National Championships 400 men too close to call
Published:Thursday | June 16, 2022 | 12:06 AMRaymond Graham/Gleaner Writer
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IT HAS been a struggle over the past few years for Jamaican men in the 400 metres at the international level, and local fans will be hoping for some special performances when they turn up at next week’s National Senior Championships. A year ago, no...
IT HAS been a struggle over the past few years for Jamaican men in the 400 metres at the international level, and local fans will be hoping for some special performances when they turn up at next week’s National Senior Championships.
A year ago, no Jamaican had attained the 44.90-second qualifying mark for the Tokyo Olympics before the National Championships. Only Christopher Taylor would eventually meet the qualification standard, finishing a creditable sixth.
This season, only former Edwin Allen High and Kingston College past athlete Jevaughn Powell, with a personal best of 44.87, done in May in Arkansas, has attained the standard.
Powell, who finished seventh at the NCAA Outdoor Championships in Eugene, Oregon, last week, clocking 45.81 seconds for the University of Texas Elpaso (Utep), will be hoping to follow in the footsteps of another UTep past athlete, Sean Bailey.
HIGHLY DECORATED
Last year, Bailey, the former St Jago High quarter-miler and brother of the highly decorated Veronica Campbell-Brown, won the National Championships.
Bailey will be back to defend his title and will be hoping to improve on his season’s best of 45.18, done two weeks ago in Nashville, Tennessee.
Several years ago, the likes of Taylor, Javon Francis, Nathan Allen, and Akeem Boomfield were touted to take the country’s 400 metres to a high level, but they have all struggled to make the transition. At these National Championships, though, those names still present a serious challenge in the event.
Allen, who reached the finals last year but was a late scratch, is the third best Jamaican in the event this season with 45.21 seconds, and like Bloomfield, who has run 45.56 this year, has changed to a new training camp in Florida.
Taylor, who recently clocked a season’s best 45.45 in Hengalo along with his former teammate at Calabar High, Javon Francis, with a best of 45.47, will also be motivated to dip below the magical 45-second mark at these championships.
The 400 is definitely difficult to call this year with not much between the athletes leading up to the championships though Bailey has a good chance of retaining the title.