Claytons, Thompson to light up 60m at Gibson McCook

World Championships 100 metres silver medallists Tina Clayton and Kishane Thompson, both of MVP Track Club, will headline a stellar line-up in today’s women’s and men’s 60 metres at today’s Gibson McCook Relays.

With the 21st World Athletics Indoor Championships set for Kujawsko-Pomeranian, Poland, March 20-22, both will be involved in stacked line-ups.

Tina, with a season’s best 7.14 seconds, is the fifth-fastest Jamaican woman in the event this season. Her twin sister, Tia, is the fastest Jamaican woman in the event this season with a season’s and personal best 7.02 and she will also line up today.

The event, which gets under way at 6:14 p.m., will include Jonielle Smith of MVP, who is the second-fastest Jamaican female in the event this season with a season’s and personal best 7.06, a time she registered when she surprised the twins in Europe several weeks ago.

Others set to face the starter today include Jodean Williams of SprinTec, who has a personal best 7.07; Natasha Morrison of MVP with a season’s best 7.15 and Lavanya Williams of Dynamic Speed with a season’s and personal best 7.17 set at the Camperdown Classics in a win where she relegated double Olympic champion Elaine Thompson-Herah to third in her first race in more than 21 months.

The men’s event, which gets under way at 6:25 p.m., will be very hot as Thompson, ranked ninth in the world and the fastest Jamaican male this season with a season’s best 6.52s, will be hoping for his second win of the season. In that victory he held off the fast-finishing Odaine McPherson of SprinTec, who was second in 6.53 and is the joint second-fastest Jamaican in the event this season along with Ackeem Blake of Dynamic Speed. Both will be in the line-up, and following his wild card entry to the World Indoor Championships, Blake will want to celebrate that news with a win today.

INTERESTING AFFAIR

The vastly improved Bryan Levell of Uptimum Track Club, with a season and personal best 6.54s, along with Kadrian Goldson of Sprin Tec with a personal best of 6.50s, and Canadian Brendon Rodney with a best of 6.57s, should all make this an interesting affair.

Another individual event of note will be the women’s 400m, which will be contested at 6:40 p.m. In-form schoolgirl Shanoya Douglas of Holland High, known for her exploits in the 100 and 200 metres at the junior level, will go up against national senior 400m hurdles representatives Andrenette Knight and Rushell Clayton of Elite Performance Track Club. Douglas is in prime form in the one-lap event, coming off a personal best 52.60 seconds at the Camperdown Classics.

Other individual events on the programme today are the men’s 400m and 1500m, while in the field there will be the women’s and men’s long jump and high jump.

Raymond Graham