Forte joins sub-20 club

BRUSSELS, Belgium:

He became the 10th Jamaican to dip below 20 seconds in the 200 metres but Julian Forte's ambitions do not stop there as he looks ahead to another big season when he hopes, he will be able to fit another jewel in his crown.

Forte clocked a personal best 19.97 seconds - the same time as second place finisher Adam Gemili, to win at last night's Brussels Memorial van Damme Diamond League meet at the King Baudouin Stadium with Churandy Martina finishing third in 19.98.

The MVP athlete, who clocked a wind-aided 9.97 (+2.3) at a small meet in Italy a few days ago, was enjoying his second Diamond League win after last year's 100m success in Rome. He pointed to that sub-10 seconds run as a motivator coming into this meet and is hoping to use this result as a springboard in his push for a place on Jamaica's 2017 World Championships team after missing the chance to compete at the Olympics in Rio de Janeiro a few weeks ago despite a top three finish at the National Championships.

Forte of course lost his spot, as is allowed under Jamaica Athletics Administrative Association regulations to Usain Bolt, who had been granted a medical exemption after injuring himself at the trials.

"It means a lot, coming here and running sub-20, that has been my goal for the past four or five years now so I just really wanted to do it," Forte said. "I just really wanted to come out here and run well, I have been in good shape these past couple of races so I just wanted to put a good race together."

"I didn't get to run at the Olympics so this is definitely the high point of my season.

"That performance (wind-aided sub-10) helped my confidence, I really haven't been fully fit, I've been having a pain in my quad, so I didn't expect that at that point, so to go out there and do that was surprising and it helped in my approach in this 200m here," Forte explained.

"I am definitely looking forward to pushing for a spot at the World Championships next year. The competition is certainly strong back home so I know I have to go in, put in the work and come back better next year," he added.

Jamaica will also have four spots in the men's 200m next year with Bolt being the defending champion in the event and that carrying a wild card entry for the championships.

The other Jamaicans to have gone below 20 seconds in the 200m are Bolt (19.19), Yohan Blake (19.26), Warren Weir (19.79), Rasheed Dwyer (19.80), Nickel Ashmeade (19.85), Donald Quarrie (19.86), Jason Young (19.86), Asafa Powell (19.90) and Steve Mullings (19.98).