Jamaica’s Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce registered the fastest women’s 100m season opener in history with a blistering performance at the World Athletics Continental Tour, in Nairobi, Kenya, on Saturday.

In her first appearance on Kenyan soil, Fraser-Pryce looked at home as she took apart the rest of the field with a blistering 10.67 seconds run.  In typical fashion, the decorated sprinter left the blocks in blistering fashion before coasting clear to set the season lead, running into a slight headwind (-0.4ms).

Egypt’s Hemdia Bassant was second with a national record of 11.02, while the USA’s Shannon Ray was third with 11.33.  Olympic 200m silver medallist Christine Mboma did not complete the race as she looked to have pulled a muscle.

“It was very good, the atmosphere was fantastic,” said Fraser-Pryce,” following the event.

“I’m not sure if it was perfect – I’d have to see the replay. But the time tells me that my training has been going great.” she

The run was the third fastest of the athlete’s career and her third sub-10.7 run in the last year.

A change of environment in the offseason seems to be paying off for Natalliah Whyte, Jamaica’s 2019 World Championships gold medallist, who last weekend ran a brand new lifetime best in the 100m, which signalled that good things could be in store for the remainder of the season.

In 2019, Whyte who was then training at MVP International in Florida ran a blistering lead-off leg before handing off to 100m gold medallist Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce as Jamaica sped to a gold medal in the 4x100m relay at the 2019 World Championships in Doha, Qatar.

Notwithstanding the intervening ‘pandemic year’, 2020, when Covid-19 shut the world down; her confidence boosted by the gold-medal performance in Doha, Whyte began 2021 in fine form running a lifetime best of 11.04 at the Pure Athletics Sprint Elite Meet in Miramar, Florida on May 2. However, for reasons that she is yet to comprehend, Whyte failed to make Jamaica's team to the Tokyo Olympic Games after finishing seventh in the 100m semi-finals at the National Championships last June in a disappointing 11.52.

“I don’t know what happened to be honest. I started the season well but didn’t progress,” she said while revealing that the disappointment of not making the team to Tokyo was hard to take.

“I took not making the team really hard but sometimes we rise, sometimes we fall but you have to know how to turn negatives into positives.”

During the season break, Whyte took the decision to leave the MVP International training group for the Rana Reider-led Tumbleweed group in Jacksonville, hoping that a change of environment might bring about the change she needed.

“I eventually started to take the positives from last season and knew that eventually, I had to leave the past in the past because it already happened and there was nothing I could do but work on the future. So this is a new chapter and I am just trying to work even harder, stay healthy and apply what I’m learning,” she said.

So far, it seems to be working well.

On April 30, in her first 100m of the season at the UNF Invitational in Jacksonville, she ran a lifetime best of 10.97 to follow up on the 22.57 she ran over 200m two weeks before at the Tom Jones Memorial Invitational in Gainesville.

“I’m really happy with the results as much as you would imagine,” she told Sportsmax.TV afterwards. “I just want to stay patient, continue to work on the many things I can improve on and see what else God has in store for me.”

She does admit, however, that despite the early success, making the move to Tumbleweed to work with Reider was not an easy decision but she believes it was the correct one.

“I have to say making changes is hard but sometimes changes can be good,” she said.

“I have been working on a lot of things and also learning a lot of new things so hopefully putting the new knowledge together will help me reach the goals I have made for myself for this season.”

Jamaica track and field superstar Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce insists she will not focus on the absence of American Sha’Carri Richardson ahead of the World Athletics Continental Tour, at the Kasarani Stadium in Nairobi, Kenya, on Saturday.

Instead, the nine-time World Champion is more intent on keeping her attention on the rest of the field that she is set to face, which will include 200m Olympic silver medallist Christine Mboma of Namibia.

Ahead of the meet, a lot of attention had been placed on the possibility of another 100m match-up between the Fraser-Pryce and Richardson, no doubt a spillover from last season which feature a highly-anticipated showdown at the Eugene Diamond League meet.  Just two days ahead of the Continental Tour, however, and for the third time this season, it was discovered that Richardson had withdrawn from the meet without a public explanation being provided.

Last year, the Eugene match-up between Richardson and Fraser-Pryce had been billed as a great redemption story of sorts for the American.  The athlete had missed out on facing the Jamaica medal-winning trio of Fraser-Pryce, Elaine Thompson-Herah, and Shericka Jackson at the Olympics, after being suspended for a month for marijuana usage. 

Despite the American’s presence, however, the Jamaicans finished in the same order as the Tokyo Games, where Thompson-Herah finished ahead of Fraser-Pryce and Jackson third. Richardson finished in last place.

“As far as I’m concerned there are seven other competitors in the race that I think deserve the same amount of attention and respect as me because when we each line up to compete I don’t think we are fearful of who is beside us or in the next lane.  We are just here to compete and give our best,” Fraser-Pryce told members of the media.

“So, if someone is missing from the competition it doesn’t stop me from focusing on what I’m here to do and getting the job done.”

In addition to Mboma, the 100m field will consist of the USA’s Shannon Ray, Maximilla Imali (Ken), Bassant Hemida (Egy), Rani Rosius (BEL), Patrizia Vanderweken (Lux), and Javianne Oliver (USA).

Bahamian quarter milers Shaunae Miller-Uibo and Steve Gardner have reportedly been confirmed for next month’s Paris Diamond League meeting.

The meet will be the seventh in the series, which runs off with the Doha Diamond League meet on May 13.  An appearance at the Paris meeting, scheduled for June 18, could mark a long-awaited return to the city for the reigning 400m Olympic Champions.

Miller-Uibo, who has won the 200m event at the 2017, 2018, and 2019 editions and the 400m, at the 2017 event, has not appeared at the Paris meet since 2011.  Gardiner has yet to win the title and last made an appearance in Monaco in 2019. 

The duo has been in splendid form early this season with Miller-Uibo claiming the 400m title at the World Indoor Championship and Gardiner registering a number of impressive times indoors before opening the outdoor season with world-leading 44.22 seconds at the LSU Alumni Gold meet.

Jamaica high jumper Lamara Distin has been named the United States Track & Field Cross Country Coaches Association National Athlete of the Week and Southeastern Conference Field Athlete of the Week.

The former Hydel standout has been recognized on the back of an exceptional performance last week where she set a world-leading high jump clearance of 1.97m to win the Texas A&M Alumni Muster.

The performance saw the jumper set yet another national record for her country and moved her up to No. 4 on the all-time collegiate list.  It also bettered the previous Texas record, which she also held.

Diston, who was born in Hanover, has been on fire this season, clearing 1.93m in four of the five meets entered so far.  Two of those meets have seen the athlete jumping over 1.96m.

For her country, Distin’s assault on the national record this season began with an opener of 1.96m, set during the Texas Relays, which bettered the previous national best of 1.93 held by Sheree Ruff since May 2010.

The Jamaica Administrative Athletics Association (JAAA) has pledged $3 million for its four-part Jubilee Series for senior athletes in a lead up to the World Championships to be held in July this year. 

The second meet will be held this Saturday, May 7 at the National Stadium starting at 5pm. 

The remaining events scheduled for May 7, 21 and June 4 will feature: 100m M/W, 200m M/W, 400m M/W, 400mH M/W, 100mH W, 110mH M, Long Jump (M/W), Discus (W/M).

“Track and field has been a major part of Jamaica’s history, and in the 60th year, we will continue to provide suitable competition for our senior athletes,” says JAAA President Garth Gayle.

“We thought we should offer our senior athletes an opportunity to sharpen their performances for the National Championships and other professional outings leading into the World Championships in July,” he added.

The events will be at the National Stadium and will run for two hours on each occasion running from 5 - 7 pm. As part of the offer, the JAAA will allow its dedicated fans to enter the Grandstand free of cost. 

The event is being held in partnership with the Sport Development Foundation (SDF) and PUMA.  

In the only race she has planned for the month of May, Olympic gold medallist Briana Williams ran a season-best 11.03 while finishing second in the 100m at the Pure Athletics Global Invitational in Clermont, Florida.

In what was her first race since suffered a tight hamstring at the USATF Golden Games in Walnut, California on April 16, Williams advanced to the final after winning her preliminary round heat in a wind-assisted 10.96 (5.3m/s).

In the final, she locked strides with Tanisha Terry until late in the race when the American pulled away to win in 10.94.

Maia McCoy was the best of the rest, running 11.20 for third.

Williams, 20, races next in the 100m on June 12 at the USATF Grand Prix in New York before she travels to Jamaica for the National Senior Championships scheduled for June 23-26.

Former Hydel High star sprinter Ashanti Moore, meanwhile, ran out a comfortable winner in the 200m. The powerful sprinter, who now trains at Pure Athletics alongside some of the world’s best sprinters including the 2019 World 200m champion, Noah Lyles, clocked a nippy 23.02 easily defeating Lily Kaden (23.21) and Camile Laus (23.63).

Lyles was equally dominant in the men’s 200m which he won in 19.86 over Trinidad and Tobago’s Jereem Richards (20.06) and his brother Josephus Lyles, who ran 20.20, his fastest-ever season opener.

Kimberly Williams jumped a wind-assisted 13.93m to win the triple jump by one centimetre over Naomi Metzer (13.92m). Sineade Gutzmore jumped 13.22m for third.

Citing the presence of the BVI Olympic Committee and financial support from a shoe sponsor in PUMA, Steve Augustine, President of the British Virgin Island Athletics Association (BVIAA) is not overly concerned about the possibility of athletes from his country switching allegiance to represent the United Kingdom in international competition.

Augustine was speaking recently on the online Talk Sports show with Michael Bascombe in the wake of the success the BVI enjoyed at the recent 49^th edition of the Carifta Games held at the National Stadium in Kingston, Jamaica.

At the Games held from April 16-18, the BVI won four gold medals, two silver and a bronze for one of their best-ever medal hauls. Three of those gold medals were won by the imperious 16-year-old Adaejah Hodge, who was voted the winner of the coveted Austin Sealy Award.

But as is the case with many small island nations, there have been occasions when athletes choose to transfer allegiance to other countries in search of greater stability and support. In the recent past, Olympian Miguel Francis, who was born in Montserrat and resided in Antigua, chose to represent the United Kingdom in international competition.

Augustine said while the issue has surfaced in recent conversations with colleagues, he is not overly concerned.

“It’s something that we have spoken about at a high level, at the association level but we have never had to face that battle,” said Augustine, whose islands boast two of the best athletes in the world – Kyron McMaster and Chantal Malone – in the 400m hurdles and long jump respectively and who still represent the BVI in international competition.

“One of the good things about the BVI is that we have an Olympic Committee existing on the island, the BVI Olympic Committee. There are other territories that are under the umbrella of the United Kingdom that do not and for them, that becomes the obvious option to perhaps leave their home countries and compete for the United Kingdom.

“It’s not something that we have paid much attention to. It is indeed an option of athlete wants to do that, there is a process through World Athletics, you can’t just jump up and compete for the UK tomorrow, there is a process.”

That said, Augustine believes the BVIAA treats its athletes well which in all likelihood makes them want to remain at home.

“We were super happy a few years to be sponsored by PUMA, so our athletes are well geared. They look really nice in their uniforms. Those simple things that probably would have been problematic for us in previous years, are no longer an issue, so the little things that we do do, our athletes are appreciative.

“There is a whole lot more than we can do. Perhaps there is a benefit if they were to compete for the United Kingdom but there is no better place to be a king than at home.”

Olympic champion Hansle Parchment has two wins from two starts so far this season after he strode to victory in the 110m hurdles at the 2022 Drake Relays at the Drake Stadium in Des Moines, Iowa on Saturday.

Running into a stiff headwind of -2.5m/s, 31-year-old Tokyo Olympic gold medallist, clocked 13.47 to follow up on his victory at Velocity Fest 11 at the National Stadium in Kingston on Saturday, April 23. Then he ran a fast 13.20, a time that was the world lead for a few hours before the USA’s Devon Allen ran 13.12 in Annapolis.

On Saturday, Parchment who had his first injury-free season in a number of years proved unbeatable in his first race in Des Moines since 2016, holding off the challenge of Jamal Britt, who clocked 13.53 for second place and Barbadian Shane Braithwaite, who was third in 13.69.

In the long jump, the USA’s Kenturah Orji jumped 6.69m to defeat her friend and former roommate Chanice Porter of Jamaica. Porter unleashed a jump of 6.59m to take silver by one centimetre ahead of Ese Brume (6.58m).

Former Hydel and Kansas State high jumper Kimberly Williamson cleared 1.85m for third place in the high jump won by Vashti Cunningham, who soared over 1.90m for victory. Rachel McCoy was second by virtue of a cleaner record on the day having also bowed out at 1.85m.

Trinidadian Olympian Tyra Gittens was a winner in the high jump at the LSU Invitational where some Caribbean athletes had podium finishes on Saturday.

Lamara Distin literally continues to soar to new heights each week.

Omar McLeod and Natoya Goule claimed runner-up spots in their respective events as the 2022 Penn Relays came to a conclusion in Pennsylvania, Philadelphia on Saturday.

McLeod, the 2016 Olympic champion, who missed out on a place in the Tokyo Olympics in Japan last year, ran a season-best 13.22 for second place in the Olympic Development Men’s 110m hurdles that was won by the USA’s Devon Allen.

 The American, who ran a world-leading 13.12 in Annapolis a week ago, clocked 13.11 for a commanding victory in what will be his final full season in track and field. Allen, the 2021 Diamond League champion has signed with the Philadelphia Eagles in the National Football League (NFL).

Jaylan McConico was a distant third in 13.70.

In the College Men’s 110m hurdles, Phillip Lemonious claimed victory in 13.48. The Jamaican who attends the University of Arkansas was a comfortable winner over Jaheem Hayes (13.57) of Syracuse and Clemson’s Devon Brooks (13.62)

Goule, a finalist in the 800m at the Tokyo Olympics, ran a fast 1:24.09 in the Olympic Development Women’s 600m Elite event but was no match for the Olympic champion Athing Mu of the United States who was a runaway winner in 1:22.74, the fourth-fastest time ever run over the distance.

Nia Atkins of the USA took the final podium spot in 1:25.14.

Jamaica’s Rajay Hamilton lost out in a close battle with Ghana’s Alex Amankwah in the men’s 600m, clocking 1:16.00 to the Ghanian’s 1:15.88. Kameron Jones was third in 1:16.47.

Camperdown High School made good on the promise they showed in the heats on Friday to win the Championship of America High School boys 4x100m title, as action came to a close at the 2022 Penn relays at Franklin Field in Philadelphia on Saturday.

The team of Rimando Thomas, Junior Harris, Jason Lewis, and Roshawn Clarke sped to 40.13 to narrowly finish ahead of Jamaica College (40.16) and St. Jago (40.17).

Kingston College were also winners on the day as the team of Amal Glasgow, Shaemar Uter, Emmanuel Rwotomiya and Marcinho Rose combined to run 3:09.52 to win the Championship of America High School boys 4x400m final ahead of Bullis School from Maryland (3:11.90) and St. Jago (3:12.09).

Jamaica College’s super 4x800m team was victorious in the Championship of America High School boys final.

Omarion Davis, Handal Roban, Kemarrio Bygrave, and J’Voughnn Blake combined to dominate the field in 7:28.38. Ridge High School from New Jersey ran 7:41.59 for second while West Springfield from Virginia ran 7:45.14.

In individual events, Jamaican Phillip Lemonious, competing for the University of Arkansas, won the College men’s 110m hurdles in 13.48 ahead of Jaheem Hayles of Syracuse (13.57) and Clemson’s Devon Brooks (13.62).

Rikkoi Brathwaite from the British Virgin Islands won the College men’s 100m in 10.28 competing for Indiana University. Ohio State’s Eric Harris was second with the same time, while Houston’s Edward Sumler IV was third in 10.30.

Jamaican Olympic 800m finalist Natoya Goule was second in the Olympic Development Women's Elite 600m in 1:24.09 behind reigning American Olympic 800m champion Athing Mu (1:22.75). The USA's Nia Akins ran 1:25.14 for third. Another Jamaican, Rajay Hamilton, ran 1:16.00 to finish second in the men's equivalent behind Ghana's Alex Amankwah (1:15.88).The USA's Kameron Jones was third in 1:16.47.

Jamaican 400m specialist Rusheen McDonald was second in the men's 300m in 32.69, narrowly losing out to Nigeria's Chidi Okezie who ran 32.68 to win. American Will London III ran 32.71 for third.

Former Olympic and World champion Omar McLeod ran 13.22 for second in the men's 110m hurdles. American Devon Allen ran a meet record 13.11 for victory while his countryman Jaylan McConico was third in 13.70.

Jamaica’s Roje Stona, competing for Clemson, was second in the College men’s discus with 65.11m. Virginia’s Claudio Romero was the winner with 67.11m and Army’s Jamir Gibson was third with 59.04m.

Another Jamaican, Romaine Beckford competing for the University of South Florida, jumped over 2.23m to win the College men’s high jump ahead of Ohio State’s Shaun Miller Jr (2.23m) and Princeton’s Jeff Hollis (2.17m).

Holmwood athlete Samantha Pryce suffered a horrible accident in which her leg was broken during the final of the 4x800m relay at the 2022 Penn Relays at Franklyn Field on Friday. As a result, Holmwood Technical was unable to complete the race that was won by Edwin Allen in 8:54.58.

Minister of Gender, Culture, Entertainment and Sports Olivia Grange confirmed that Pryce suffered a broken leg and has been taken to hospital.

“I can confirm that one of our young Jamaican athletes, Samantha Pryce, who represents Holmwood Technical High School, was injured while competing in the 4x800m at the Penn Relays today,” the Minister said.

“She has been taken to the Penn Medical Centre and we have been informed that she broke her leg when she fell in that race. She is currently being prepared for surgery.”

In her statement, Minister Grange explained that Pryce and all the Jamaican high-school athletes competing at the Penn Relays are registered on the Ministry’s Athletes’ Insurance Programme and that they were making arrangements to ensure that the Holmwood athlete gets the best care.

“I pray for a successful surgery and her speedy recovery,” the minister said.

Edwin Allen was once again in dominant form to win the Championship of America High School Girls 4x100m at the 2022 Penn Relays at Franklin Field in Philadelphia on Friday.

The team of Serena Cole, Tina Clayton, Brandy Hall and Tia Clayton were flawless in speeding to a new meet record 43.18, smashing their own 43.62 which they set in 2019.

Hydel (Alana Reid, Brianna Lyston, Kerrica Hill and Oneka Wilson) ran 43.69 for second while St. Jago (Makada Linton, Shenese Walker, Abigail Martin and Breanna Clarke) ran 46.09 for third.

Lyston and Hill then returned to help Hydel take the win in the Championship of America 4x400m alongside Alliah Baker and Onieka McAnuff.

The quartet ran a new record 3:32.77 to eclipse their own mark of 3:39.99 set back in 2017.

Edwin Allen with Amoya Jamieson, Tonyan Beckford, Kacian Powell and Natasha Fox were second in 3:39.76 while Bullis School from Maryland were third in 3:40.88.

Edwin Allen got their second win of the day in the Championship of America 4x800m with Rickeisha Simms, Leanna Lewis, Rushana Dwyer and Jessica McLean combining to run 8:54.58 for victory.

Cuthbertson High School from North Carolina was a distant second in 9:04.67 while Union Catholic Regional High School from New Jersey was third in 9:06.14.