2 months ago
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THE JAMAICA Administrative Athletics Association (JAAA) National Senior and Junior Athletics Championships is scheduled for this Thursday, June 26 through to Sunday, June 29 at the National Stadium, and president of the sport’s governing body on the island, Garth Gayle, says a World Athletics proposal for August was not feasible.
World Athletics proposed August 2-3 and August 23-24 as international windows for 2025, where national associations could host their trials without the interference of other athletics meets worldwide.
But Gayle said after discussions with World Athletics, the world governing body realised the JAAA counter suggestion was valid.
“We couldn’t use any of the two (windows) World Athletics proposed. Jamaica is one of the first countries that supported this initiative by World Athletics to put in this global calendar, to work with the Diamond League and all these events. But we still remain committed and supportive of World Athletics’ global calendar,” he declared.
“We are committed to their calendar of events. We took careful look at that when we decided our date. The date which we would have had, it is the date we have now. And World Athletics, we are thanking them for realising, because we put the points to them and they realised that we were correct in what we were doing and agreed with us,” he stated.
Gayle noted that there are other major athletics events taking place in Europe, and the association wanted to ensure they did not hinder the athlete’s earning potential during the period.
CLEAR PLAN
“At the same time this weekend, when we are staging our championships, Europe is having a big event in athletics. The European team event. So we held to a clear plan, we would have looked at and would have communicated with all concerned.
“Other countries are also having their championships, too. So if we had tried to move the date, we would have affected a large number of our athletes’ earning ability. With the date that we currently have, it affects no athlete. There were also other activities slated for the National Stadium that would have been impacted. So we were very careful, and we used knowledge and experience when we chose the date of our championships. It is early. Yes. But we have done so before with good results, though we would have had our (national) championships at the same period. We came out doing very well in those (global championships). But we believe in giving our coaches more time to take a look at the athletes,” he said.
Starting Thursday, athletes will look to secure their individual spots at the World Championships. But Gayle noted that three relays teams (women’s 4x400m, mixed relays 4x400m and men’s 4x100m) have not yet secured qualification and that they will not try to achieve these markers at the National Championships, but have targeted other upcoming events.
“This year we are back to three rounds, and the rationale was that it was unreasonable to ask them to compete in a relay at the championship after running three rounds. But we are looking forward to three meets. In Barbados, we are sure of at least one. NACAC is the championships in the region, and again (based on) the availability of athletes, we will be putting forward a full complement of teams for that event.
“For the London Diamond League, we will only run 4x100s. Although we have qualified for the women’s [4x100m], we still want to run because we believe in best practices. But we are still looking at other events to which we can have the teams qualify.”
SELECTION CRITERIA
Gayle added there will be no surprises in selection, as the criteria already dictate who will qualify.
“We are very clear. Our selection criteria manages that. The first three that pass the post, who have attained the standard, will qualify. Unless there is some factor that is overwhelming; and again, that would require a careful discussion,” he said.
Over 720 athletes have been entered for this year’s championships, up from 647 last year, while some 47 non-Jamaicans are set to compete.
“There are some who do not necessarily have national championships or trials in their home country, and they rely on Jamaica to facilitate them. We have been doing it for years and continue to do that this year,” JAAA Vice-President Ian Forbes commented.
Some 104 events will also be contested, the highest ever with the categories in under-18 male and female, under-20 male and female and invitational events to facilitate some masters. The decathlon and the octathlon for the under-18 events will also be held this year.
The championships gets under way on Thursday at 6 p.m. with the girls’ under-17 100-metre preliminaries.
English (US) ·