The twins are ready

BRUCE JAMES, president of the MVP Track Club, believes that freshly minted World Athletics Championships 100-metre silver medallist Tina Clayton, along with her twin sister Tia, will continue to improve on their performances, and that there will be no added pressure on them to continue the legacy of Jamaican female sprinting.

Tina, who is a two-time World Under-20 100m champion, clocked a personal-best 10.76 seconds to finish behind the United States’ Melissa Jefferson-Wooden, who clocked a championship record, 10.61. Olympic champion Julien Alfred of St Lucia was third in 10.84 seconds.

“There will be no pressure at all because she has been doing this since basic school, primary school, high school, World Junior Championships twice, and now at the senior level. She is making the transition to the highest level of the sport, and so she knows what to do,” said James.

Both sisters are conditioned by world-renowned coach Stephen Francis, who has guided the career of the now-retired Jamaican sprint icon Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce, a five-time world 100m champion and a two-time 100m Olympic champion. He is also the former coach of the 2016 and 2021 Olympic sprint double champion Elaine Thompson Herah.

Tia, who mined a silver in the women’s 4x100m at the World Championships but failed to make the three to compete in the individual 100m due to an injury which she picked up in the final of the women’s 100m at the National Championships, also had an outstanding year, clocking a new personal-best 10.82 in August.

In fact, the sisters ended the year as the third- and fourth-fastest women in the world. Jefferson-Wooden was the fastest woman in 2025 with her time of 10.61, followed by Alfred in 10.75.

“I would say that the two fastest Jamaicans this year over 100 metres are Tia and Tina Clayton, and so I think that they are both very well positioned to continue the legacy of sprinting for Jamaica,” James added.

“They are both 21 this year and I imagine they still continue to have significant upside to improve performances. I don’t believe that at 21 they have reached they maximum that they can do, I believe that they can still continue to improve,” he said.

James pointed out that he expects both sisters to continue the legacy of Jamaica’s rich women’s sprinting, and he also believes that athletes will run much faster in the future.

Meanwhile, veteran local coach David Riley echoed similar sentiments, noting that the sisters have already shown the maturity needed to thrive under pressure.

“These kids knows how to deal with pressure and therefore they have no problems,” he said.

“They have been through it and they know how to deal with those things. They have been progressing on a path nobody is surprised about, because we are expecting our juniors to make that type of transition and to continue their development, so nobody is surprised.”

Riley, who is the coached of Excelsior’s track and field team, is also delighted with the number of junior athletes matriculating to the senior level, and therefore, saying it augurs well for the future of Jamaica’s track and field.

“As a matter of fact, we are happy for them, because it is an issue that has been discussed so many times about our juniors with great prospects not coming through, but now we are seeing them coming through. So we have made some adjustments that are working for us, and we just need to identify what those things are and just continue,” he said.

“We want this to happen and we want this to be the case, because we don’t have a situation where we are asking where they are now,” Riley said.