Rayon Campbell threw the gauntlet down to his rivals locally and regionally on Sunday when he ran a blistering 49.52 to win the U20 Boys, 400m hurdles at Jamaica’s Carifta Trials at the National Stadium in Kingston. By the looks of it, Jamaica will field a formidable duo in the event set for April 16-18 in Kingston as Roshawn Clarke of Camperdown High was close behind in a time of 49.85.

Campbell’s Kingston College schoolmate Antonio Forbes ran 50.48 for third place.

Jordan Mowatt, also of Kingston College, won the U17 final in 52.53 over Martin Princewell of Jamaica College, who stopped the clock at 53.01. Daniel Wright of Excelsior High School was third in 54.77.

The Girls U20 final was won by Safhia Hinds of St. Jago who ran 58.06. She was a comfortable winner over Hydel High School’s Oneika McAnnuff, who took second place in 59.35. Shackelia Green of St Elizabeth Technical High was third in 59.77.

Deandra Harris of Spot Valley won the U17 event in 61.78. She finished miles ahead of Edwin Allen High’s Kelly Ann Carr, who completed the race in 65.22, just ahead of St Jago’s Olivia St. John (65.30).

Already blessed with the world-class talents of 400m hurdler Kyron McMaster and long jumper Chantel Malone, the British Virgin Islands seem to have found another potential global star.

When Rikkoi Brathwaite of Indiana University finished second in the 60m dash at the NCAA Division I Indoor Finals in Birmingham, Alabama on Saturday, he created history for the BVI in that no other athlete from those islands has ever finished higher in an event at the NCAA level.

It was a close finish between the winner, Jamaica’s Davonte Burnett of USC, who won in a personal best of 6.50 and Brathwaite, who is now the only BVI athlete to secure two medals (bronze and silver) at the NCAA Championships and the only male athlete to secure a podium finish at the NCAA level.

The time of 6.52 is also a lifetime best for the sprinter, a national indoor record for the BVI as well as a school record. Last season, Brathwaite won a bronze medal at the Division I 60m finals.

Next up for the Big 10, 60m champion is the World Athletics Indoor Championships in Belgrade where Brathwaite will be hoping to run even faster and probably bring home a medal for his island nation before returning to the USA for the NCAA Outdoor season.

Edwin Allen completed a clean sweep of the Girls Under-20 100m, while Herbert Morrison’s DeAndre Daley sprung an upset to claim the men’s equivalent as the Carifta Trials continued on Saturday, at the National Stadium.

The Edwin Allen sweep of the women’s event was led by Tia Clayton who won in 11.49, ahead of twin sister Tina Clayton (11.50), with Serena Cole (11.51) finishing third.

In the Boys Under-20 event, Daley upset the odds, running 10.33 to win ahead of favourite Bryan Levell of Edwin Allen (10.36) and KC’s Bouwahjgie Nkrumie (10.40).

Edwin Allen’s Theianna Lee Terrelonge won the Girls Under-17 100m in 11.96, ahead of St Jago’s Camoy Binger (12.03) and Hydel’s Shemonique Hazel (12.11). Gary Card of Wolmer’s won the Boys Under-17 title in 10.93, ahead of Calabar’s Shaquane Gordon (10.99) and Spot Valley’s Romario Hinds (11.20).

Abigail Campbell, running unattached, won the Girls Under-17 400m in 55.18, ahead of St. Jago’s Quana Walker (55.98) and Vere Technical’s Shevaughn Thomas (56.99).

The Kingston College pair of Tahj-Marques White (48.30) and Marcinho Rose (48.52) were the top two finishers in the Boys Under-17 equivalent, while Edwin Allen’s Antonio Powell was third in 49.29.

Hydel’s Oneika McAnuff won the Girls Under-20 400m in 53.12, ahead of Vere Technical’s Kaylia Kelly (54.09) and Bustamante High’s Shana Kay Anderson (54.25). The Boys Under-20 event saw Edwin Allen’s Delano Kennedy taking the win in 46.97, ahead of Manchester’s Shemar Palmer (47.29) and Kingston College’s Shaemar Uter (47.47).   

An exciting Boys Under-20 100m final is in store after a speedy first day of the 2022 CARIFTA Trials at the National Stadium on Friday.

Herbert Morrison’s DeAndre Daley, who ran 10.55 to win at the Western Championships last week, was the fastest qualifier to Saturday’s final with a time of 10.30.

National Junior Champion Sandrey Davison of St. Catherine High was second fastest with 10.32, while Edwin Allen standout and finalist in the Men’s 100m at the National Senior Championships in 2021, Bryan Levell, was third fastest with 10.39. Jeevan Newby, running unattached (10.41), Bouwahjgie Nkrumie of Kingston College (10.55), Hector Benjamin of Jamaica College (10.57) and the St. Jago pair of Deshaun Gordon (10.59) and Odaine Crooks (10.61) make up the full field for Saturday’s final.

Calabar’s Shaquane Gordon (10.71), Gary Card of Wolmer’s (10.85) and Romario Hines of Spot Valley (10.98) were the fastest qualifiers to the Boys Under-17 100m final.

Edwin Allen’s Tia and Tina Clayton with times of 11.39 and 11.41 were the second and third fastest qualifiers to the Girls Under-20 100m final, respectively. Hydel’s Kerrica Hill was the fastest qualifier at 11.31.

The qualifiers for the Girls’ Under-17 final were led by Edwin Allen’s Theianna Lee Terrelonge (11.73), Hydel’s Shemonique Hazel (11.76) and St. Jago’s Camoy Binger (11.78).

J’Voughnn Blake of JC won the Boys Under-20 1500m in 3:55.45 ahead of STETHS’s Adrian Nethersole (3:59.91) and his JC teammate Omarion Davis (4:01.04). The Girls’ equivalent was won by Holmwood Technical’s Jody Ann Mitchell in 4:37.18 ahead of Edwin Allen’s Rickeisha Simms (4:37.50) and St Mary High’s Shone Walters (4:37.51).

Tokyo Olympics relay gold medallist Briana Williams got her birthday celebrations off to an early start this week.

World-leader in the 60m hurdles Danielle Williams, Britany Anderson and Natoya Goule are among the medal contenders named to Jamaica’s team to the World Indoor Championships in Serbia from March 18-20.

Williams set a world-leading time of 7.75 at Clemson on February 11, which makes her a medal favourite for the championships. Anderson, 21, ran a lifetime best of 7.82 in Louisville, Kentucky, making her fourth-best in the world this year. Besides her compatriot, only Americans Kendra Harrison and Alia Armstrong, who have both run 7.81 have gone faster.

Goule, who ran world-leading times twice so far this season, has the second-fastest time in the world over 800m this indoor season. Her 1:58:46 set in France on February 17, is only bettered by Keely Hodgkinson's 1:57.20 set in Birmingham on February 19.

The 19-member team also includes Briana Williams, whose 7.09 makes her the second-fastest Jamaican and sixth-fastest in the world over 60m this year and Shericka Jackson, whose personal best of 7.12 makes her the third-fastest Jamaican and tied for 14th in the world for 2022.

The female dominant team also includes Danielle Thomas-Dodd for the shot put, Kimberly Williams in the triple jump as well as Roneisha McGregor and Stephenie-Ann McPherson for the 400m.

 Junelle Bromfield, who is an alternate for the 400m, Tiffany James, Tovea Jenkins, Janieve Russell as well as McPherson and McGregor comprise the 4x400m relay squad.

Christopher Taylor has been named for the 400m while Ronald Levy will go in the 60m hurdles and Nigel Ellis will compete in the 60m dash.

Shericka Jackson was third in the 60m dash at the Paris Indoor Meeting on Sunday.

The North American, Central American, and Caribbean Athletic (NACAC) has joined other associations around the world in condemning the Russian invasion of Ukraine.

Earlier this week The World Athletics Council imposed sanctions against its Member Federations of Russia and Belarus as a consequence of the invasion.

As a result athletes, support personnel, and officials from Russia and Belarus will be excluded from all World Athletics Series events for the foreseeable future, with immediate effect.  Adding its voice to the chorus the Caribbean body condemned the loss of life and property.

“NACAC today issues a very strong condemnation of the recent decision by Russia to invade the country of Ukraine and starting a war that will incur significant loss of lives, the destruction of the country’s economy and leaving untold numbers without homes and places of work,” a release issued by the organization read.

“NACAC is extremely proud that the athletes of the world have let their voices join those of millions around who vehemently reject the Russian invasion and its seeming disregard for all norms of democracy and international law,” he added.

“As a member of World Athletics, NACAC has been a party to all Congress decisions to impose sanctions on Russia for the numerous infractions of the organization’s competition rules and failure to satisfy all conditions required for a return to full participation in its global events. We understand only too well the evidence of State-sponsored doping that has characterised the Russian athletics program,” it added.

“Today, NACAC acknowledges that genuine leadership requires of us the airing of our condemnation of a government that has shown a complete lack of respect for peace and international understanding, two of the most fundamental principles for which sport exists. As the world’s leading sport for individuals, the entire athletics fraternity must be unified in this condemnation and ensure that there is no room for Russia to manoeuvre in sport to achieve its government’s ugly and most despicable aggression against Ukraine. We ask the same in respect of the government of Belarus that has made clear its support for the actions undertaken by Russia in respect of Ukraine.

We agree with the athletes of the world and encourage those of our sport to continue to make their voices heard, loud enough to have the desired impact, an end to Russian aggression against Ukraine and a return to international peace.”

TLamara Distin and Carey McLeod were among the winners at the 2022 SEC Indoor Championships held at College Station, Texas from February 25-26.

Texas A&M junior Distin won the Women’s High Jump in 1.91m. The former Hydel High star, who recently set a new Jamaican indoor record of 1.92m, finished ahead of South Carolina sophomore Rachel Glenn (1.88m) and LSU senior Abigail O’Donoghue (1.88m).

McLeod, the University of Mississippi junior, won the long jump with a leap of 8.07m to defeat Georgia's standout sophomore Matthew Boling (7.90m) and Alabama sophomore Emmanuel Ineh (7.87m).

The former Kingston College man also finished third in the triple jump in 16.33m behind LSU freshman Sean Dixon-Bodie (16.64m) and Missouri junior Georgi Nachev (16.48m).

Distin’s Texas A&M teammate, Charokee Young, was fourth in the Women’s 400m in 51.28. The event was won by Kentucky’s Alexis Holmes in 50.77 while Arkansas freshman Britton Wilson ran 50.88 for second and Florida freshman Talitha Diggs ran 51.25 for third.

Young was a member of Texas A&M's 4x400m relay team that ran 3:25.43 while finishing second Arkansas that ran 3:24.09 for victory.

Edwin Allen’s Class I Girls 4x100m team stole the show at Saturday’s staging of the 2022 Gibson/McCook Relays at the National Stadium in Kingston.

The quartet of Serena Cole, Tina Clayton, Brandy Hall and Tia Clayton had a string of flawless baton exchanges to eventually cross the finish line in a time of 43.37 seconds, a new meet record and high school world record.

They finished more than a full second ahead of Hydel who ran 44.40 for second place while St. Jago finished third in 45.50.

Edwin Allen also took the girls Class 4 4x100 in 48.81 and the 4x200m Open in 1:35.91.

Hydel High girls won the Girls Class 2 4x100m in 44.62 and the 4x400m relay in 3:33.76.

Holmwood Technical was also in record-breaking form in the Girls Sprint Medley with 3:55.77 to better the previous meet record of 4:00.83.

Meanwhile, Jamaica College’s 4x800m team was also in fine form, running a new meet record of 7:24.30 to finish almost 12 seconds ahead of second-place finishers Kingston College who ran 7:36.21. St. Jago was third in 7:45.46.

JC smashed the previous meet record of 7:31.71.

Kingston College won two of the four sprint relays, running 44.36 and 45.99 to win Classes 3 and 4, respectively.

The Class 1 4x100m was won by St. Jago in 40.26 ahead of JC (40.40) and St. Catherine High (40.50) while Calabar stormed to victory in Class 2 in 42.19 ahead of KC (42.26).

St. Jago also won the final event of the meet, the boys’ 4x400m in 3:10.48 ahead of KC (3:11.43) and JC (3:12.49).

JC won the Boys’ Sprint Medley in 3:30.82 ahead of KC (3:31.53) and Calabar (3:38.40).

There were also some standout performances from the seniors on display, namely Tissana Hickling and Lushane Wilson.

Hickling won the Women’s Long Jump in 6.70m and 100m in 11.85 while Wilson leapt to a new personal best 2.21m to win the Men’s High Jump.

Baylor’s Ackera Nugent set a facility record to claim the 60m hurdles title at the Big 12 Championships at the Harry Hoak Track in Iowa on Saturday but it was the Texas Longhorns who stole the show winning their fifth consecutive women’s title and second straight men’s crown.

Nugent, a Sophomore at Baylor clocked a fast 7.91, a facility record, to take the sprint hurdles title ahead of Texas Longhorn Milan Young (8.08). Nugent’s Jamaican compatriot Demisha Roswell, a Junior at Texas Tech claimed the bronze medal in 8.20.

Roswell’s Texas Tech freshman teammate, Vashaun Vascianna, won the men’s title in 7.75. The former St Jago and Kingston College hurdler won his preliminary round heat in 7.70 on Friday.

For the Texas Longhorns, Julien Alfred, Tyra Gittens and Stacey-Ann Williams were all on the podium during the two-day championships.

The Longhorns swept the 400m dash, with Kennedy Simon's diving effort of 51.54 seconds to win her first 400m conference title. Jamaica’s Stacey Ann Williams finished just behind in second at 51.60 seconds, while sophomore Rhasidat Adeleke completed the sweep in third with a time of 52.33.

Texas also enjoyed another sweep in the 200m where St Lucia’s star sprinter Julien Alfred took the title with a time of 22.89 seconds. Kynnedy Flannel was second in 23.02 seconds, while Jamaica’s Kevona Davis finished third in 23.30 seconds.

Alfred was a second-place finisher in the 60m dash, clocking 7.17 seconds, losing by 0.02 to Texas Tech Sophomore Rosemary Chukwuma. Flannel added a third-place finish at 7.30 while Davis added a fifth-place finish at 7.33 seconds.

Trinidad and Tobago’s Tyra Gittens won the silver in the high jump, clearing 1.84m. She was fourth in the long jump competition.

Meanwhile, Baylor’s Women that featured Jamaica’s Kavia Francis would take the 4x400m title in 3:32.77 ahead of Texas Tech (3:35.06) and Oklahoma State (3:36.22).

An unspecified number of fully vaccinated supporters will be allowed to enter the Boy’s and Girl’s Championships this year, meet organisers the Inter-Secondary School Sports Association (ISSA) have confirmed.

In addition, the organization is also expected to add a number of school sports back to its yearly calendar after an extended absence for some due to the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic.

“Over the next two weeks, competitions will begin for U-19 Girls Netball, U-19 Boys Basketball, U-19 Cricket as well as U-16 Boys Football,” a release from ISSA said.

The release went on to add that other sports will be added to the calendar later in the year.

“Competitions in Volleyball, Table Tennis, Hockey, and Girls Football will also be staged later during the Easter Term and are to be completed by April 30, 2022,” it added.

In addition to spectators, ISSA also requires that all athletes taking part in its competitions this season be fully vaccinated.

World Athletics has condemned the Russian invasion of Ukraine but said, for now, there are no plans to relocate the 2022 World Race Walking Team Championships scheduled for March 4-5 in Muscat, Oman or the 2022 World Athletics Indoor Championships scheduled for March 18-20 in Belgrade, Serbia.

Russia invaded Ukraine earlier this week drawing outrage from governments and sporting organisations across the globe. World Athletics joined the throng on Thursday in a statement released on its website and on several media platforms.

In the statement, World Athletics President Sebastian Coe is said to have spoken to senior vice-president Sergey Bubka and the Ukraine Athletics Federation offering support.

Since 2015, the Russian Athletics Federation has been suspended from World Athletics due to doping violations and is, therefore, ineligible to host World Athletics events or send teams to international championships.

On August 1, 2021, Britany Anderson lined up in lane seven of the final of the Tokyo Olympics 100m hurdles. Having run 12.40, a personal best and the second-fastest time going into the final, only Jasmine Camacho-Quinn, who set an Olympic record of 12.26 in her semi-final, was faster.

Expectations of a medal were high for the 20-year-old Jamaican but it was not to be. She hit the sixth hurdle, managed to clear the seventh but then stumbled, lost her momentum and with it any chance of a place on the podium and making history as the first woman from the Caribbean to win an Olympic medal in the event.

That honour went to her compatriot, Megan Tapper, who finished third behind world record holder Kendra Harrison of the United States, who won silver and Camacho-Quinn, who created history of her own becoming the first Puerto Rican woman to win an Olympic gold medal.

During a recent sit-down with Sportsmax.TV where she talks about her improvement this season, how her training group and her faith in God, have helped her successfully transition to senior competition, Anderson revealed that running her personal best in the semi-final impacted her in a way that she did not expect.

“My emotions were all over the place. I was crying. I was excited, I was overwhelmed,” she said about what caused her to lose her focus after running her lifetime best in the semi-final.

“In the final, I don’t know what…it was like, something went wrong, not just with the hurdles, but because I was so overwhelmed and it was my first senior games, everything was just all over the place.”

Nevertheless, she said she was not disappointed at the eventual outcome saying that she felt like she had won just to make the finals at the Olympic Games.

It is with that mindset that Anderson has approached the start of the new season wherein the span of three weeks she ran three-lifetime bests in the indoors 60m hurdles. Starting at the Millrose Games on January 29, Anderson, who turned 21 in January, ran a lifetime best of 7.91 to defeat a field that included Kendra Harrison.

Just about a week later, she lowered that time to 7.88 while finishing second to Danielle Williams, who ran a then-personal best 7.83 at the New Balance Grand Prix in New York.

Six days later, at the American Track League Meeting in Louisville, Kentucky, Anderson would go even faster clocking 7.82, the fourth-fastest time in the world. Only Williams (7.75), Harrison (7.81) and Alia Armstrong of the USA (7.81) have been faster.

According to the former Vere and Camperdown athlete, her success this season comes down to the change in mindset bolstered by improving confidence.

“I feel like it was just the mindset that changed from last season to this season. Last season was just something to show me what I could do this season and I bring all of that to this season, worked on what I had to work on in practice and just bring it out there on the track,” she said.

It wasn’t that long ago that Anderson set the World U20 record in the 100m hurdles, 12.71, in July 2019 in Finland. She is the World U18 champion and the silver medallist at the World U20 Championships in Finland in 2018.

Since that time, her transition to the senior ranks has been relatively painless as evidenced by her qualifying for her first Olympic final eight months after she turned 20.

She credits her training partners at Tumbleweed, the training group she joined in 2019, for helping her make the transition to the senior ranks.

“Most parts of it was the people I had around me, like my training partners, they helped me throughout everything, off the track and on the track so the transition from a junior to a senior wasn’t really hard,” she said, adding that having fellow Jamaicans Christopher Taylor, Christania Williams and fellow hurdler Omar McLeod, played their part in helping her make a smooth transition.

Transitioning to the senior ranks comes with its own challenges because before she can conquer the world, she has to first overcome perhaps the deepest pool of talent currently at Jamaica's disposal with the likes of Danielle Williams, Tapper, Ackera Nugent, perhaps Janeek Brown and Yanique Thompson among others. Asked about where she sees herself among Jamaica's world-class hurdlers, Anderson confidently indicated that she knows what she is capable of.

"I know what I can do. I know what I am going to do. At the trials, I know what I am going there for, so I will just let all of that play out in God's way," she said.

As for this year, Anderson is focused on the World Championships in Oregon in July but as it relates to World Indoors next month and the Commonwealth Games, no decision has yet been made. Her agent Mario Bassani said those decisions will be made at a later date and will be as a result of discussions with her coach Rana Reider, whom she describes as a really great coach.

“The lesson I take from him is I can do whatever I can put my mind to,” she said.

So far, that advice seems to be working well for Britany Anderson.

 As Bassani tells it, whichever championships she decides to compete at this year, she will be ready.

Jamaica’s Olympic gold medallist Briana Williams will be made available to represent Jamaica at the 2022 World Indoor Championships in Belgrade from March 18-20.