Jamaican triple jump world leader, Jaydon Hibbert, and long jump world leader, Ackelia Smith, expressed excitement ahead of their Diamond League debuts in Monaco on Friday.

Hibbert will compete in triple jump while Smith will take part in the long jump.

“I’m really happy to be here in Monaco,” Hibbert said Thursday’s pre-meet press conference.

“I’m just super excited to see what the competition is like at this level and just to get my groove on and enjoy myself here,” he added.

Smith also offered similar sentiments before saying she was surprised to be invited to the press conference.

“It’s definitely an honor. As you can tell, my hands are a little shaky. It’s definitely been a great first experience,” she said.

“When I was on the plane, my coach said ‘you have a press conference’ and I thought he was talking to Julien (Alfred) because I did not expect to be here,” Smith added.

Both Hibbert and Smith are both in the midst of breakthrough seasons.

Hibbert, the reigning World U20 champion, in his freshman season at the University of Arkansas, won the SEC Indoor and Outdoor titles before winning both NCAA titles as well.

In the process, he broke both the NCAA collegiate Indoor and Outdoor records. He produced 17.54m, a world U20 record which was recently ratified, to win the NCAA Indoor title.

A couple months later, the 18-year-old jumped a massive 17.87m, the furthest jump in the world this year, to win the SEC Outdoor title. He also jumped 17.56m to take the NCAA Outdoor crown.

Earlier in July, Hibbert successfully defended his title at the JAAA/Puma National Senior Championships with 17.68m.

“With all these accomplishments, I’m really grateful. Especially as a teenager, not even yet in my prime. I just want to give God thanks and say I’m really excited to continue,” Hibbert said

On Friday, Hibbert will be lining up against the likes of Americans Will Claye and Christian Taylor as well as Burkina Faso’s Hugues Fabrice Zango, whose season’s best of 17.81m puts him second in the world this season behind Hibbert.

“It should be a great competition tomorrow. Everybody’s a star out there. I truly look up to everybody, especially when I was younger. My coach would always tell me to look at these guys and try to replicate what they do,” Hibbert said.

He mentioned Cuban-born Portuguese Olympic and World Champion, Pedro Pichardo, when asked which triple jumper inspires him.

“I like how humble he is and how technical he is in the phases,” Hibbert said.

Smith, a sophomore at the University of Texas has also enjoyed a career-best season.

The 21-year-old jumped a world-leading 7.08m to win the long jump title at the Big 12 Outdoor Championships in May and followed that up with a 6.88m effort to claim her maiden NCAA Outdoor title.

She finished third at the recently concluded Jamaican Championships with a best jump of 6.66m.

Smith has also excelled in the triple jump this year. She jumped a personal best 14.54m to claim silver at the NCAA Outdoor Championships. She was also runner-up at the Jamaican Championships with a 14.26m effort.

On Friday, she will be competing in a loaded field including the likes of Yulimar Rojas, Tara Davis-Woodhall and Ivana Vuleta, just to name a few.

Rojas is the current World and Olympic Champion and World Record holder in the triple jump. Davis-Woodhall is coming off a win at the US Championships and is currently second in the world behind Smith with 7.07m while Vuleta is a five-time Diamond League final winner, two-time World Indoor Champion and an Olympic bronze medallist.

Nafi Thiam’s world indoor pentathlon record of 5055 from the European Indoor Championships and Jaydon Hibbert’s outright world U20 triple jump record from the NCAA Indoor Championships have been ratified.

Thiam produced one of the standout moments of the European Indoor Championships on 3 March to win her third European indoor title, putting together her best ever indoor series.

She opened by equalling her 8.23 PB in the 60m hurdles and followed it with a 1.92m clearance in the high jump, after which she moved into the lead. An outright shot put PB of 15.54m gave her a comfortable margin at the top of the leaderboard and she followed that with a 6.59m leap in the long jump, putting her on course to break the world record.

Poland’s Adrianna Sulek had also been having the competition of her life and was close to world record pace too heading into the 800m. Sulek dominated that race, crossing the line in 2:07.17, but Thiam also ran well, clocking an indoor PB of 2:13.60 to give her an overall winning tally of 5055. Sulek finished second with 5014.

Thiam’s score added 42 points to the previous world record of 5013, set by Ukraine’s Nataliya Dobrynska on 9 March 2012 at the World Indoor Championships in Istanbul.

Sulek crossed the line before Thiam and so technically scored 5014 – higher than the pre-event world record – six seconds before Thiam finished the competition with 5055. But it is the position of World Athletics that only Thiam’s mark will be ratified.

Eight days after Thiam’s record-breaking feat, Jamaican triple jumper Jaydon Hibbert made history at the NCAA Indoor Championships in Albuquerque on 11 March.

The world U20 champion bounded out to a winning leap of 17.54m in the first round of the men’s triple jump. Not only did he break the collegiate record that had stood since 1986, he also broke the world U20 indoor record of 17.20m – previously set by France’s Melvin Raffin in Belgrade on 3 March 2017 – and the outright world U20 record of 17.50m set by East Germany’s Volker Mai in Erfurt on 23 June 1985.

Two months after winning the NCAA indoor title, Hibbert sailed out to an outdoor PB of 17.87m at the SEC Championships in Baton Rouge. The mark has been submitted for ratification; if approved, that will stand as the outdoor world U20 record, while his 17.54m leap will remain at the world U20 indoor record.

Jaydon Hibbert successfully defended his men’s triple jump title on day four of the JAAA/Puma National Senior and Junior Championships at the National Stadium in Kingston on Sunday.

The 18-year-old Arkansas freshman, who already won the SEC and NCAA Indoor and Outdoor titles this season, produced a best effort of 17.68m, a stadium record, for the win. Jordan Scott was second with a best jump of 16.32m.

Hibbert will enter the Budapest World Championships in August as one of the favorites for gold. He is currently the world leader in the event courtesy of his personal best and world under-20 record 17.87m done to win the SEC outdoor title in May.

Jamaican triple jump World Junior record holder, Jaydon Hibbert, has signed a NIL deal with Puma.

Short for Name, Image, and Likeness, an “NIL” refers to the way college athletes can receive compensation. “Using” an athlete’s NIL would involve a brand leveraging their name, image, and/or likeness through marketing and/or promotional endeavors.

The NCAA officially made it legal for athletes to profit off of their NILs on July 1, 2021. Since this initial passing, states have begun to pass their own laws detailing the rules for athletes that attend colleges in their state. Universities have also begun to produce rules and programs for their student-athletes.

Hibbert, still only 18-years-old, is currently a finalist for the 2023 Bowerman Award after a spectacular freshman season for the Arkansas Razorbacks.

He won the SEC Indoor and Outdoor titles as well as the NCAA Indoor and Outdoor crowns. To take the SEC Outdoor title, Hibbert produced a personal best, world leading and world Under-20 record 17.87m.

Jamaica’s Jaydon Hibbert, a freshman at the University of Arkansas, is among the three male finalists for the 2023 Bowerman Award, collegiate track and field’s highest individual honor. The finalists that also include Kyle Garland of the University of Georgia and Leo Neugebauer of the University of Texas.

Hibbert, Garland and Neugebauer won a combined four NCAA titles, obliterated four collegiate records and notched 10 all-time top-10 performances in their respective events. This is just the second time in award history that all three men’s finalists broke at least one collegiate record (2017 was the first).

Eighteen-year-old Hibbert, formerly of Kingston College in Jamaica, is the undisputed King of the Triple Jump in collegiate history.

The Arkansas freshman completed the NCAA title sweep with a victory at the NCAA DI Outdoor Championships. Hibbert unified the indoor and outdoor collegiate records with a 17.54m effort indoors to win that NCAA crown, followed by a majestic, world-leading 17.87m outdoors at the SEC Championships.

Both marks are also U20 world records.

Prior to Hibbert taking the collegiate scene by storm, both of the collegiate records in the triple jump had stood for more than 35 years. Even more impressive might be the fact that Hibbert only needed 12 jumps all season to achieve all of those feats.

Hibbert is the third male athlete from Arkansas to be named a finalist for The Bowerman, joining 2016 award winner Jarrion Lawson and 2022 finalist Ayden Owens-Delerme. Hibbert is the fifth freshman man to be named a finalist and the youngest to be named a finalist in award history.

Garland, who hails from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, starred in the combined events this year. He won the heptathlon crown at the NCAA DI Indoor Championships with a near world-record 6639 points and demolished the collegiate record in the process. Outdoors, Garland amassed two of the top-4 decathlon scores in collegiate history: the first coming at the SEC Outdoor Championships where he tallied 8589 points for what is now the fourth-best; the second in a runner-up effort at the NCAA DI Outdoor Championships where he one-upped himself with 8630 points for the third-best.

Neugebauer, who hails from Germany, orchestrated a masterclass performance in the decathlon at the NCAA DI Outdoor Championships. It was on his home track in Austin, Texas, where Neugebauer amassed 8836 points to obliterate the collegiate record, set a German national record and climb all the way to No. 8 in world history.

Hibbert is one of two Caribbean athletes who are Bowerman finalists in 2023. On Monday, St Lucia’s Julien Alfred was among the three women finalists for the prestigious award.

Fan voting for The Bowerman begins Tuesday, June 27 on The Bowerman’s website and runs through Thursday, June 29. Paper voting also begins on Tuesday, June 27 and closes on July 14.

Zharnel Hughes sent shockwaves through the track and field world on Saturday when he sped to a personal best, world lead and British record 9.83 to take the win in the Men’s 100m at the USATF NYC Grand Prix at the Icahn Stadium.

The Anguilla-born Hughes, who currently trains under legendary coach Glen Mills at the Racers Track Club in Jamaica, recovered after being left at the start by Jamaica’s Akeem Blake and the USA’s Christian Coleman to obliterate his previous personal best of 9.91 done five years ago in Jamaica. Blake ran 9.93 for second while Coleman was third in 10.02.

Hughes, a former Class 1 100m record holder at the ISSA Boys & Girls Championships where he competed for Kingston College in 2014, broke the previous British record of 9.87, set by Jamaican-born Olympic and World Champion, Linford Christie, back in 1993.

In the Women’s equivalent, Aleia Hobbs was the only athlete to break 11 seconds, running 10.98 for victory.

Jamaica’s Briana Williams got her customary bullet start and was able to maintain her form and composure to run a season’s best equaling 11.04 in second while defending US champion, Melissa Jefferson, ran a season’s best 11.06 for third.

Jamaica’s Zandrion Barnes ran 45.05 to take the win in the Men’s 400m ahead of Matthew Boling (45.58) and Trevor Stewart (45.85).

The women’s equivalent was won by American 400m hurdles world record holder, Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone, in a personal best 49.51 ahead of teammate Gabby Thomas (50.29) and Jamaica’s Charokee Young (51.02).

2015 World Champion Danielle Williams was third in the 100m hurdles. In a race aided by a 2.8 m/s wind, American former world record holder, Kendra Harrison, ran 12.29 for victory finishing narrowly ahead of Alaysha Johnson (12.30) and Williams (12.33). Olympic bronze medallist, Megan Tapper, was fifth in 12.68.

18-year-old Surinamese phenom, Issam Assinga, ran 20.25 for second in the Men’s 200m behind World Champion, Noah Lyles, who ran 19.83 for the win. The USA’s Elijah Morrow ran 20.30 for third. With that time, Lyles has now tied double sprint world record holder, Usain Bolt, for the most sub-20 times in the 200m with 34.

In the field, Dominican Commonwealth Games silver medalist, Thea Lafond, produced 14.47m to win the Women’s triple jump ahead of the USA’s Kenturah Orji (14.30m) and Canada’s Caroline Erhardt (13.80m).

Traves Smikle threw 65.36m to take the discus crown ahead of Samoa’s Alex Rose (64.63m) and Jamaica’s Kai Chang (63.17m).

2019 World Championship silver medalist, Danniel Thomas-Dodd, threw 19.38m for second in the Women’s shot put behind American world leader Maggie Ewen (19.68m). Chase Ealey threw 19.25m for third.

Jamaica’s Kimberly Williamson cleared 1.83m for second in the Women’s high jump behind the USA’s Vashti Cunningham (1.95m). Jelena Rowe cleared 1.79m for third.

Two-time World Championship silver medalist Shanieka Ricketts was the lone Caribbean winner at the 2023 Paavo Nurmi Games in Turku, Finland on Tuesday.

The Jamaican, who also took gold at the 2022 Commonwealth Games in Birmingham, jumped 14.20m, her third furthest mark this season, to take the win ahead of Turkey’s Tugba Danismaz (14.03m) and Slovenia’s Neja Filipic (13.83m).

Another Commonwealth champion, BVI’s Kyron McMaster, took second in the Men’s 400m hurdles in 48.57. France’s Ludvy Vaillant took the win in 48.50 while American Khallifah Rosser was third in 49.16.

Jamaica’s Adelle Tracey, who won the 800m at the Irena Szewinska Memorial in Poland last week, was fourth in the 1500m in 4:04.65. The event was won by Ireland’s Sarah Healy in 4:03.85. Italy’s Gaia Sabbatini was second in 4:03.88 while Great Britain’s Ellie Baker ran 4:03.95 for third.

Trinidadian 2012 Olympic champion, Keshorn Walcott, threw 83.12m for fourth in the javelin. Jakub Vadlejch of the Czech Republic won the event with a world leading 89.51m throw. Finland’s Oliver Herlander threw 87.32m for second while Germany’s Julian Weber was third with 85.82m.

2019 World Championships runner-up, Fedrick Dacres, threw 66.09m for fifth in the discus throw. Swedish World and Olympic champion, Daniel Stahl, won the event with a season’s best 70.38m. Reigning World champion, Slovenia’s Kristjan Ceh, was second with 68.67m while Austria’s Lukas Weisheidinger was third with 66.84m.

Arkansas’s Jaydon Hibbert has allayed any fears that he suffered an injury during his fourth-round attempt at the NCAA Division 1 Outdoor Championships on Friday.

Hibbert pulled up limping during his run up and appeared to have suffered an injury after he was seen limping during his walk back. However, the World Under-20 record holder said the limping was due to cramping.

“It was a good competition and I’m really grateful. Anything could have happened. Could’ve gotten injured but I came out healthy,” Hibbert said on social media on Friday.

“Ready for the rest of the season but we have to rest first,” he added.

Earlier on Friday, Hibbert jumped 17.56m to secure the triple jump title at the championships, adding to his stellar season which also saw him take the SEC Indoor and Outdoor crowns as well as the NCAA Indoor title.

At those SEC Outdoors, Hibbert produced a World Under-20 record 17.87m, the furthest jump in the world this year.

Arkansas superstar freshman Jaydon Hibbert has been named as the US Track and Field and Cross- Country Coaches Association (USTFCCCA) Male National Athlete of the Week.

The 18-year-old Jamaican demolished the World U20 record as well as the collegiate outdoor record in the triple jump this past weekend at the SEC Outdoor Championships when he produced a wind-legal 17.87m on his second attempt.

That added nearly one foot to the previous collegiate record of 17.57m, set by Keith Connor of SMU back in 1982.

Hibbert is now the holder of both the indoor and outdoor collegiate triple jump records. He shattered the collegiate indoor record in a winning effort at the NCAA Indoor Championships back in March when he jumped 17.54m.

Jaydon Hibbert, the University of Arkansas' SEC Freshman of the Year and reigning World U20 champion, has set the bar high for his competitors after an outstanding performance in the men’s triple jump at the SEC Championships last weekend. Hibbert believes that despite his world-leading 17.87m jump, his best is yet to come this season.

 Speaking after his remarkable performance at LSU’s Bernie Moore Stadium in Baton Rogue, Hibbert revealed that his target for the meet was nowhere close to what he eventually unleashed.  “The mark that I came out here with was 17.4/17.5 at max,” he said. “When I saw the 17.8, I just said ‘Okay, that’s it for me today,’ It’s all about trusting the process. God has shown me in plenty ways that I am talented. I am obviously favored. I do put in the hard work, but I have to give this one to God because I don’t think there is any 18-year-old that does the stuff that I do.”

 Hibbert, who also set a World U20 and NCAA Indoor record of 17.54m this season, believes that he needs to stop putting limits on himself. “I am going to reset, refocus, get ready for regionals. I don’t even know if I’m going to peak until World Champs because I am not even at my peak right now and I am already close to 18m, so I am just going to go back to the drawing board, see what Coach Travis Geopfert says, just have fun and take it from there,” he said.

 The 18-year-old’s jump is six centimeters farther than the previous world lead of 17.81m set by Burkina Faso's Hugues Fabrice Zango on May 5, and is also a World U20, NCAA, and Facility record. Hibbert's jump is the second-best jump ever by a Jamaican, trailing James Beckford’s national record of 17.92m set in Odessa, Texas in May 1995, by a mere five centimeters.

Despite his success, Hibbert is remaining humble, stating, “That’s a mark amongst the greats. I am just an 18-year-old that started the event like three years ago, so, I don’t even know what to say. It’s still soaking in at this point.” However, his competitors will have to contend with the prodigious young athlete, who is likely to make his debut as not only a medal contender but a gold medal contender at the 2023 World Championships in Budapest.

Arkansas’s Jaydon Hibbert and Roje Stona as well as Texas A&M’s Lamara Distin all secured wins on the third and final day of the 2023 SEC Outdoor Championships at LSU on Saturday.

The 18-year-old Hibbert was easily the star of the day. The 2022 World Junior Champion produced an incredible personal best of 17.87m to take the Men’s triple jump crown ahead of Arkansas teammate Ryan Brown (16.43m) and Alabama's Christian Edwards (16.22m).

Hibbert opened the competition with a 17.02m effort before throwing down the biggest jump of his career so far in the second round. As he has done for most of the season to preserve his legs, he passed on his next four attempts.

Hibbert’s mark is also a new collegiate record, world lead and world junior record and puts him in a three-way tie for 13^th on the all-time list.

Earlier in the day, Stona, also of Arkansas, produced a personal best 68.64m, the second furthest throw in collegiate history, to win the Men’s discus ahead of teammate and countryman Ralford Mullings (62.00) and Alabama’s Alan de Falchi (61.82m).

Distin continued her unbeaten run in the high jump this season with a 1.91m clearance to win ahead of Georgia’s Elena Kulichenko (1.88m) and Tennessee’s Cheyla Scott (1.85m).

On the track, Arkansas’s Ackera Nugent ran a personal best 12.43 for second in the Women’s 100m hurdles behind LSU’s Alia Armstrong’s 12.40. Kentucky’s Masai Russell was third in 12.47.

Another Jamaican Arkansas athlete, Phillip Lemonious, was second in the Men’s 110m hurdles in 13.63 behind Tennessee’s Devon Brooks (13.53). Another Tennessee athlete, Cayman’s Rasheem Brown, was third in 13.64.

Olympic and World triple jump champion, Mike Conley Sr, has described Jamaican Arkansas freshman Jaydon Hibbert as “special” and said he was “born for the sport.”

Conley Sr, the 60-year-old Arkansas alum who won Olympic gold in 1992 in Barcelona with a wind-aided 18.17m jump as well as a World Championship title in Stuttgart with a 17.86m effort a year later, was speaking in an interview on his alma mater’s Instagram page on Saturday.

“He’s special. I got a chance to see him when they recruited him. I saw some video of him from the World Juniors and got a chance to meet him and talk to him. He’s a way better jumper than I ever was technique-wise. It took me almost a lifetime to look like he looks as a freshman so he’s a special guy,” said Conley Sr.

At those World Juniors in Cali in 2022, Hibbert produced a personal best and championship record 17.27m to take gold.

“It’s amazing. When I saw him at the juniors I just said ‘wow.’ For his form and technique to be advanced as it is, he was born to do it and he puts in the work on top of it. That’s usually the recipe for greatness,” said Conley Sr.

Hibbert has enjoyed an excellent debut season at Arkansas. The 18-year-old has, so far, gone unbeaten in three competitions indoors and two outdoors.

At the NCAA Indoor championships in Albuquerque in March, Hibbert made history with a leap of 17.54m, a new World Under-20 record, to win the title. Hibbert’s jump also broke Conley Sr’s collegiate record 17.40m.

Outdoors, he followed up a gold medal at the Carifta Games in Nassau on April 10 with a 17.17m effort to win at the LSU Invitational on April 29.

He is also a heavy favorite to win the title at the SEC Outdoor Championships which are currently being held at LSU.

“He seems humble, eager to learn and he works hard. Like I said, that’s a good recipe for success,” Conley Sr added.

Conley Sr’s personal best 17.87, done in June 1987, places him 13^th on the all-time list for the event.

Hydel High will enter Saturday’s High School Girls Championship of America 4x100m as clear favourites after advancing fastest from Friday’s heats at the Penn Relays at Franklin Field.

Hydel produced a sizzling 44.96 to win heat 14 and advance fastest ahead of heat 17 winners Bullis School (46.05) and heat six winners, Edwin Allen (46.64).

Nassau’s St. Augustine’s finished second in heat 17 in 46.80 to advance while St. Jago ran the same time to win heat five. Wolmer’s Girls advanced eighth fastest with 47.35 to finish second in heat 15, won by McDonough School (46.95).

The field is completed by Heritage (47.23) and South County (47.37).

The race is set for Saturday.

The qualifiers for the High School Girls International final, also set for Saturday, are Jamaica’s St. Catherine High (47.53), Holmwood Technical (47.61), St. Mary High (47.78), Manchester High (47.82), Excelsior High (48.00), Mount Alvernia (48.83) and Holy Childhood (49.00) as well as the Bahamas’ Queens College (48.32) and Puerto Rico’s Academia Interamericana (48.76).

Edwin Allen will be the Caribbean’s lone representative in the High School Girls Championship of America 4x800m final after running 9:17.28 to win their heat.

In the field, Jamaica secured the top three spots in the High School Girls discus. Holmwood’s Cedricka Williams took first with 57.32m ahead of St. Jago’s Abigail Martin (54.54m) and Camperdown’s Britannie Johnson (47.33).

Camperdown’s Britannia Johnson, twin sister of Britannie, took the shot put in 14.04m. Livingston’s Jessica Oji was second with 13.86m while Edwin Allen’s Rochele Solomon was third with 13.57m.

Mount Alvernia’s Aaliyah Foster jumped 5.78m for third in the long jump behind James River’s Lilly Ver Beek (5.92m) and Friend’s Central’s Avery Lewis (6.21m).

St. Jago’s Jade-Ann Dawkins produced 13.02m for victory in the triple jump ahead of Ocean City’s Sophia Curtis (12.45m) and Western Branch’s Llyric Driscoll (12.38m).

Three girls cleared 1.70m in the high jump with Howell’s Samantha Strydesky winning ahead of Shanniqua Williams of Wolmer’s Girls and Edwin Allen’s Deijanae Bruce.

Thea LaFond is gearing up for another successful season after achieving remarkable success last year. LaFond, who is based in Ashburn, Virginia, is excited to see how her hard work during the offseason will translate into her performances this year.

The year 2022 was a massive one for the 29-year-old LaFond, who won gold at the NACAC Championships in The Bahamas and a silver medal at the Commonwealth Games Birmingham, England. She was also fifth in the finals at the World Athletics Championships in Eugene, Oregon. However, with that success she has no intention of resting on her laurels as the 2023 season continues to unfold.

"Last season's medals were truly an amazing experience," she told Sportsmax.TV. "To build on last year's success, I have gotten stronger and faster, and I'm eager to see how that translates through the season."

LaFond has set her sights on achieving a jump of 15m or more this year.

"15m plus is definitely one of the major goals for championships and beyond," she said. "This season, we are really focused on upping the energy and working on timing up the phases a bit better for even bigger and active contacts in the jumps."

Despite fierce competition from the imperious Venezuelan triple jumper, three-time world champion Yulimar Rojas, the current world record holder, who has dominated the event in recent years, LaFond maintains a positive mindset.

"I think that my mentality is that I am always battling it out for three medals. Always," said LaFond. "Rojas is very good, there is no denying that, but anything can happen at any meet. Coming into a competition with anything less of that mentality is setting yourself up for failure. I'm bringing my best and trying to win."

Despite the hard work put in during the off season, her indoor season-opener of 14.08m at the Don Kirby Invitational in Albuquerque, New Mexico was less than impressive but being a quick study, she made the necessary adjustments and did much better shortly thereafter popping a 14.60m jump. She cited approach issues for the relatively poor opener.

"One of the major takeaways was to be patient in my drive phase and to bring my knee higher so I'm not getting over-rotated in my second phase," said LaFond who is set to compete next in May at a meet in Savona, Italy.

She acknowledges the impact her recent success has had on the youth of Dominica and is grateful for their support.

“The Commonwealth and NACAC medals were received with such joy in Dominica. I think that as an athlete that lives and trains abroad, I’m really only privy to what people say online,” she said.

“I was grateful for the online posts of love and support that followed those medals. However, when I finally got to go home the love was overflowing. I really had no clue how much I impacted the youth of Dominica and how much I was seen as an inspiration. I am so grateful to have the support of my people and it is always an honor to represent my nation.”

 LaFond is also focused on the upcoming World Championships in Budapest, Hungary, with her coach Aaron Gadson. "My plans for Budapest are to go and compete with all my heart. The goal is a medal and 15m. It's time for Dominica to have a woman World medalist, and I'm ready to do the work to get there," she said.

Jamaica swept all four 4x400m relays on the final day of the 50^th edition of the CARIFTA Games at the Thomas A. Robinson Stadium in Nassau on Monday.

First, Jamaica’s quartet Breana Brown, Jody-Ann Daley, Rosalee Gallimore and Rhianna Lewis comfortably won the Under-17 Girls section in 3:43.43. More than seven seconds behind in second were Barbados (3:50.94) while the Bahamas were third in 3:51.60.

The team of Demarco Bennett, Nickecoy Bramwell, Deandre Gayle, Kenrick Sharpe combined to run 3:19.04 to win the Under-17 Boys section ahead of the Bahamas (3:20.47) and Trinidad & Tobago (3:23.74).

Tonyan Beckford, Rickiann Russell, Kacian Powell, Abigail Campbell combined to absolutely dominate the Under-20 Girls section in 3:33.35. Trinidad & Tobago finished a distant second in 3:44.19 while the Bahamas were third in 3:47.68.

Jasauna Dennis, Roshawn Clarke, Delano Kennedy and Malique Smith-Band combined to run 3:07.68 for victory in the Under-20 Boys section ahead of Trinidad & Tobago (3:09.97) and Grenada (3:10.59).

Individually, Trinidad & Tobago’s Tafari Waldron took gold in the Under-20 Boys 5000m in 15:33.38 ahead of Bermuda’s Kahzi Sealey (15:37.56) and Jake Brislane (15.45.84).

In the field, Jamaican World Under-20 record holder Jaydon Hibbert jumped 16.11m to retain his Under-20 triple jump title ahead of the Bahamas’ Laquan Ellis (14.92m) and Guyana’s Trevon Hamer (14.89m).

Under-20 400m hurdles winner, Jamaica’s Roshawn Clarke, who became only the second man to run under 50 seconds at CARIFTA, was named the Austin Sealy Award winner as the meet’s most outstanding athlete.