Shericka Jackson and Noah Lyles unleashed jaw-dropping runs at the National Stadium in Kingston on Saturday night during the revival of the Racers Grand Prix where world-record holder Wayde van Niekerk set a new stadium record in the 400m and Tyler Mason electrified the thousands who braved the heavy rain that threatened to dampen proceedings.

Earlier, on Saturday afternoon, Jackson, the World 200m champion, wrote in her notebook that she wanted to run between 10.75 and 10.78 in the 100m later that evening. She duly delivered speeding to a season-best 10.78 to win the race by some distance over the ever-improving Anthonique Strachan, who ran a season-best 10.99.

Sasha Lee Forbes, who ran a lifetime best of 10.98 in Bermuda on May 21, produced another solid performance while finishing third in 11.07, her second fastest time ever.

The withdrawal of Oblique Seville and Ackeem Blake from the men’s 100m final, took much of the sheen off what was expected to be a barn-burner that also featured American Christian Coleman. Nonetheless, the race delivered an exciting finish with the American holding off the challenge of Kadrian Goldson, who produced a lifetime best of 10.08 for second place.

Emmanuel Archibald of Guyana ran 10.23 to take the final podium spot.

The ‘B’ finals were also good value for money.

In September 2017, 20-year-old Michael Campbell suffered life-threatening injuries in a motor-vehicle accident that claimed the life of his friend and fellow athlete Jordon Scott. That same year, Campbell, a promising young prospect ran a lifetime best of 10.07 at a meet in Kingston.

On Saturday night, almost six years later, Campbell was back to his best winning the 100m in a season-best 10.08. He pumped his fist in elation when he looked across at the clock and noticed the winning time that had him well clear of Tyquendo Tracey, who ran 10.26 for second place and Kuron Griffith of Barbados, who ran a personal best of 10.30.

Remona Burchell, 2014 NCAA champion, clocked a season-best 11.17 to win the women’s race ahead of a fast-finishing Tia Clayton, who delivered a personal best of 11.23 and Briana Williams, who finished third in 11.30.

Lyles promised to do something special in Jamaica and he delivered. The super-confident American scorched the damp track to win in a meet record 19.67. Zharnel Hughes finished second in 20.14 while Rasheed Dwyer clocked a season’s best time of 20.53 for third.

The last time Wayde van Niekerk was in Jamaica, it was in 2017 to honour the retirement of his friend Usain Bolt, who had announced that he would walk away from her stellar career that year after a decade of dominance.

Later that same year, during a charity rugby match, the Olympic champion and world-record holder tore both the anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) and meniscus cartilage in his right leg bringing his track career to a screaming stop.

The past few years saw him struggle to regain the form that made him one of the best quarter-milers in history. By all indications, he is now back near to his best. After a 44.17 season best at the South African Championships in April, the now 30-year-old sprinter cruised to victory in 44.21, a new meet record.

Zandrian Barnes finished second in a new lifetime best of 44.90, making him the third Jamaican to break 45 seconds this season. Jamaica’s national record holder, Rusheen McDonald was third in 45.24.

Antonio Watson was the second Jamaican to break 45 seconds this season when he won the ‘B’ final in a lifetime best of 44.75 that had the thousands in attendance cheering wildly.

Promising 400m hurdler Roshawn Clarke also ran a lifetime best of 45.24 for second place with Assinie Wilson finishing third also in a personal best of 45.51.

Charokee Young took control of the women’s race with about 120m to go and held off a strong field to win in 51.10 over Stacey-Ann Williams who ran a decent 51.34 for second place. The USA’s Kendall Ellis was third in a season-best 51.37.

Tobi Amusan arrived in Jamaica coming off a disappointing last-place finish in the 100m hurdles at the LA Grand Prix a week ago. The 12.69 she ran then was well off the Nigerian’s world record of 12.12 set in Eugene, Oregon last year. However, a week later she was much better, hurdling to victory in 12.57, a season’s best time and a marked improvement over a week ago.

Tia Jones, the 2018 World U20 champion, finished second in 12.72 while holding off Olympic bronze medallist Megan Tapper, who finished third in 12.80.

The 110m further confirmed the resurrection of the career of Tyler Mason, the once promising Jamaica College high school hurdler. After running 13.32 in Costa Rica in 2015, Mason, because of injury and poor form, struggled to fulfill his immense potential and many pundits saw his career as being on life support, especially after a season-best 14.12 in 2021.

There were signs of life in 2022 when he ran 13.34 in Tennessee and again earlier this year when he ran 13.32 at the National Stadium in April. On Saturday night, the 27-year-old Mason, told the world that news of his career’s demise were greatly exaggerated when he ran a slightly wind-aided 13.14 (2.3m/s) to win a close race over Orlando Bennett (13.18) and Damion Thomas 13.29.

Shian Salmon was impressive in victory to open proceedings in the 400m hurdles, winning in 55.10 over Rhonda Whyte 55.55 and Cassandra Tate of the USA, who took third in 55.62.

Two-time World Championships silver medallist Shanieka Ricketts won the triple jump over rival and friend Thea LaFond of Dominica in less than ideal conditions. The cool temperatures and negative headwind notwithstanding, Ricketts’ 14.32m to was enough to secure the victory ahead of LaFond’s 14.15m.

Imani Oliver of the USA could only muster 12.97m for third place.

Samoa’s Alex Rose won the men’s discus with a throw of 65.86m with Traves Smikle taking second place with 65.15m. Kai Change threw 63.19m for third place.

Lushane Wilson cleared 2.20m to win the high jump over Raymond Richards (2.15m) and Christoff Bryan (2.10m).

Jamaica’s Sprint Legend Usain Bolt says he remains eager to play another impactful role in track and field’s growth and, as such, is awaiting a position from World Athletics to hit the ground running.

The 36-year-old, who shot to fame by winning eight Olympic titles and 11 World Championships gold medals, while breaking records in the 100m, 200m and 4x100m, believes the track and field has experienced somewhat of a decline since his retirement in 2017, but stands ready to assist in the sport’s revival, if asked to do so.

“I’m still waiting on a position from (World Athletics), I’ve reached out to them and let them know I would love to make a bigger impact in sports, as long as they want me to,” Bolt said in an interview with Reuters.

“We’ve been in talks, but we’ll have to wait and see what comes around,” the global phenom and one of Jamaica’s most recognizable figures, added.

Bolt is aware that his personality was a vital ingredient in the sport’s success during his era but pointed out to indications that athletes like US sprinter Noah Lyles, might be starting to fill the charisma gap.

“It’s going to be a process. After me, it kind of went down because of who I was as a person and how big my personality was,” the iconic sprinter shared. 

“But I think over time, it will be better. I think young athletes are coming up and I see a few personalities that are needed in sport; hopefully, in the upcoming years, it will change. Hopefully, I can play a part and help the sport to grow,” Bolt stated.

While there was some disappointment about the crowd turnout at last year’s World Championships in Eugene, Oregon, Bolt is of the view that next year’s Olympic Games in Paris, France, could be a special moment for the sport.

“Sometimes, it’s all about where it is. America is not the biggest track and field place,” Bolt said.

“I think Paris will be big because it’s accessible and I know Paris always has a good team and good athletes over the years. So, I look forward to that,” he noted.

After a decade of Bolt-inspired global dominance, Jamaica’s men have failed to win a single track gold medal at the last two World Championships.

However, with rising young sprinters Oblique Seville and Ackeem Blake both showing considerable promise of success, Bolt believes there is a good platform for that medal drought to be broken at this year’s championships in Budapest, Hungary.

“Last year, Seville came fourth (in the 100m), so I was very impressed. Also now, there’s a young kid, Ackeem Blake, who is also stepping up. So, I think that’s a good start,” the 11-time world champion said.

“Hopefully, these two will motivate other youngsters to want to step up and want to train harder and dedicate themselves,” he reasoned.

On that note, Bolt said he would be keeping a close eye on compatriot Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce at the World Championships in August.

Fraser-Pryce, also 36, who has led Jamaica’s dominance in the women’s sprints, will be seeking a record-extending sixth world 100m title in Hungary, 14 years after making her debut in the global showpiece of track and field.

“I follow Shelly a lot because we came through the same era, so to see her continue sprinting and coming back from having a child, that’s impressive,” said Bolt.

200m World Champions Noah Lyles and Shericka Jackson headline several stars expected to participate in the return of the Racers Grand Prix on June 3 at the National Stadium in Kingston.

Lyles broke Michael Johnson's long-standing American Record when he sped to 19.31 to win gold in Oregon last year while Jackson ran 21.45 to her first World title, becoming the fastest woman alive in the process.

The World Athletics Tour-Gold meet is happening for the first time since 2019, with the three-year hiatus being attributed to the emergence of the COVID-19 pandemic.

“It is with great enthusiasm that I can announce the return of the Racers Grand Prix,” said Racers Track Club President and Head Coach Glen Mills at the official launch of the meet at the Jamaica Pegasus Hotel on Tuesday.

“It is a meet you don’t want to miss. Three-and-a-half hours of pulsating action in 12 events,” added Mills who also serves as director for the meet.

The meet will host over 150 athletes from all over the world including the likes of reigning 100m hurdles World Champion and World Record holder Tobi Amusan of Nigeria, Olympic Champion and 400m World Record holder Wayde Van Niekerk of South Africa and British European 200m Champion Zharnel Hughes to name a few.

The future of Jamaican sprinting will also be on display at the National Stadium including the likes of World Championship finalist Oblique Seville, World Junior Champions Tina Clayton and Kerrica Hill as well as National Under-20 100m Record holder Bouwahjgie Nkrumie.

The field events also promise to be exciting for the fans with the likes of 2019 World Championship gold medallist Tajay Gayle and silver medallists Shanieka Ricketts and Fedrick Dacres set to showcase their skills.

“Over the four years of staging the Grand Prix, the standard and quality has been unquestionable and the meet has had some of the greatest athletes in track and field taking part here in Jamaica,” Mills said.

The 12 events set to be contested are the 100m (Men and Women), 200m (Men), 400m (Men and Women), 400m hurdles (Women), 100m hurdles (Women), 110m hurdles (Men), Triple Jump (Women), High Jump (Women), Long Jump (Men) and Discus (Men).

The meet is scheduled to get underway at 6:30pm Jamaica time (7:30pm ECT).

Tickets go on sale in the first week of May. Prices will be announced at a later date.

Anderson Peters is the only Caribbean male athlete nominated for the 2022 World Athletics Male Athlete of the Year.

The 10 nominees were announced on Thursday. The athletes were selected by an international panel of athletics experts, comprising representatives from all six continental areas of World Athletics.

It has been another memorable year for the sport and the nominations reflect some of the standout performances achieved at the World Athletics Championships Oregon22, World Athletics Indoor Championships Belgrade 22, one-day meeting circuits and other events around the world.

The nominees for 2022 Men’s World Athlete of the Year are (in alphabetical order):

Kristjan Ceh, SLO

- World discus champion

- Diamond League discus champion, throwing a national record 71.27m on the circuit in Birmingham

- European discus silver medallist

Alison dos Santos, BRA

- World 400m hurdles champion

- Diamond League 400m hurdles champion

- Ran a world-leading South American record of 46.29

 Mondo Duplantis, SWE

- World pole vault champion indoors and outdoors

- Diamond League and European pole vault champion

- Improved his world record to 6.19m and 6.20m indoors, and then 6.21m outdoors

 Soufiane El Bakkali, MAR

- World 3000m steeplechase champion

- Diamond League 3000m steeplechase champion

- Unbeaten in 2022, running a world-leading 7:58.28 in Rabat

Grant Holloway, USA

- World 110m hurdles champion

- World indoor 60m hurdles champion

- Diamond League 110m hurdles champion

 Jakob Ingebrigtsen, NOR

- World 5000m champion, world 1500m silver medallist indoors and outdoors

- European 1500m and 5000m champion

- Diamond League 1500m champion in a world-leading 3:29.02

Eliud Kipchoge, KEN

- Improved his world marathon record to 2:01:09

- Berlin Marathon champion

- Tokyo Marathon champion

Noah Lyles, USA

- World 200m champion

- Diamond League 200m champion

- Ran a world-leading national record of 19.31 to move to third on the world all-time list

 Anderson Peters, GRN

- World javelin champion

- Commonwealth javelin silver medallist

- Threw a world-leading NACAC record of 93.07m, moving to fifth on the world all-time list

 Pedro Pichardo, POR

- World triple jump champion with a world-leading leap of 17.95m

- World indoor triple jump silver medallist

- European triple jump champion

 A three-way voting process will determine the finalists.

 The World Athletics Council and the World Athletics Family will cast their votes by email, while fans can vote online via the World Athletics social media platforms. Individual graphics for each nominee will be posted on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and YouTube this week; a 'like' on Facebook, Instagram and YouTube or a retweet on Twitter will count as one vote.

 The World Athletics Council’s vote will count for 50% of the result, while the World Athletics Family’s votes and the public votes will each count for 25% of the final result.

 Voting for the World Athletes of the Year closes at midnight on Monday 31 October. At the conclusion of the voting process, five women and five men finalists will be announced by World Athletics.

 The winners will be revealed on World Athletics’ social media platforms in early December.

200m World Champion Noah Lyles insists he would not be surprised to see Jamaica sprint star Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce break the longstanding women’s 100m world record, on the heels of a remarkable season to date.

Fraser-Pryce, the 100m World Champion, pulled out of a showdown with compatriots Elaine Thompson-Herah and Shericka Jackson earlier this week, after feeling some tightness in her hamstring.

Prior to that, however, the 35-year-old has been in near flawless form so far.  Fraser-Pryce has dipped below 10.7 on a record six occasions, with her best of 10.62 coming at the Morocco Diamond League meet two weeks ago.  Lyles an athlete who is no stranger to fast times himself believes the performances are an indication the Jamaican is on the verge of something special.

“I heard that she said she wanted to break the world record this year and I’m like yeah I can see that.  I mean consistently dropping below 10.7s, 10.6s like almost every race and that’s very scary,” Lyles said ahead of the Lausanne Diamond League meet.

“Anytime you see somebody running a time that’s almost the exact same time, very consistently, every race, it means they’re about to make a huge drop.  It happened for me in the 2018 season when I ran nothing but 19.6 every race and I dropped it down to 19.5.  This year I was just playing around in the area of 19.6, 19.7, and all of a sudden I just made that huge jump to 19.3,” he added.

Last season, it was another Jamaican who had the record in her sights.  After a sensational 2021, which saw her crowned the double Olympic champion in Tokyo, Thompson-Herah clocked the second fastest time ever recorded over the distance with a 10.54 run in Eugene, Oregon.

“When Elaine was running in 2021 and messing around with the 10.6, 10.7 area then she just dropped it to 10.5, that just wasn’t out of nowhere she was just consistently running the same pattern and when her body was ready, the wind was ready and the day was good, she was ready to go,” Lyles said.

 “I’m really just waiting on Shelly to have that moment where her body is ready and the day is right, the crowd is there and the wind is perfect, I’m not going to be shocked when that world record pops up or it's right next to it or maybe way ahead of it.”

The record of 10.49 held by the United States’ Florence Griffith-Joyner has stood since 1988.

Shericka Jackson produced the second fastest 200m time in history to win gold in the women’s 200m final at the World Athletics Championships in Eugene on Thursday night.

Jackson, who won silver in the 100m with a 10.73 personal best on Sunday, ran a spectacular championship record 21.45 for victory ahead of teammate Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce (21.81) and Great Britain’s Dina Asher-Smith (22.02). Olympic champion Elaine Thompson-Herah finished seventh in 22.39.

Jackson’s time also makes her the fastest woman alive over the distance and is a new national record.

In the men’s equivalent, the USA completed their second sprint sweep of the championships with Noah Lyles defending his title from Doha with a phenomenal world-leading and lifetime best of 19.31 to become the third fastest man in history over the distance.

Kenny Bednarek ran 19.77 for the silver medal while 18-year-old Erriyon Knighton took the bronze in 19.80. The Dominican Republic's Alexander Ogando and Trinidad & Tobago's Jereem Richards were fifth and sixth in 19.93 and 20.08, respectively.

In the Women’s 800m, Jamaica’s 1500m semi-finalist Adelle Tracey ran a personal best of 1:59.20 to finish third in heat one and advance to the semi-finals.

Joining Tracey in the semis will be her Jamaican teammate and 2019 World Championships finalist Natoya Goule, who won the sixth and final heat in 2:00.06.

In the field, the world leader and defending world champion Anderson Peters of Grenada needed only one throw to advance to the final of the men’s javelin, registering a mark of 89.91m. Trinidadian 2012 Olympic gold medallist Keshorn Walcott failed to advance, finishing 16^th overall in qualifying with a throw of 78.87m.

Cuba’s Lazaro Martinez jumped 17.06m to advance to the final of the men’s triple jump.

Olympic 800m champion Athing Mu, Yohan Blake, as well as Sha’ Carri Richardson, have been confirmed for the inaugural USATF Bermuda Games set for April 9, the Royal Gazette is reporting.

Also included in the line-up for the meet borne out of a partnership between USA Track and Field, the Bermuda National Athletics Association and main local sponsor Athene, is Olympic silver medalist and world-record holder Grant Holloway and Noah Lyles as well as Bermuda’s Athlete of the Year triple jumper Jah-Nhai Perinchief.

Additional stars are expected to be confirmed in the near future.

“Hundreds of athletes and fans are expected to travel to Bermuda from around the world to participate in this world-class competition, in addition to millions of viewers from around the world who will tune in for the live two-hour international broadcast on NBC showcasing Bermuda as the world-class sports destination it is,” said BTA Chief Executive Charles Jeffers II.

The USATF Bermuda Games will the latest addition to the World Athletics Continental Tour Gold Series.

Following his impressive win over 200m at the USATF Grand Prix Oregon Relays at Hayward Field last weekend, Jereem Richards feels his move to Pure Athletics has helped bring the best out of him.

The 27-year-old Trinidad stormed to victory in 20.26s leaving Josephus Lyles (20.46) and Jamaica’s Christopher Taylor (20.73) in his wake.

It was his second win from three 200m starts this season following his victory at the Pure Athletics Spring Invitational in Clermont, Florida on April 4 and a second-place finish at the Tom Jones Memorial Invitational in Gainesville, Florida on April 16.

On each of those two occasions, he has run faster – 20.37 in Clermont and 20.30 in Gainesville - but his victory on the weekend was even more impressive considering the -1.3m/s wind he was running into.

“I’m very pleased with my performance last weekend. It gives me a lot of confidence going forward and I’m just trying to keep on building on my progress thus far,” he told Sportsmax. TV.

Richards moved from the University of Alabama under coach Blaine Wiley, who was his coach in 2017 when he won 200m bronze at the World Championships in London and then ran a 43-second relay leg as Trinidad and Tobago upset the USA to win the 4x400m gold medal.

He won the 200m Commonwealth Games title in 2018, silver at the Pan Am Games and then gold in the 4x400m relay at the World Relays in Japan in 2019.

However, moving from Alabama to Florida, he said, was down mainly to the impact of the pandemic.

“With the things that are happening in the world and not being able to train sufficiently with regards to COVID-19 and let’s say it gets back bad and we wouldn’t be able to use the facilities in the College (University of Alabama), I didn’t want to take chances and I decided to put myself in a position where, in the event that this happens, I’m somewhere that I will be able to train, somewhere where I have other professional athletes that might be going through the same struggles,” he told the Trinidad Guardian.

At Clermont, he rubs shoulders with the likes of World Champion Noah Lyles and his brother Josephus and several of the world’s elite sprinters. Training with them each day, he said, has allowed him to bring out his best.

“An improvement that I’ve seen since I moved is being around a lot of talented athletes from all around the world which motivates you to always be your best and push you beyond your limits,” he said.