Dalton Myers | Dacres is my athlete of the year

It is that time of year when we reflect on the top Jamaican performances of 2018. With so many, it is usually difficult to choose any moment as the best. However, for me, the Athlete of the Year would be Fedrick 'Banjay' Dacres.

Dacres, a student-athlete at The University of the West Indies (UWI), Mona, has had the season of his life, capturing every major discus title on offer. The former Calabar High School standout started by winning a Commonwealth Games gold medal in Gold Coast, Australia in April, for his first senior discus title, with a games-record throw of 68.20m. While most of the best international competitors were not on display, he had his training partner and friend Traves Smikle to push him through some very good series of throws.

Dacres went on to defeat a good field at the 2018 NACAC Senior Championships in Toronto, Canada, by winning with a championship record of 68.47m followed later by victory at the inaugural Athletics World Cup, throwing 65.32m.

There was no major global athletics championship this year, but Dacres' results in the IAAF Continental Cup and IAAF One-Day Meeting Circuits (Diamond League and IAAF World Challenge) were remarkable. In the Diamond League, there were some fierce contests between him and rivals Andrius Gudzius, Daniel Stahl, Robert Harting, and Ehsan Haddadi, with Dacres dominating the field.

Dacres won three of the four Diamond League meetings on his way to the Diamond League Trophy. He threw 68.51m, 69.67m, and 67.01m to win in Rome, Stockholm, and Paris respectively, with the only blemish being the 63.85m for eighth place in Oslo. He amassed 25 points out of a possible 32 and set a new National Record. Dacres produced a best of 68.67m during the Diamond League finals to defeat Gudzius (67.56m) and Stahl (66.73m).

Also in 2018, he competed in two World Challenge events - the Ostrava Golden Spike and Zagreb Meetings - winning one and placing second in the other. Overall this year, he finished in first place 10 times, twice placing second and once third with some impressive series at each event. In fact, Dacres consistently threw 66m and above over 30 times, even despite injury during the latter part of the season.

First record

My favourite moment was watching Dacres cop his first senior international title and Commonwealth Games record in Australia because it was his first major championship, and you could see what it meant to him. I believe that event 'Down Under' set the stage for the season he had. However, there were several other key moments that stand out for me, including that huge throw in Stockholm.

Even in a sprint-crazy country like Jamaica, it is hard to overlook Dacres' performances this year. These performances have started to inspire the next generation of throwers who now see potential to earn from the discipline. What Dacres and others such as Shanieka Ricketts and Danniel Thomas-Dodd have done this year is show Jamaica what can be achieved if we invest more time (and finances) in preparing field-event athletes.

Winning every title on offer makes Dacres Jamaica's best track and field athlete for 2018 and my overall athlete of the year. As I have said to Dacres a few times, I think he has the 70-metre throw in him. I also think his coach, Julian Robinson, has even greater ambitions for the current national champion and record holder and NACAC Male Athlete of the Year.

At the end of the 2018 season, Dacres had to undergo surgery to repair a torn meniscus in his left knee and I believe that just like the previous one a few years ago, he will return much stronger.

Next year will be an interesting one with the changes to the track and field calendar to accommodate the Qatar World Championships, but it gives Dacres a chance to claim his first major global title on his way to becoming one of the greats of the sport.

There is also the chance to add another Pan Am Games title in Peru, and, hopefully, another Diamond League trophy. Who knows! Maybe next year we can start looking at Jurgen Schult's 32-year-old record of 74.08m?

- Dalton Myers is a sports consultant and administrator. Email feedback to daltonsmyers@gmail.com or tweet @daltonsmyers