10 Takeaways from the Jamaican Trials

 1.     Yohan “The Beast” Blake is the Real Deal The twenty two year-old Yohan “The Beast” Blake was clearly the outstanding male performer  of the Trials. The Beast as he is called because of his intense training and workout regiments  has the distinction of beating the 100m and 200m world-record holder Usain Bolt not once but twice over four days of competition. In the process, “The Beast” established lifetime best and world-leading 9.75 seconds in the 100m and 19.80 seconds in the 200m.  The Beast has so far achieved his goal of being undefeated in both the 100m and the 200m heading into London.  2.     Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce is a championship performer Fraser-Pryce came into the 2012 season with many track fans questioning and even doubting her ability to have an impact at the London Olympics. After winning the Olympics 100m gold in 2008 and the World Championship gold in Berlin 2009, Fraser-Pryce returned to the track and had sub-par 2010 and 2011 seasons. This past weekend Fraser-Pryce signal her return to the top of the sprinting  world with a splendid display of speed by setting a new national record of  10.70 seconds in the 100m. Two days later Fraser-Pryce ran a personal best 20.10 seconds to capture the 200m title, defeating the reigning 200m world champion Veronica Campbell-Brown.  The brighter the spotlight, the better Fraser-Pryce tends to perform. 3.     Beware of Warren Weir While the world was enamored with Blake and Bolt, it was their Racers Club training partner 21 year old Warren Weir who got lots of  attention. Weir joined the sub-20 200m club in the semi-finals when he ran a personal best 19.99 seconds. In the final, Weir finished in 3^rd place in 20.03 seconds behind winner Blake (19.80) and Bolt (19.83). By virtue of his 3^rd place finished, Weir has booked his ticket to London and had denied Nickel Ashmeade (20.10) that opportunity. In post race comments, Weir’s coach Glen Mills beamed with pride as he spoke of Weir’s performance and his recent improvement. Weir spoke to Trackledger.com prior to the Trials and said “It was a blessing in disguise to be training with the gods of track and field [Bolt and Blake].” The fast-improving Weir is an exciting young talent and is now set to have an impact in London.  4.     The Emergence of Quarter-miler  Dane Hyatt The talking points among Jamaican track fans  has been  the injury to Ricardo Chambers, Allodin Fothergill and Jermaine Gonzales which has  depleted the relay squad and raises doubt about Jamaica‘s ability to compete in the 4x4 relay in London. Saturday night saw the emergence of Dane Hyatt who won the 400m title in a personal best time of 44.83 seconds. Rusheen McDonald (45.10) was 2^nd and Gonzales (45.18) was 3^rd . Dane is still in school at Saint Augustine’s College in Raleigh NC, and he is coached by the legndary George Williams, the coach of Bershawn “batman” Jackson. Dane could be the spark that the relay team needs and he along with McDonald and Gonzales could be the foundation on which Jamaica can build a competitive 4x4 relay  team for London. 5.      Field Events are making Inroads Jamaica is long known as the “sprint factory” due to its affinity to produce world-class sprinters. But the field events were on full display during the Trials  with discus participants Travis Smikle (67.12m)  and Jason Morgan (61.93m) performing well and both meeting the A qualifying standard  of 65.00m. Morgan had previously met the standard with a throw of 65.61m back in April 2012. This is the first time that Jamaica has  two discus throwers meeting the  A standard  and  both Smikle and Morgan are on their way to London. In the women’s discus, Allison Randall won the title with a throw of 55.92m. Prior to the Trials, Randall has her season best throw of 61.21m that meet the B qualifying standard of 59.50m. She  too is headed to London. Dorian Scott won the men’s shot put title with a throw of 20.72m, that  meets the A qualifying standard of 20.50m. Scott is also London-bound. 6.     Sherone Simpson has the heart of a Lion After years of sub-par performances  due to injury and failing to recapture her 2006 performances when she set personal best times of 10.82 (100m) and 22.00 (200m), on Sunday  Sherone Simpson  ran brilliantly in the home stretch to take 2^nd place in the women’s 200m  in a brisk 22.37 seconds behind Fraser-Pryce (22.10) and ahead of Veronica Campbell-Brown (22.42). Simpson had failed to qualify for the individual 100m race as she finished in 4^th place in 11.01 seconds behind Fraser-Pryce (10.70), Campbell-Brown (10.82) and Kerron Stewart (10.94). In her post race comments Simpson said that she wanted badly to compete in an individual event and that she was determine to do so. Simpson also stated that she was shocked by her performance but that he coach was not. 7.     Foster-Hylton should be in London medal discussion Foster-Hylton started the 2012 season with a bang by running 12.51 seconds at the Jamaican Invitational on May 5 and has not looked back since. Her victory in the women’s 100m hurdles (12.68) has catapulted her into the discussion for a medal in the 100m hurdles in London. 8.     Kenia Sinclair is back on track After being injured for most of the season, Kenia Sinclair took the women’s 800m title in a season best 2:01.55. Kenia, the Jamaica 800m record holder is back on track and intends to run several races before London to regain her confidence and to get her race-ready for London. 9.     Business as usual for Williams-Mills So far 2012 has been a career season for Novlene Williams-Mills who has amassed three of the top-10 times in the women’s 400m (49.78, 49.99 and 50.00). Williams-Mills has also defeated Sanya Richards-Ross and Amantle Montsho in head-to-head competition. Winning the women’s 400m title in 50.60 seconds ahead of Rosemarie Whyte (50.78) and Christine Day (51.00)  was just a mere formality for Williams-Mills. 10.  Stars who failed to qualify 40 year-old Danny McFarlane failed in his bid to make his 3^rd Olympics team as a hurdler by finishing 4^th in the men's  400m hurdles in 49.69 seconds. The top three finishers of Leford Green (48.88), Josef Robertson (49.53) and Roxroy Cato (49.65) are all London-bound. Vonette Dixon (100m hurdles), Delloreen Ennis-London (100m hurdles), Nickel Ashmeade (200m), Ristananna Tracey (400m hurdles) and Riker Hylton (400m) all failed to qualify for their individual events.