed this year and I wanted to give back to a community that means so much to my family. I wanted every child here to have a Merry Christmas,” Williams said.
The athlete’s Manager Tanya Lee confirms the event will be an annual undertaking, with future changes to its structure to be considered once the world is past the worst of the raging coronavirus pandemic.
"Things changed a little bit because of Covid restrictions, so we’re just driving through the community and handing out gifts responsibly. We will do the treat on a larger scale for next year, God’s willing. I have to big up Digicel, Grace Foods, Sagicor & Nike for their kind donations this year,” Lee said.
Both projects will fall within the remit of a government maintenance program geared towards ensuring that money is set aside for upgrading the island's stadiums. According to Grange, resurfacing work at the National Stadium is expected to begin “any time now, with Catherine Hall Sports Complex penciled in as a priority for the next year.
According to Grange two factors will determine when the work gets going at the National Stadium. The first is the fact that the track has to be laid on a completely dried surface, and the process must therefore await the end of seasonal rains. The other factor is the ability of the manufacturers' representatives, BSW of Germany, to leave Germany to come to Jamaica to supervise the project and that will depend on COVID restrictions.
“The material for the resurfacing of the Stadium track is on site. Upgrading after 10 years of usage is now necessary for the track to retain its Class 1 certification by World Athletics, formerly the International Association of Athletics Federations. The track was laid in 2010 with a projected lifespan of eight years. But because of maintenance and care we were able to extend it by another two years to 2020,” Grange said.
“The Government is putting a maintenance/replacement program to ensure that there is money for upgrading stadiums. It is through such a plan for the National Stadium that we have money for a new track. Money was actually put aside for the National Stadium because of proper planning and going forward we will be using that approach for upgrading of the facilities.”
Taplin, now 28, was handed a four-year ban last year after being charged with intentionally evading sample collection, following his 400m victory at the 2019 Grenada Invitational Athletics Competition. The athlete was found to have left the stadium without completing doping control. Taplin appealed the decision, but it was upheld by the Court of Arbitration for Sports (CAS) earlier this year.
The athlete will, however, also now serve a sequential three-years on that sentence, this time for doping whereabouts violations that occurred in 2019. According to a release issued by the AIU, Taplin was found to have missed tests on the 21st April, August 28th, and 25th of November. Based on the rules, any combination of three missed
tests and/or filing failures within any twelve-month period is considered a violation. The Grenada Invitational Athletics concluded on the 13th of April. On each of the occasions, the report claims a tester showed up at Taplin’s residence in Bryan, Texas, USA, and knocked for an hour before leaving having not received a response.
Taplin, through an attorney, later contested the November 25th missed test after pointing out that he had been required to appear in court at the time of the stated test and did not think there was time to adjust the whereabouts form. After convening a tribunal, the AIU, however, later rejected the explanation provided by the athlete as insufficient. The new three-year ban will take effect once the athlete has concluded the four-year period of ineligibility.
Taplin, who has a PB of 44.38, finished 7th in the 400m at the 2016 Rio Olympic Games.
The 34-year, who has represented the county at the Olympic Games on several occasions, retired from international competition in 2018, pointing to the exorbitant cost of competing as a major factor in his decision.
Earlier this year, Bailey announced that he had decided to return to the sport in order to compete at next year’s Olympic Games. It seems, however, that some things have yet to change.
“They turned down my stuff and I left it alone, but I knew that was going to happen and I just think that the NOC is a sham because they don’t care about the athletes,” Bailey said recently on the Good Morning Jojo sports show.
“It is the first time I have sent the NOC an email about funding and the murmuring stated as to why Bakka want this and why Bakka wants that but at the end of the day, the money does not belong to any one of them and without the athletes, they can’t get any funding,” he added.
Earlier this year, EP Chet Greene, politician, and president of the NOC pledged to support the athlete after learning of his bid to qualify for the Olympics.
Bailey’s scorn was not, however, limited to the NOC as he reflected on a long career of footing his own expense.
“For the majority, I had to do it myself along with two or three corporate sponsors. The NOC is not coming on board, the athletics association is not coming on board and the Ministry of Sports is not coming on board. At the age of 18 years, I left for Jamaica on an IOC scholarship, and ever since then I have never gotten any help from the NOC, the government nor the Ministry of Sports. I have been to four Olympic Games, spent 100s of thousands of dollars on myself, and represented this country without a dollar from anybody.”
Bailey, who has a personal best of 9.91, has made it to the semi-finals of two Olympic Games and was fourth at the 2009 World Championships.
Despite the pandemic wreaking havoc upon the international track and field calendar, the Jamaican managed to put together a series of strong performances. Thompson-Herah ran unbeaten over seven races in which she also set a world-leading 10.85 over the 100m at the Diamond League meeting in Rome. She also closed the season with a strong 10.87s in Doha.
Making the final five with Thompson-Herah are Letesenbet Gidey (Ethiopia) Sifan Hassan, Kenya's Peres Jepchirchir, and Yulimar Rojas (Venezuela). Gidey set a world record of 14:06.62 over 5000m and was second in the 5000m at the Wanda Diamond League meeting in Monaco. Hassan also set a world record in the one hour run as well as a European record of 29:36.67 over 10,000m, the fourth-fastest performance in history. Jepchirchir won the world half marathon title and twice broke the world half-marathon record, while Rojas was undefeated in four triple jump competitions indoors and outdoors and broke the world indoor triple jump record with 15.43m.
The male and female World Athletes of the Year will be announced live at the World Athletics Awards 2020 to be staged as a virtual event on Saturday 5 December and streamed live on the World Athletics YouTube channel, its Facebook page, and via Twitter.
Despite the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, the 28-year-old double Olympic champion has put together a strong season. Thompson-Herah won all seven of her 100m races and finished the campaign with a world-leading time of 10.85 seconds, which was recorded at the Rome Diamond League in September.
In addition to Thompson-Herah, the list includes Femke Bol (Netherlands), Letesenbet Gibey (Ethiopia), Sifan Hassan (Netherlands), Peres Jepchirchir (Kenya), Faith Kipyegon (Kenya), Laura Muir (Great Britain and Northern Ireland), Hellen Obiri (Kenya), Yulimar Rojas (Venezuela) and Ababel Yeshaneh (Ethiopia).
The Jamaican will face still competition to land the prize, with world records broken this year by Gidey (5000m), Hassan (hour run), Jepchirchir (half marathon, women only), Rojas (triple jump, indoors), and Yeshaneh (half marathon).
The list will be trimmed to five athletes after voting takes place among the World Athletics Council (50 percent), World Athletics family (25 percent), and by fans (25 percent) by liking individual athlete graphics on World Athletics’ Facebook and Instagram or by retweets.
Thompson-Herah is the only Jamaican nominated on either the male or female list. American Dalilah Muhammad took the honour last year when she twice lowered the 400m hurdles world record.
Bolt, who retired from the sport of track and field in 2017, will not be competing at the Games in Tokyo this summer but in many ways still looms large over a sport he dominated for close to a decade.
At the 2016 Rio Games, the last time the event was held, Bolt destroyed the field in typical fashion, en route to three gold medals in the 100m, 200m, and 4x100m. On debut, at the 2008 Beijing Games, Bolt set massive world records in both the 100m and 200m sprints.
Overall, Bolt finished his csareer with 8 Olympic gold medals. With such dominant performances, it is little wonder that Osaka, who has Caribbean roots herself with her father hailing from the island of Haiti, enjoyed watching the Jamaican in his prime. Osaka, who is likely to attempt to win a gold medal for Japan this summer, recently shared what the quadrennial event has meant to her over the years.
“When I think of the Olympics, what comes to mind is, of course, the opening ceremony, just seeing all the people being so happy,” Osaka said in an interview posted on the ITF official website.
“My like most outstanding Olympic memory is just watching Bolt run. He’s my favorite athlete and for my whole family. My dad really loves his running so we would just like to watch him.”
The West Indies crumbled to a disappointing defeat against Bangladesh in the second T20 International on Tuesday night at the Arnos Vale Ground in St Vincent, surrendering the three-match series with a game to spare. Chasing a modest target of 129, the hosts were bowled out for a paltry 102, falling short by 27 runs.
The 14-time Boys Championships winner last claimed the title in 2010, on the 100th year anniversary of the competition. Though being typically there or thereabout, the school has not been able to consistently compete for the Mortimer Geddes trophy.
The shakeup will see the school part ways with noted high school track and field coach Danny Hawthorne, who took over the job in 2016. The annual track and field event was cancelled last year, due to the onslaught of the coronavirus pandemic, but the team has finished outside of the top five for the previous three years claiming 6th place positions in 2017, 2018, and 2019 editions. MVP club president Bruce James, a former student at the institution, confirmed the existence of the new arrangements.
“The headmaster of Wolmer’s Mr. Pennycoke has invited the MVP track club to play a positive role in the redevelopment of the Wolmer’s Boys track team, this takes effect on the first of January 2021,” James told Television Jamaica.
“The Wolmer’s Boys school happens to be where the MVP track and field club was founded and the MVP club’s management consists of Wolmer’s old boys such as Stephen Francis, Paul Francis, Andre Edwards, so we are happy to help the Wolmer’s Boys track and field team and the program he is building,” he added.
