Running out of time

WITH JUST about two months to go before the Tokyo World Championships, Jamaican athletes will need to step up big time if they are to factor among the medals. With nine of the 15 Diamond League meets completed, only four of the country’s athletes are currently ranked in the top three in their respective individual events.

Triple jumper Shanieka Ricketts, ranked number two, is one of two female athletes in that category, alongside sprinter Tina Clayton.

Ricketts, the Olympic silver medallist, with a season’s best of 14.64 metres, is second behind Cuba’s Leyanis Pérez Hernández, who leads with 14.93.

Tina Clayton, following her win at the National Championships in the women’s 100m to book her first individual global senior berth, is currently ranked number three.

The United States’ Melissa Jefferson-Wooden, the Paris Olympic bronze medallist who is unbeaten in the event so far this season, leads with a personal best of 10.73 seconds. She is followed by Olympic champion, St Lucia’s Julien Alfred, with 10.75.

World leader and Olympic silver medallist Kishane Thompson is ahead of his peers in the men’s 100m, following his sizzling personal best of 9.75 seconds to win back-to-back titles at the National Championships. Runner-up Oblique Seville is ranked second with his 9.83.

Two wild card entries for Tokyo will be available for Jamaican athletes: Shericka Jackson in the women’s 200 metres and Antonio Watson in the men’s 400m, following their victories at the 2023 Budapest World Championships. The winner of this year’s Diamond League final can also receive a wild card entry for the Tokyo Championships.

WILD CARD RULE

The wild card rule allows a country to enter up to four athletes in an individual event. However, it must be noted that Area Championships like NACAC do not grant wild card entries.

With the recent announcement of the national team by the Jamaica Athletics Administrative Association (JAAA), a number of athletes who finished in the top three, but have not yet achieved the automatic qualifying standard for Tokyo, will be looking to do so in the coming weeks.

However, the NACAC Championships, set for August 15–17 in the Bahamas, falls just a week before the final qualification deadline of August 24 for the September 13–21 World Championships.

This is cutting it extremely close for athletes who are still chasing qualifying marks. These athletes will need to secure entry into meets – particularly on the European circuit – to hit the required standards. The big question is whether there will be enough meets to give them that opportunity.

And, with Diamond League meets being by invitation only for the top-ranked athletes, it will be extremely difficult for most of these athletes to gain access.

It will be interesting to see how things unfold in the coming days. With so many athletes yet to meet the standards, Jamaica could end up sending a smaller-than-usual squad to Tokyo.

Also of note, only two of the country’s relay teams – the women’s 4x100 metres and the men’s 4x400 – have qualified for Tokyo. A similar situation occurred last year, ahead of the Olympic Games, when the men’s 4x400m team failed to qualify.

With the JAAA struggling to get into meets and assemble the best quartet, the country could once again find itself in a similar bind.

The question remains: will coaches of top athletes, who are focused on preparing for their individual events, be willing to adjust their training schedules to allow participation in relay qualification meets?