WORLD BEATERS

THE WORLD Under-20 list shook ever so slightly after the ISSA/GraceKennedy Boys and Girls’ Athletics Championships (Champs) last week, with several athletes performing at levels that put them among the very best athletes in their age group globally.

Sabrina Dockery, Daniel Clarke, and Joseph Salmon are the very best of the lot, ranking at the top of the world in their respective events.

Following her 11.08-second scorcher in the semi-finals of the Girls’ Class One 100 metres, Dockery of Lacovia High is the fastest under-20 girl in the world.

Shanoya Douglas of Muschett High, the World Under-20 bronze medallist in the 200 metres, is ranked fifth in the 100 with her season’s best of 11.32 seconds.

Kingston College’s Clarke earned his place among the elite even before Champs, his 13.06 seconds in the 110-metre hurdles at the Carifta Trials, a week before the showpiece event, making him the fastest boy under 20 years old in the world.

However, Clarke had to settle for second at Champs with Calabar’s Shaquane Gordon re-establishing the order that had been in place for most of the season, clocking 13.11 seconds to win.

That time, interestingly, puts Gordon second in the world, behind the man he beat.

Jamaica College’s Salmon is also the top-ranked under-20 male athlete in the world, after his personal-best 62.14 metres discus throw at Champs.

Salmon has remained unbeaten all season and was already on the world top 10 list before his monster Champs performance.

Wolmer’s Boys’ Gary Card finds himself in rarified air in two disciplines.

His semi-final run of 10.06 seconds in the Boys’ Class One 100 metres at Champs leaves him ranked at number two in the world, while the vastly improved Tyreece Foreman of St George’s College is at number five, following his 10.29 second-place finish in the 100 final at Champs

Card, injured midway the race, held on to win in 10.28.

Bayana Walaza of South Africa leads the rankings with 9.99 seconds.

Card, who clocked a season’s best 20.53 seconds earlier this year, is ranked fifth in the 200 metres, where Australia’s young sensation Gout Gout leads the world with 20.05.

Edwin Allen’s Kelly-Ann Carr is also ranked in the top five in two events.

Carr, the gold medallist in the Girls’ Open 400-metre hurdles at Champs with a time of 57.41 seconds, is ranked third with her season’s best of 57.27 seconds, recorded when she won the event at the Central Athletics Championships at G.C. Foster College.

Nastassia Fletcher of Hydel, the Champs silver medallist with 57.92 seconds, is ranked fifth. Michelle Smith of the US Virgin Islands leads the event with 55.98 seconds.

Carr’s winning time of 52.57 seconds at the Central Athletics Championships in the Girls’ Class One 400 metres leaves her third in the rankings, where Nigeria’s Chiome Nwachukwu leads with 52.07.

Three Jamaicans are in the top five of the Girls’ Under-20 100-metre hurdles, led by Wolmer’s Girls’ Tianna Marshall.

Marshall, the Class Two champion in the event at Champs, holds the third-best time in the world with her personal best of 13.33 seconds, achieved when she won the under-20 event at the Carifta Trials.

Jody-Ann Daley of Hydel, who won the Class One event at Champs in 13.40 seconds, is ranked fourth, while Bryana Davidson of St Jago High, who finished second behind Marshall at the Carifta Trials in 13.45 seconds, is ranked fifth. South Africa’s Tumi Ramokgopa leads the rankings with 13.22.

World Under-20 bronze medallist Douglas, with her season’s best of 23.12 seconds recorded earlier this season, is ranked fifth in the 200 metres, where the United States’ Elise Cooper leads with 22.64 seconds.

Kingston College’s Tahj-Marques White and Jamaica College’s Princewell Martin round out the Jamaican athletes ranked in the top five in the world.

White, following his gold-medal run in the Class One 400 metres at Champs in 45.84 seconds, is ranked fifth, whereas Ervin Pearson of the United States leads with 45.42.

Martin, the Carifta Trials winner in the under-20 boys’ 400m hurdles with a time of 50.84 seconds, is also ranked fifth, with Njabulo Mbatha of South Africa’s 49.40 leading the way.