The Jamaica Athletics Administrative Association has laid the blame squarely at the feet of the Jamaica Anti-Doping Commission for World Athletics' decision not to ratify the World U20 Women 4x100m relay record set on April 17, 2022, during the 49^th staging of the Carifta Games at the National Stadium in Kingston.

On that night, the quartet of Serena Cole, Tina Clayton, Brianna Lyston and Tia Clayton scorched the track in 42.58s eclipsing the time of 42.94 also set by Jamaica at the World U20 Championships in Nairobi, Kenya in August 2021.

However, World Athletics rejected the time set in Kingston citing that not all four athletes were subjected to anti-doping control. JADCO, in a statement on Wednesday, said they only tested three athletes after the record was set because one of the athletes had been tested the day before after she had won her event. Hence, they took the decision not to test her again.

However, in a statement released later Wednesday, the JAAA, which had contracted JADCO for the three-day meet, made it clear that the Jamaican anti-doping agency did not adhere to their instructions.

“It is a fact that all four athletes were notified by the Jamaica Anti-doping Commission (JADCO) officials and presented themselves to the anti-doping station within the required time window to be tested. Unfortunately, JADCO took the decision, unknown to the JAAA and the NACAC’s Anti-Doping Delegate, not to test the athlete based on a JADCO standard. This was in direct contradiction to oral and written instructions by the JAAA,” the athletics governing body stated.

“It is to be noted that JADCO is the agency that performs anti-doping testing on our athletes both in and out of competition on behalf of the JAAA and was contracted to do so at the NACAC 2022 Carifta Games.”

The JAAA said it sent the performance along with the supporting documentation to World Athletics for ratification and it was only after they did so that it was pointed it that one of the athletes, Tina Clayton, who won the U20 Girls 100m, was not tested on the night of the relay world record.

The Jamaica Anti-Doping Commission (JADCO) has admitted that it had only tested three of the four members of Jamaica’s Women U20 4x100m relay team on April 17, 2022, after they had established the now rejected world record set at the 2022 Carifta Games held at the National Stadium in Kingston

Meantime, Garth Gayle, President of the Jamaica Athletics Administrative Association (JAAA), in describing the development as saddening, has indicated that his administration is planning to appeal the World Athletics decision to not ratify the record.

“We are saddened by the situation that four young ladies would be denied the record. The matter is still at a sensitive stage and we would have done the necessary appeals. We are still hopeful that the record will be ratified at a later stage,” he said.

World Athletics has rejected the ratification of the world record because not all members of the team were subjected to doping control. In a lengthy statement Wednesday, (JADCO) sought to explain the circumstances under which they failed to test all four members of the relay team.

“The event was won by the Jamaican team which was comprised of four female athletes. They completed the race with a world record of 42.58. Doping Control was conducted immediately on three of the female athletes,” the JADCO statement said.

“Since one of the athletes was already tested on the 16th of April 2022, a urine sample was not collected from this athlete on the 17th of April 2022. It is customary and in JADCO’s Best Practice in-competition, that if an athlete is tested today in-competition, the said athlete would not be tested the following day in-competition.”

JADCO claims it was instructed to carry out a specific number of tests for each day of the three-day championships that were being held in Jamaica for the first time since 2011.

“The Jamaica Anti-Doping Commission (JADCO) was contracted by the Jamaica Athletics Administrative Association (JAAA) to 18 urine samples throughout the period of the 49th staging of the CARIFTA Games. The Commission was advised to carry 6 urine tests per day with testing being done on any athlete who achieved a national/world record.

On April 16, 2022, six athletes were tested – three Jamaican female athletes, two male Jamaican athletes and one male athlete from the Bahamas.

On April 17, the day the world record was broken, JADCO tested nine athletes – six Jamaican female athletes, one Jamaican male athlete, one female athlete from the US Virgin Islands and one male athlete from the Bahamas.

Six more athletes were tested on April 18, 2022 – three Jamaican male athletes, one Jamaican female athlete, one male athlete from Curacao and one female athlete from the Bahamas.

Going forward, JADCO said they will ensure that all athletes breaking records would be tested.

“The Jamaica Anti-Doping Commission has recognized that World Athletics has declined to accept the result of the record-breaking performance of Jamaica’s Women’s U20 4x100m relay team on April 17, 2022, since one of the athletes previously tested by JADCO on April 16, 2022, was not tested on the day the record was broken,” the JADCO statement said.

“Whilst our testing conforms with the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) protocols, going forward JADCO will ensure the testing of record-breaking athletes despite the frequency of testing.”

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Jamaica’s Women’s U20 4x100m relay team has been denied the ratification of the world record set at the 2022 Carifta Games at the National Stadium in Kingston in April.

The record of 42.58 set by Serena Cole, Brianna Lyston, Tia and Tina Clayton while winning gold on April 17, 2022, will not be ratified, World Athletics said, because ‘not all team members were subjected to doping control’ at the completion of the race.

The Executive Director of the Jamaica Anti-Doping Commission (JADCO) did not respond to calls from Sportsmax.TV. JADCO was responsible for anti-doping controls during the championships/

 Chairman of the JADCO Board Alexander Williams was unable to comment on the matter when he spoke with Sportsmax.TV Wednesday morning. However, he promised to respond to questions once he received the relevant information pertaining to the matter.

Calls to Garth Gayle, President of the Jamaica Athletic Administrative Association (JAAA) went unanswered.

Despite the setback, Jamaica still holds the U20 world record. At the World U20 Championships in Kenya in August 2021, Serena Cole, Tina and Tia Clayton as well as Kerrica Hill established a time of 42.94, which was the time surpassed at the National Stadium in Kingston last month.

Botswana’s Letsile Tebogo’s U20 record of 9.96 set in Gaborone on April 22, was also not ratified because no zero gun test was performed for the timing equipment.”

2011 100m World champion Yohan Blake ran a season’s best 10.05 for second in the Men’s 100m at the Ostrava Golden Spike, at the Municipal Stadium, in the Czech Republic, on Tuesday.

The race was won by Great Britain’s Reece Prescod in a personal best 9.93 while fellow British teammate and former Kingston College sprinter Zharnel Hughes was third in the same time as Blake.

Jamaican Tokoyo Olympic finalist Candice McLeod ran a season’s best 50.38 for second in the Women’s 400m behind Poland’s Natalia Kaczmarek who ran a personal best 50.16. Another Polish athlete, Anna Kielbasinska, was third in 50.38, equaling her own personal best.

Puerto Rican Olympic champion Jasmine Camacho-Quinn sped to 12.56 for victory in the Women’s 100m hurdles ahead of Poland’s Pia Skrzyszwoska who ran a personal best 12.65 and the USA’s Nia Ali (12.69).

It was a Caribbean 1-2 in the Men’s Javelin as Grenadian 2019 World Champion Anderson Peters continued his fine form this season with a throw of 87.88m to win ahead of Trinidadian 2012 Olympic Champion Keshorn Walcott (84.77m). Germany’s Julian Weber was third with 83.92m.

Cuba’s Maykel Masso won the Men’s Long Jump with 8.14m ahead of the Czech Republic’s Radek Juska (8.11m) and France’s Augustin Bey (8.00m).

Jamaicans Wayne Pinnock and Carey McLeod booked spots in the Men’s long jump at the NCAA Division 1 Outdoor Championships set for Hayward Field in Eugene, Oregon from June 8-11 with good performances at the NCAA East Preliminaries held in Bloomington, Indiana, from March 25-28.

Pinnock and McLeod, both former Kingston College standouts, now competing for the University of Tennessee, jumped 7.93m and 7.63m, respectively, to advance. They were also the top two finishers at the NCAA Indoor Championships in Alabama in March with Pinnock jumping 7.92m for victory against McLeod's 7.91m.

Former Jamaica College and current Purdue jumper Safin Wills produced 15.89m to advance in the Men’s triple jump.

On the track, Jamaica’s Yanique Dayle and Antigua and Barbuda’s Joella Lloyd will both compete in the sprint double at the NCAA Championships after securing their spots.

Dayle, formerly of Hydel High and now competing for Ohio State, ran times of 11.24 in the 100m and 22.64 in the 200m while Lloyd, competing for Tennessee, ran the same time in the 100m and 23.01 in the 200m.

The Women’s 400m also saw two Caribbean competitors advance from the East Region with Bahamian Kentucky standout Megan Moss (52.07) and Bermudan UMBC athlete Caitlyn Bobb (52.40).

Trinidadian Olympian and Kentucky senior Dwight St. Hillaire ran 45.63 to advance in the Men’s equivalent.

Clemson senior Lafranz Campbell of Jamaica and Cayman's North Carolina A&T senior Rasheem Brown both ran 13.63 to advance in the Men’s sprint hurdles while another Jamaican Clemson representative, Trishauna Hemmings, ran 13.13 to advance in the Women’s 100m hurdles.

Barbadian and Tennessee sophomore Rasheeme Griffith and Jamaica and Kentucky senior Kenroy Williams ran 50.91 and 50.96, respectively, to progress in the Men’s 400m hurdles.

Jamaican track and field icons, Olympians Veronica Campbell-Brown and Donald Quarrie were honoured by Comets Club International, formerly the Montego Bay Comets Club at a gala in New York on Saturday, May 28.

St. Lucia’s Julien Alfred ran a wind-aided 10.80 to win her heat at the NCAA West Regional Preliminary Round in Fayetteville, Arkansas, on Saturday, to be the fastest qualifier to the Women’s 100m at the NCAA Division 1 Outdoor Championships in Eugene, Oregon, from June 8-11.

Jamaica’s Kemba Nelson of Oregon and Alfred’s Texas teammate Kevona Davis also qualified for Eugene with times of 10.85 and 11.04, both also wind-aided, respectively.

Davis will also contest the 200m in Eugene after running 22.49 to qualify second fastest in the West Region behind teammate Kynnedy Flannel (22.40).

Jamaicans Stacey Ann Williams of Texas (50.66) and Charokee Young of Texas A&M (50.80) were the fastest qualifiers in the Women’s 400m.

Barbados' Jonathan Jones of Texas and Jamaica's Jevaughn Powell of UTEP ran 44.85 and 44.87, respectively, to be the top two qualifiers in the Men's equivalent. 44.87 is a new personal best for Powell, the former Edwin Allen and Kingston College standout.

Another Bajan, Rivaldo Leacock of New Mexico, ran a new personal best 49.63 to advance in the Men's 400m hurdles.

Texas Tech's Demisha Roswell was the second fastest qualifier in the Women's 100m hurdles with 12.78 while Baylor’s Ackera Nugent ran 12.93 to also advance.

Former Hydel High and current Texas A&M star Lamara Distin and Texas' Trinidadian Olympian Tyra Gittens both cleared 1.81m to progress in the Women's high jump while Gittens also produced 6.40 to advance in the long jump. Former Herbert Morrison athlete Daniella Anglin, now a freshman at South Dakota, also cleared 1.81m to advance in the high jump. 

 Bahamian Kansas State senior Kyle Alcine achieved a personal best 2.15m to advance in the Men's high jump.

Reigning Olympic champion Elaine Thompson-Herah showed her class in a dominant display of sprinting after speeding to win the women's 100m at the Prefontaine Classic on Saturday.

Thompson-Herah looked in full control of the race before pulling well clear of the field with around 10 metres to go and stopping the clock at 10.79. American Sha’Carri Richardson finished at the head of the pack behind Thompson-Herah, clocking 10.92 for second spot.  The time was identical to another Jamaican, Sherika Jackson, an Olympic 100m bronze medallist. Richardson was, however, given second ahead of Jackson based on the photo finish.

Elsewhere, another Jamaican star, Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce took top spot in the women’s 200m.    Fraser-Pryce stopped the clock in a season’s best 22.41, well clear of second-place Brittany Brown who was timed in 22.74. The Bahamas’ Anthonique Strachan was third in 22.76.

In the women’s 800m, Olympic finalist Natoya Goule finished fourth in 1:59.39.  The event was won by Great Britain’s Keely Hodgkinson in 1:57.72.

In mid-May 2021 Rasheed Broadbell was flying high.

Former 100m World Champion and world’s second-fastest man Yohan Blake has not quite given up on the idea of returning to dominate sprinting, despite an underwhelming performance at the Tokyo Olympics last year.

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.”

Though pleased with her ‘workout' at the National Stadium in Kingston last Saturday, Derron Herah, coach and husband of Olympic champion, Elaine Thompson-Herah believes the next six weeks of preparation will be crucial.

 This is especially true if she is to realize her goal of winning her first World Championship title this summer.

The triple-gold medallist at last year’s Summer Olympics in Tokyo, Japan, ran a smart 10.94s to win the 100m dash running into a headwind of -1.8m/s and then less than an hour later clocked a decent 22.55 to complete the double.

“Her performance is good,” her proud husband told Sportsmax.TV after the 100m final where had there been no headwind, Thompson-Herah’s time would have been 10.81.

“Today (Saturday) was mainly a training run; didn’t know she was going to run this fast. She was not necessarily pressing the gas, just basically the first 30 and trying to maintain and maintaining brought her 10.94, so we are right there. We just need to lighten up because we’re still heavy. So when the time is right we will lighten up and then go when we need to go.”

Lightening up, as Herah puts it, involves getting Thompson-Herah to approach her peak at the National Championships from June 23-26 but be at her best at the 2022 World Championships that begin in Eugene, Oregon on July 15, just over two weeks later.

He explained that with the two championships so close to each other, everything comes down to timing.

“The timing is very important. After the National Championships, we have two weeks before World Championships, so we almost have to peak in the championships and maintain that into the World Championships. We have to be very careful and very and very selective with races and how we approach races,” he said of Thompson-Herah’s preparation.

“What we are trying to do is getting her to peak for Oregon, not necessarily the trials. We will have to be in some kind of shape to indicate what we are going to do in Oregon so we have to be on that cycle now, six-seven weeks out, so by the time trials come around then we would have to be in similar shape as to what we would be in Oregon.”

The delicate nature of this phase is partly why they decided against flying to Birmingham, England last week for the Diamond League meeting after Thompson-Herah suffered some discomfort during training.

Herah explained.

“Even our decision to not go to Birmingham, we had everything in mind because we knew what the weather was going to be like and she was feeling some type of soreness. It’s not like we would go and then not run,” he said.

“We decided on the day not to go and as the week went along she started to feel a little better so I decided we would come out here today (Saturday) because we would have had a training session today anyway, so we got in two competitive runs but what we saw today was good enough.”

Thompson-Herah is down to compete at the Prefontaine Classic Diamond League meeting in Eugene, Oregon on Saturday, May 28. She lines up against some of the fastest women in the world including Dina Asher-Smith, World 60m champion, Mujinga Kambundji, Olympic gold medallist Briana Williams, Shericka Jackson, Marie Jose Ta Lou and Twanisha Terry.

The St Lucia Athletics Association has selected an 18-member squad to represent the island at the Friendship Games scheduled to get underway on Saturday, May 28, at the Stade Territorial Louis Achille, in Fort de France, Martinique.

Eleven islands are expected to participate at the Games including French Guiana, Anguilla, Antigua and Barbuda, Sint Maarten, Guadeloupe and Haiti as well as, Dominica, St Vincent and the Grenadines, St Kitts and Nevis, and host country Martinique.

The Boys U20 team comprises Kadeem Larcher, Cagini Pilgrim, Noel Tribune, Sirgio Mc. Kenzie, Ken Smith and Kenrick James while Mya Hippolyte, Sandrina Popo, Kayla Charles, Joy Edward and Hadassah Papius make up the U20 Girls.

Denzel Phillip, Levern Jn. Baptiste, and Milan Mitchell comprise the U17 Boys.

Naya Jules, Paige Anderson, Sierratina Hilaire and Kirsheema Ince make up the U20 Girls.

Jamaican athletes Salcia Slack and Samantha Elliott are among eight former NCAA Division II champion athletes who are to be inducted into the USTFCCCA NCAA Division II Hall of Fame Class of 2022, it was announced on Wednesday.

Slack represented New Mexico Highlands University as a multi-eventer while Elliott was a standout at Johnson C Smith University where she thrived under the tutelage of Coach Lennox Graham.

Slack is the first athlete from New Mexico Highlands inducted into the USTFCCCA NCAA DII Track & Field Athlete Hall of Fame.

“I am very thankful for this induction. I know I have worked hard. I cried, I suffered in many ways but I never gave up, no matter what, so I am elated for this,” Slack, now a member of the USA military, told Sportsmax.TV shortly after the Class of 2022 announcement was made on Wednesday.

According to the USTFCCCA, Slack left her mark in a big way at the 2015 NCAA DII Outdoor Championships. Over the span of three days in Allendale, Michigan, she won the heptathlon for the second year in a row, took runner-up honours in both the 100- and 400-meter hurdles, finished sixth in the open long jump and helped New Mexico Highlands take fourth in the 4×400 relay, amassing 30.25 points.

If Slack competed alone, she would have finished seventh in the team standings. That wasn’t the case, though: Slack led the Cowgirls to their first top-4 finish at the Outdoor Championships in program history (NMHU also took third indoors thanks to another sterling effort by Slack.

“I decided that I wanted to take on all these events and I was determined to make the finals in all of them, she recalled.

“The event that stood out for me was running the 400m hurdles for the first time and finishing second.”

She also had bitter-sweet memories of competing indoors in 2014.

“The 2014 Indoor Championships was one of my best and scariest. I got sick that very morning and was told that I wasn’t able to compete and I begged the medics to give me the chance and they did. I went out there to do me and I exceeded what my body was telling me I could do.”’

In addition to 16 total All-America honours, multitudes of conference titles and multiple National and Regional Athlete of the Year laurels from the USTFCCCA, Slack’s name dots the NCAA DII record book. Slack stands alone at the top of the heptathlon all-time chart as the only athlete to amass more than 6000 points (6141, to be exact) and also holds the third-best total (5833); she is the No. 3 performer in the pentathlon at 4181 points – barely missing the NCAA DII record of 4193 points – and owns the No. 4 (4193), No. 5 (4172) and No. 6 (4149) all-time performances.

Elliott was simply outstanding for Johnson C Smith.

In three-straight All-Academic years at Johnson C. Smith, Elliott not only earned 17 NCAA Division II All-America awards, but also a Bachelor’s degree in Management Information Systems.

On the track, Elliott was a versatile performer on Golden Bulls teams that finished runner-up three times at the NCAA Division II Track & Field Championships: indoors and outdoors in 2013; outdoors in 2014.

 She ran sprints and relays, but her speciality was the hurdles – she was top-three in both the 100m hurdles and 400m hurdles all three years at the DII Outdoor, winning the 400h twice (2013 and 2014) and 100H once (2014, with a lifetime best of 13.04).

Her 2013 winning time of 56.38 in the 400 hurdles was a meet record and still rates No. 3 all-time among DII athletes.

On relays, Elliott was a national champion two more times, including anchoring the 2013 JCSU 4×100 unit that set the still-standing meet record of 44.05. Her collegiate career included two Penn Relays titles in the 400H and five individual CIAA titles (three in the 100H and two in the 400H).

Elliott is the fourth athlete from Johnson C. Smith to be inducted into the NCAA Division II Track & Field Athlete Hall of Fame.

Jamaican shot-putter Danniel Thomas-Dodd was in scintillating form to win at the 2022 USATF Throws Festival in Tucson, Arizona on Saturday.

The 2019 World Championship silver medallist produced a season’s best 19.53m to win, her farthest throw since her 19.55 personal best and national record done in 2019, to win gold at the Pan Am Games in Lima, Peru.

The throw was one of three in Thomas-Dodd’s series to eclipse 19m. Canada’s Sara Mitton was second with 19.47m while the USA’s Jessica Ramsey was third with 19.38m.

“It feels good to be honest. I was struggling a lot with my confidence because I was injured all of last season and I’m finally in a place where I can say I feel like the old Danniel,” she said in an interview after the event.

“I just want to bring this momentum into the World Championships,” she added.

Jamaica’s Ralford Mullings threw 63.75m for third in the Men’s discus behind the American pair of Sam Mattis (68.69m) and Andrew Evans (66.74m).

Tokyo Olympic 200m finalists Shaunae Miller-Uibo and Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce go head to head in the 200m at the Diamond League Meeting in Eugene, Oregon on Saturday in what promises to be an epic clash that will also feature World Indoor 60m champion Mujinga Kambudji.