Carmelita Jeter excited about 100m season Debut in Jamaica

“I am very excited about running the 100m; the 100m is my baby … I stepped into the 200m last year, but the 100m is my heart and that’s what I love,”  said reigning 100m world champion Carmelita Jeter in her post-race press conference at the Penn Relay last weekend. Carmelita continued, “I really wanted to run the 100m at Mt Sac [April 24^th] but coach wanted me to wait until Jamaica.”  Carmelita who has a lifetime best 10.64 seconds in the 100m is set to battle the Jamaican duo of Kerron Stewart and Sherone Simpson and Trinidad’s Kelly-Ann Baptiste in her favorite event.  Carmelita has a world-leading 22.31 seconds in the 200m and seems to be in the best shape of her life. Intense Training “I am feeling really good about my training this year. I did a lot of things different this year,” said a confident Carmelita. “I was training more like a quarter-miler, which was what I thought I would end up doing,” she joked. “But coach switched it up and we went back to sprinting,” said Carmelita, who is coached by John Smith. Keeping the Jamaican Invitational in Perspective “I can run a superfast time next week (Jamaica) but I definitely have to stay healthy. This is a long year and right now I have to be smart in every decision I make. I have to make it for the long haul not because I want to run fast tomorrow,” said Carmelita. Last year Carmelita went to the Jamaica and blew away the field winning her event in 10.86 seconds. This season, with her increased strength and improving speed a sub-11 100m is certainly in the cards for this talented power sprinter when she faces the starter in Jamaica.