The first day of the 2016 Jamaican Senior Championship saw reigning Olympic sprint champions, Usain Bolt and Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce, advancing to the next round of the men’s and women’s 100m. In addition to the false start infraction committed by Julian Forte, Bolt was visible annoyed with the delayed at the start of the race. Bolt overcame a slow start to win Heat 4, stopping the clock in 10.15 seconds (+0.3mps) ahead of Everton Clarke (10.16) and Michael Frater ((10.31). Fraser-Pryce ran a smooth and composed race to win heat 3 in 11.38 seconds (-1.3mps) ahead of Remona Burchell (11.59) and Natasha Morrison (11.61).
Minzie and Ashmeade move on
Twenty-year- old Jevaughn Minzie captured heat 1 of the men’s 100m in 10.15 seconds (-1.1mps) ahead of Senoj-Jay Givans (10.16) and Asafa Powell (10.17). This was Minzie’s first victory over Powell, the former world record holder. Powell ran an incredibly relaxed and easy race and began looking across at Minzie and Givans at the 80m mark to secure his top-3 finish. Yohan Blake won a closely contested heat 2 in 10.26 seconds (-1.0) ahead of Kemar Bailey-Cole (10.26) and Tyquendo Tracey (10.29).
However the 100m men’s performance of the day was provided by Nickel Ashmeade who won heat 3 in 10.07 seconds (0.0mps). Ashmeade, the former St Jago High School (Jamaica) standout used his powerful frame to separate from the pack by the 50m line and ran a relaxed rest of the race to cap the victory. Warren Weir was second in 10.17 seconds with Chadic Hinds (10.25) in third.
Christania Williams Shines
Fraser-Pryce won heat 3 in 11.38 seconds (-1.3mps). Simone Facey won heat 2 in 11.31 seconds (-2.1mps) ahead Kerron Stewart (11.44). Veronica-Campbell-Brown won heat 4 in 11.39 seconds (-0.2mps) and Elaine Thompson won heat 5 in 11.38 seconds (-0.4mps). But perhaps the most impressive female sprinter was Christania Williams who won heat 1 in 11.20 seconds (-3.0mps). Williams, a student of the University of Technology (UTECH), ran the fastest time among the women and she did so into a 3.0 mps headwind. Veteran sprinters do not usually show too much during early rounds of a championship but young Williams’s performance was undeniably impressive.
Pullen heading to Rio
Clive Pullen won the men’s triple jump title with a personal best leap of 16.90 m to book his ticket to the Rio Olympics. Damon McLean, the Princeton University graduate finished second with a 16.46m jump. Pullen, a graduate of Kingston College and currently a student at the University of the Arkansas, becomes the first Jamaican male to qualify to compete in Olympic triple jump in 44 years (Henry Jackson in 1972 was the last to do so) as reported by the Jamaica Gleaner. Pullen, who had a personal best of 16.78m heading into the Jamaican Trials, was able to surpass the Olympic qualifying standard of 16.85m.
Other day 1 news
As noted earlier, Julian Forte who was having a great 2016 season, false start in heat 4 of the men’s 100m, ending his Rio Olympic quest. Janieve Russell, the 2nd fastest 400m hurdler in the world heading into the championship, due to injury did not compete in the women’s 400m hurdles event.
The men’s 400m saw Isa Phillips (49.31) and Jaheel Hyde (49.31) leading the group of qualifiers heading into the finals, including Roxroy Cato (49.83), Annsert Whyte (49.37) and Marvin Williams (49.85). Leford Green (50.95) failed to advance to the finals.
Orlando Thomas won the men’s javelin title with a throw of 69.98m which was below the Olympic qualifying standard of 83.0m.
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