World Championships

The two-time Olympic 100m gold medallist was slated to begin her season at the Botswana Golden Grand Prix on April 29, but withdrew citing a ‘family emergency’, the details of which remain a mystery. However, with the emergency hopefully behind her, the 36-year-old track and field star, said she keen on seeing where she is at this season.

“I am just looking forward to just competing well. I have not run since September last year and it’s a different year so you kind of want to see where you’re at as opposed to last year when I ran a 200m in Kingston before I came here; this time I didn’t run anything so this is me just coming to see where I’m at and having a good time and execute and I am sure it will be fantastic,” said Fraser-Pryce who ran a world-leading 10.67 at the 2022 edition.

Fraser-Pryce, who at 35 won her fifth world 100m title in Eugene, Oregon last summer to become the oldest female ever to win a global sprint title, said she believes she in great shape heading into the meet on Saturday but was quick to temper expectations on what she will deliver on Saturday.

“I am feeling good, to be honest, I’m feeling 21, which is good,” she joked, “but no two years are ever the same so you continue to work and trust that whatever things that you correct in training or things that you are working on that you would come and execute those things and it will all come together.

“But last year, it’s just to build on that, build on the experiences and the moments that I had last year into this year.”

The 2019 World Championships 400 metres finalist, speaking on Sportsmax TV’s On Point, says that after sustaining an injury in April, he is ready to go.

“It was a really bad injury to my right hamstring. I did an intensive rehab process after I got injured. Even though I shut down my season I was still doing rehab. So, I can say for the most part, right now I’m 100 percent healthy,” he said.

Bloomfield, who holds the Class 1 400m record at the ISSA Boys and Girls' Championships in Jamaica at 44.98, which made him the first Jamaican schoolboy at break 45 second at the championships,  will also be going into this season with a new camp after leaving MVP international and joining the Tumbleweed Track Club based in Florida.

Other members of that club include Olympic 200 metres champion, Andre DeGrasse, and former Calabar rival and Olympic 400 metres finalist, Christopher Taylor.

Bloomfield expanded on training alongside Taylor at the club.

“I can say it’s a very good experience, so far. I mean, we had that high school rivalry so now to put that aside and focus now as professional athletes and train in the same group, I’d say it’s good so far. He’s a very good training partner and I can see us building a very good relationship as the season progresses,” he said.

In a trip down memory lane for many fans of the Jamaican High School Track and Field Championships, or “Champs” as it is affectionately called, Bloomfield was asked about his famous showdown with Taylor on the anchor leg in the Boys open 4x400 metres relay in 2016.

When asked if he would have done anything differently looking back, Bloomfield said he wouldn’t change anything.

“I wouldn’t have used a different strategy because I don’t think people really paid attention to how close our personal bests were. At the time his personal best was 45.2 and mine was 44.9. That’s a very close margin so for me to get the baton 15 metres behind, I can’t be the one to go catch him and then sit behind him. I had to try to zoom ahead and try to hold form and unfortunately it did not work out,” he said.

The full interview can be seen on the Sportsmax TV YouTube channel.

Barbadian journalist Mike King described the omission of Williams from the list of awardees as “shocking” and “inexcusable” in a Facebook post.

“To leave World Championship bronze medallist Sada Williams out of the Independence Awards is a national scandal. Members of Cabinet should hold their heads down in shame,” he added.

Williams enjoyed a career best 2022 season in the one lap event.

In July, she ran a personal best and national record 49.75 for bronze at the World Championships in Eugene. She followed that up in August by winning gold at the Commonwealth Games in Birmingham in 49.90 and silver at the NACAC Championships in Freeport in 49.86.

In addition to those medals, Williams also enjoyed four top three finishes on the Diamond League circuit last season. She finished third in Monaco and second in Lausanne and Brussels before crossing the line third once again at the Diamond League final in Zurich.

The US quartet of Melissa Jefferson, Abby Steiner, Jenna Prandini, and Twanisha Terry blasted to the line in 41.14.  With Terry just managing to hold off rapidly closing 200m champion Shericka Jackson.

The Jamaicans had gotten off to a poor start with a botched exchange between first leg runner Kemba Nelson and second leg runner Elaine Thompson-Herah putting the team immediately on the back foot. 100 World champion Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce reduced the deficit on the third leg but could not pull things back.  The team finished with a time of 41.18.

The German quartet of Tatjana Pinto, Alexandra Burghardt, Gina Lückenkemper, and Rebekka Haase claimed third place in a time of 42.03.

In the men’s equivalent, the Jamaicans finished just outside the medal places.  The top spot went to the Canadian team who upset pre-race favourites the United States.  Great Britain finished with the bronze medal.  The Jamaica team consisted of Ackeem Blake, Yohan Blake, Oblique Seville, and Jelani Walker.

Athletics Kenya released a statement on Wednesday to confirm the saddening news that Tirop's body had been found at her home in the western town of Iten, a training hub for many athletes.

The Kenyan national athletics organisation added that they are working to learn more details about Tirop's death.

"Kenya has lost a jewel," Athletics Kenya continued in their statement. "She was one of the fastest-rising athletics giants on the international stage thanks to her eye-catching performances on the track."

One of the best women in the world at long-distance running, Tirop followed up her fourth-place finish in the 5,000 metre Tokyo Olympics final by setting the world record in a women's only 10-kilometre road race in Germany in September.

Alongside her record-breaking outing at Herzogenaurach, in which she finished in 30:01, Tirop collected two bronze medals at the World Athletics Championships in 2017 and 2019.

She also won the World Cross Country title in 2015, becoming the second-youngest women's winner in the history of the event, after also triumphing in the Africa Cross Country Championship the previous year.

Tirop endured a lean year in 2021 but placed third in Kenya's Olympic trials before missing out on the podium in Tokyo by one place.

In her most recent race, Tirop finished second in Geneva on October 3, in which she clocked 30:20.

World Athletics paid their tributes in a statement, adding they are "deeply shocked and saddened by the untimely death."

Hudson stunned onlookers at the country’s national trials after finishing ahead of pre-race favourite and 2011 World Champion Yohan Blake, with Nigel Ellis finishing in third place.

Hudson was one of three athletes who applied to the Jamaica Athletic Administrative Association to switch allegiance and were approved to compete at the championships.  The JAAA was optimistic regarding the athlete being given clearance to represent the country before the World Championships in Oregon. 

According to a release, however, the athletes will not receive clearance in time for the games.  Hudson will as a result not be eligible to compete for Jamaica until July 28th and has been replaced by fourth-place finisher Akeem Bloomfield in the 200m.  The JAAA also released the rest of the squad.

The 53.39 she ran at the Music City Track Carnival Festival in Nashville, Tennessee, made her the second fastest in the world at the time and positioned her as a medal favourite for the national championships. On Friday night, Knight was living up to her favourite tag after getting off to an explosive start that put her in command in the final but disaster struck at the ninth hurdle, which she hit and crashed to the floor.

Janieve Russell 53.63, Shian Salmon 53.82 and Rushell Clayton 54.20 would go on to claim the three automatic qualifying spots for this summer’s World Championships in Eugene, Oregon leaving Knight to consider what might have been.

However, the 25-year-old University of Virginia graduate is putting the disappointment behind her and is ready to look to the future.

“Oh man,” she said afterwards, “but you know what for every disappointment there is an appointment and I cannot question God and I put my faith in Him. I know I was ready, I was well-prepared to run something fast but today was not the day.

“I am very disappointed but it happens.”

She said she is already looking ahead to the remainder of the season.

“I know the season is still ahead of me and I am ready to do something amazing and I cannot allow this race to end my whole season and I still ready to run something fast so I am just putting it behind me at this point because I know I am ready to do something amazing, so I will put this race behind me, right now.”

She admits that having the chance to make another World Championships team next year, also makes it easier to digest Friday night’s disappointment.

“I am new on the scene, this is my first-year pro so I still have a long career ahead of me and I know I have a lot of good things to do in the sports still.”

Quirot was one of the most versatile runners in the world in the late 1980s and 1990s. She was considered one of the best 800m runners of all time and one of the best never to win an Olympic gold medal.

However, her achievements cannot be overlooked, especially after what happened to her in the early 1990s.

“Undefeated over 800m between September 1987 and August 1990, she set national records of 1:54.44 in her specialist event and 49.61 over 400m. She also earned world silver in 1991 and Olympic bronze in 1992.

“But in 1993, she was involved in a domestic accident and was engulfed by flames from the kerosene cooker in her kitchen, suffering third-degree burns over 38 per cent of her body. She was pregnant at the time and gave birth to her daughter prematurely in the hospital while fighting for her life. Her daughter did not survive and died a week after she was born.

“When she returned to consciousness on her hospital bed, she promised: “I’m going to run again.”

After undergoing seven skin-graft operations, she returned to action in 1995 and won the world 800m title in Gothenburg. She went on to claim Olympic silver in 1996 and then successfully defended her world title in 1997 at the age of 34.”

Quirot, now 57, was Women’s Track and Field Athlete of the Year in 1989.

Great Britain’s Ben Pattison grabbed a brilliant bronze at the World Championships – and revealed he had life-saving heart surgery just three years ago.

The 21-year-old became the first British male athlete to win an 800m medal at the World Championships since Peter Elliott’s silver in 1987.

It came after an operation during the Covid pandemic to fix a heart issue which had seen his heart rate skyrocket to 250 beats per minute.

Pattison grabbed third behind champion Marco Aprop and Kenya’s Emmanuel Wanyonyi in Budapest.

He said: “I had Wolff-Parkinson-White syndrome. It was a bit scary at the time. It was Covid years so I didn’t miss out on racing but I was awake for the whole thing. It was a bit surreal. I was watching.

“They had to burn off a bit of my heart. At the time it was very scary but I had the right people around me.

“When they rang me they were pretty worried and as soon as they told me I wasn’t allowed to exercise at all.

“All I was allowed to do was go for walks, so I said to myself I’m going to go for walks every day. I had a lot of my friends on PS4 because it was the Covid times. So we’d wake up, get on Call of Duty.

“I remember when I got told I was like: ‘Is this my running career done?’ I almost had in the back of my head: ‘Is this the reason I’m good at running, because I’ve got this freaky heart?’

“I was almost worried when I got back I wouldn’t be the same.”

Pattison won bronze at last year’s Commonwealth Games but was not expected to challenge for the podium at the National Athletics Centre.

“I’ve never been the stand-out guy,” said the Loughborough Business Analytics graduate, who ran one minute 44.83 seconds.

“I’ve always been the guy on the team that’s been in the second or third place. I don’t win a lot of the domestic races but when it matters, I’m there.

“I’ve never not made a final in my life. I’ve got a Commonwealth medal and a world medal. If you’d told 10-year-old Ben he retired with a 1.44 personal best, a Commonwealth and world medal he’d have gone: ‘Who’s this looney?'”

Dina Asher-Smith was missing from the women’s 4x100m relay as Asha Philip, Imani-Lara Lansiquot, Bianca Williams and Daryll Neita claimed bronze.

Asher-Smith, who came seventh in the 200m final on Friday, revealed she had been dealing with a neural problem following the 100m semi last week.

The 27-year-old was unable to feel her legs in the closing stage of her race and will now leave the Championships without a medal.

The quartet still produced a season’s best of 41.97s to finish third as the USA and Jamaica claimed gold and silver.

Williams said: “We found out this morning (about Asher-Smith’s absence) but we’ve all done changes together. We all work well together. If Dina was here, great. She’s not here and we still got a medal.”

Neita added: “I’m really feeling this as a major stepping stone towards Paris and the Olympics. But in terms of the relay, it’s just another amazing medal to add to my collection.”

Jeremiah Azu, Zharnel Hughes, Adam Gemili and Eugene Amo-Dadzie finished fourth in the men’s 4x100m relay behind the USA, Italy and Jamaica.

The men of Lewis Davey, Charlie Dobson, Rio Mitcham and Alex Haydock-Wilson reached their 4x400m relay final.

Laviai Nielsen, Amber Anning, Nicole Yeargin and Yemi Mary John also reached their 4x400m relay final in three minutes 23.33s.

Jackson, the 2022 World 200m champion and the second fastest woman of all time over the distance, had an outstanding year in which she won her first individual world title and was the NACAC 100m champion. She also won Jamaica’s 100 and 200m titles in 10.77 and 21.55, respectively.

Along the way she achieved a new personal best of 10.71 in the 100m. Only her compatriot and friend Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce with seven times under 10.70s ran faster in 2022.

The 21.45 she ran to win the gold medal in Eugene, Oregon, was a new national record and championship record. Only Florence Griffith-Joyner of the USA (21.34) has run faster.

Her patience, she said, and trust in her coach, made all the difference last year after coming off injury in 2020 when stress fractures in her shins threatened to derail her promising career.

“For me, last year it was about being patient, trusting yourself and trusting your coach and I think I did just that and it actually paid off very well,” said Jackson, who was runner-up to Fraser-Pryce at the recent RJR Sportsman and Sportswoman of the Year Awards.

Both athletes shared the prize as top track and field athletes for 2022.

For the coming season, Jackson said she is excited about the coming season and once she remains healthy, she believes she could go even faster in 2023 as the lessons of last season should have a significant bearing on what comes next.

“Coach and I have been working really hard on the parts of the race that I needed to be fixed and I think we are getting there step by step, no rush,” said Jackson, who ran 10.73 for the 100m silver medal in Oregon last season.

“Last year, I think I was being very impatient in wanting to get the start right and putting a lot of pressure on myself. So this year, coach and I sat and we had a conversation. It’s just about being patient and I think I will get there eventually.”

The magazine that was first published in 1945, is celebrating its Diamond anniversary and for its December issue, to mark the occasion it asked its more than 100,000 readers to vote for the top male and female track and field athletes between then and present day.

A whopping 55.3 per cent of the votes went to Usain Bolt as the top male athlete. Bolt won eight Olympic gold medals between 2008 and 2012 and became the first athlete to win gold medals in the 100m and 200m for three consecutive Olympic Games.

Bolt also won 11 World Championship gold medals.

The Jamaican also holds the world records in the 100m and 200m that were set at the 2009 World Championships in Berlin, Germany.

Coming in second with 17.1 per cent of the votes was the outstanding Ethiopian Haile Gebrselassie while Czechoslovakia’s Emil Zatopek was third with 14.5 per cent of the votes.

Fraser-Pryce has won two Olympic 100m gold medals, four 100m world titles and a 200m title but according to the voters that was not good enough to finish ahead of Ethiopia’s long-distance queen Tirunesh Dibaba, who garnered 31.1 per cent of the votes for greatest female track athlete.

Dibaba won world titles in the 5000m and 10,000m double in 2007 as well as winning the 10,000m title in both 2007 and 2013 and the 2017 10,000m silver.

Between 2005 and 2012, she won 12 successive races over 25 laps.

Dutch super athlete Fanny Blankers-Koen picked up 25.7 per cent of the vote while the Pocket Rocket won the hearts of 18.9 per cent of the voters.

Kerley returned to the United States recently after a stint in Australia where he clocked a fast 20.32 in a 200m race at the Maurie Plant Meet in February before storming to victory in 44.65 over 400m at the Sydney Track Classic last Saturday.

In a subsequent interview on ABC Radio in Australia, Kerley, who has a wild-card entry to the World Championships in Budapest in August, said he plans to add to the gold medal he won last year in Oregon but ultimately wants to win Olympic gold in Paris in 2024.

His career goal, however, is surpassing Usain Bolt’s accomplishments. The Jamaican is the only man to win the sprint double at three consecutive Olympic Games and holds the Olympic records of 9.63 and 19.30 in the 100m and 200m, respectively.

“He inspired a lot of generations,” Kerley said of Bolt. “We try to duplicate or step foot where he stepped foot on. He is the golden standard for track and field. We all try to achieve all he achieved in his lifetime.”

Though he would love to be able to break the Jamaican’s world records, winning gold medals remains his top priority, Kerley said.

“For us to step in the same journey is all about the gold medals and stuff right now,” he reasoned. “The more gold medals I get, the more I can put in the history book. Records come and go, but golds last forever.”

The ban takes effect today.

However, her results from the 2019 World Championships in Doha will remain.

“Ms Salwa Eid Naser is sanctioned with a period of ineligibility of two years, commencing on the date of notification of this award, with credit given for the period of provisional suspension already served between 4 June 2020 and 14 October 2020,” CAS said.

“All competitive results obtained by Ms Salwa Eid Naser from November 25, 2019, through to the date of notification of this award shall be disqualified, with all of the resulting consequences, including forfeiture of any medals, titles, ranking points and prize and appearance money.”

She will also have to pay 5000 Swiss francs to World Athletics and to the World Anti-Doping Agency as a contribution towards their costs connection with these arbitration proceedings.”

In the wake of the ruling, the attorneys representing the athlete Dr Emir Crowne, Mr Matthew Gayle and Ms Kristie Irving have expressed concern about a part of the CAS ruling which can have serious implications for athletes. "A majority of the panel says it is okay for the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) to re-characterize charges in the middle of an appeal. So, the majority of the panel said WADA can re-characterize a missed test as a filing failure if they want to. With all due respect to the majority of the panel, that can't be right. That cannot be a fair principle in any court system," Dr Crowne told Sportsmax.TV this morning.

The Nigerian-born 400m runner was charged with four alleged whereabouts failures by the Athletics Integrity Unit (AIU) in June 2020. These included filing failures on March 16, 2019, and three missed tests on March 12 and April 12 as well as January 24, 2020.

However, the World Athletics Disciplinary Tribunal ruled the alleged violation in April 2019 should not stand which meant Naser had not missed three tests.

Naser won the world title in a time of 48.14, the third-fastest time in history defeating Shanuae-Miller Uibo who ran a lifetime best of 48.37 and Shericka Jackson who also clocked a personal best of 49.47 for third.

The 30-year-old Malone is the 2019 Pan American Games champion, who boasts a lifetime best of 7.08m in the long jump. A finalist at last year’s 2020 Tokyo Olympics, Malone was hoping to be able to give of her best for the BVI this summer, but her season was stalled by the injury that will now force her out of Eugene.

“World Championships is upon us and this is the first time since 2011 that I would have to miss the event due to a knee injury that has been wreaking havoc my entire 2022 season,” she posted on Instagram.

“For those who know me and my journey thus far, you know that I will do anything and fight through any obstacle to get where I need to be. With that being said, know that it was not an easy decision to withdraw from the World Champs and forfeit the remainder of my season.

“It was simply the best decision at this point in my career to take the necessary measures needed, rest and heal both physically and mentally so that I can be the best athlete and person for the upcoming seasons.”

She also offered support for compatriot Kyron McMaster and the rest of the BVI team set to compete at the World Championships that begin July 15.

Sprinter Rikkoi Brathwaite is the other athlete set to represent the BVI at the championships where an estimated 2100 athletes from across the globe will go for gold and glory.

Hodge, who turned 17 in March, will be making her debut at the championships in the 200m where she will likely face the biggest tests of her fledgling career in the form of reigning world champion Shericka Jackson, world leader Gabby Thomas and St Lucia’s Julien Alfred.

McMaster is a two-time Commonwealth Games champion, who ran an incredibly fast national record of 47.08 to finish fourth at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics. His season-best time of 47.26 is ranked fourth in the world this year. He will take to the track to face the likes of World and Olympic champion Karsten Warholm, the world record holder, the USA’s Rai Benjamin and Brazil’s Alison dos Santos, the 2022 world champion.

Brathwaite, who set a new national record of 10.09s in early August, gets things started for the BVI in the 100m on August 20, when he takes on reigning champion Fred Kerley, Noah Lyles, Ferdinand Omanyala and Zharnel Hughes in the blue-ribbon sprint.

Both Hodge and McMaster will begin competition on August 23.

Coach Ralston Henry and the physiotherapist Martin Wilson, a UK national with close ties to Team BVIs will accompany the athletes to Budapest.

The 2019 Pan Am Games Champion, speaking Sportsmax.TV’s On Point, says she’s up to the challenge of competing in both events, even with the limited time between them.

The 2022 Eugene World Championships are scheduled to run from July 15th -July 24th and the Commonwealth Games are scheduled to run from July 28th -August 8th in Birmingham.

“It’s going to be tricky. It will definitely be a very intense next three cycles, but I think it’s do-able for sure,” said Malone.

She also referred to the fact that the US trials are also usually taking place at that time.

“The US athletes normally have their trials and then the World Championships or whatever games they’re preparing for within that period,” she said.

 With the condensed nature of track and field for the next few years, Malone went on to say her health is her number one priority this season.

“It’s just about making sure that I can stay healthy. That’s my focus this year. To stay healthy and continue to grow and become a master and student of my craft,” said Malone.

 The full interview can be seen on the Sportsmax TV YouTube channel.

The 35-year-old, who was part of Jamaica’s world record gold-winning 4x100m relay team at the London Olympics, made the announcement, on Tuesday, via social media platform Twitter.

“…I am no longer able to give of my best as an athlete to the sport that I know and love.  As a result, and for other reasons, I am announcing my retirement from track and field and an athlete,” the release read.

“My ultimate decision to retire from athletics was also precipitated by a private medical condition, which has been getting worse.  This condition has hindered me from training and competing since March 2021.  A medication prescribed by my doctor to address this medical issue breaches existing anti-doping rules.  As such, I had to make a choice between my health and athletics, and I chose my health.”

The athlete was also part of Jamaica’s gold medal-winning relay team at the 2008 Olympics, but the medal was stripped after a retrospective test returned a positive sample from Carter.  The athlete was also part of a gold medal-winning relay team at the 2011, 2013, and 2015 World Championships.  Carter claimed an individual bronze medal at the 2013 World Championships and has the eighth fastest time ever recorded over the distance.

Bolt, considered in many arenas as the greatest sprinter of all time, amassed stellar achievements in a career that lasted well over a decade.  In addition to holding the world record over both the 100m and 200m sprints, the Jamaican claimed 8 Olympic gold and 11 World Championship medals.

His soaring career might, however, be said to have ended on somewhat of a low after finishing third at the 2017 World Championships and failing to finish in the 4x100m relay. 

 "I talked to my track coach," Bolt told CNN Sport's Coy Wire. "And he was like, 'No, you're not doing it. People that retire and come back -- it doesn't always work out.'

The sprinter, who suffers from scoliosis of the spine, was quick to admit that he also did not miss the grueling training needed to compete at the highest level.

"For me, at the end I knew it was time because the drive wasn't there. But every time I watch track and field I miss it. And every time I go to the track to see my coach and I watch him training I go, 'Did I make the right decision?'... But every time I train with them I think, 'Ah yeah I made the right decision. I don't miss this.'"

“Today, I had the honor of gifting my medals to the Barbados Olympic Association where they can be showcased in their museum for any and everyone visiting to view them,” Williams said on her Instagram page on Thursday.

Williams enjoyed a career best 2022 season in the one lap event.

In July, she ran a personal best and national record 49.75 for bronze at the World Championships in Eugene. She followed that up in August by winning gold at the Commonwealth Games in Birmingham in 49.90 and silver at the NACAC Championships in Freeport in 49.86.

In addition to those medals, Williams also enjoyed four top three finishes on the Diamond League circuit last season. She finished third in Monaco and second in Lausanne and Brussels before crossing the line third once again at the Diamond League final in Zurich.

“I thought it only fitting to share my achievements to the people of Barbados after all the overwhelming support from this past season. To all my fellow Bajan athletes, I hope you take this opportunity and remember that even though we’re from a little island, we can do big things."

It was confirmed on Monday the Tokyo Olympics will take place between July 23 and August 8, 2021, with the Games – which were due to start on July 24 of this year – having been postponed due to the coronavirus pandemic.

Discussions are now ongoing to find an alternative gap in the calendar for the Worlds in Oregon, which are scheduled to be held between August 6 and 15, 2021, as it stands.

World Athletics are also liaising with the relevant parties of the Commonwealth Games and European Championships, both of which are slated for 2022.

A World Athletics statement read: "We support the new 2021 dates for the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games announced today by the Japanese organisers and the IOC. 

"This gives our athletes the time they need to get back into training and competition. 

"Everyone needs to be flexible and compromise and to that end we are now working with the organisers of the World Athletics Championships in Oregon on new dates in 2022 for our World Athletics Championships.  

"We are also in discussions with the Commonwealth Games Federation and the European Championships.  

"We would like to thank our Oregon 21 Organising Committee, their stakeholders and our partners for their collaboration and willingness to explore all options."