Hubert Lawrence | Deep, deep women’s sprint corps

No matter which local track meet you chose on January 25, what you saw was a glimpse of the future of sprinting. In Kingston, Briana Williams stepped to a swift time in the 60m. If you rode the highways to Santa Cruz, St Elizabeth, you witnessed a big 2020 debut by Kevona Davis.

It’s easy to pair them in the hope of clashes like those we saw last year between Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce and Elaine Thompson Herah. However, the truth is that Williams is encroaching on territory reserved for world-class sprinters and is far more accomplished than Davis, whose progress has been blighted by injury. When you consider World 100m finalist Jonielle Smith and fellow 4x100m winner Natalliah Whyte and Hydel star Ashanti Moore to the phenomenal Clayton twins Tia and Tina, and Brianna Lyston, the future looks good.

Davis settled at the start of the Class One 200m at the STETHS Invitational and when the gun fired, she rocketed through the curve. She coasted the last 50m, but still ran a wind-legal time of 22.86 seconds on the STETHS grass. Her best ever time is 22.72 seconds.

Not too long afterwards that afternoon, Williams zipped out of the blocks at the Grace Jackson/Queen’s Invitationals, drove through the early metres, and stopped the clock at 7.15 seconds. That’s a fine time indoors, but the opposing wind of 1.1 metres per second at the National Stadium makes it astounding. She certainly is building on a 2019 season, where she was third to Thompson Herah and Fraser-Pryce at the National Championships.

Warning

The combined impact of those results is a warning to the world. Williams is already an international winner. Her 2018 World Under-20 sprint double showed how tough she is mentally. There is no doubt that she is a candidate for an individual place on the Jamaica team to the Tokyo Olympics.

Based on what she showed in Santa Cruz, Davis could get past Simone Facey’s 2004 ISSA/GraceKennedy Boys and Girls’ Athletics Championships Class One 200m record of 22.71 seconds. With Williams retired early from junior competition, Davis might be the one to keep the flag flying at the 2020 World Under-20 Championship in Kenya.

If all goes well, she too could be in Tokyo.

It’s a double delight, but Moore’s smooth, unhurried power gives her a chance at a world-class future, too, and the long list of sprint prospects is gratifying. If Thompson Herah can conquer her Achilles trouble, Jamaica will have an irresistible group of speedsters, at least as far as the 2024 Olympics, when she will be just 32.

Also on th radar are 2018 World Indoor 60m finalist Remona Burchell and new MVP Track Club member Shauna Helps.

The world won’t stand still. Murielle Ahouré and Marie-Josée Ta Lou, one-two in the 2018 World Indoor 60m, have served the Ivory Coast so well that young girls from that country must have been inspired by them. Britain’s Dina Asher-Smith, the World 200m winner, and Sha’Carri Richardson, who ran 10.75 seconds to win the NCAA title last year, could all be in the mix in Tokyo and 2024.

Perhaps American Tori Bowie, world 100m champion in 2017, will regain full fitness and challenge again.

However, Jamaica will be in the mix. With Fraser-Pryce leading the line this year, and Thompson Herah there to head a deep sprint corps to the 2024 Olympics, this land of wood and water can look ahead with confidence at the 100m, 200m, and 4x100m. In fact, the wonderful world relay record – 40.82 seconds by the USA at the 2012 Olympics – could go when Williams and her contemporaries mature.

Hubert Lawrence has scrutinised local and international athletics since 1980.