Record smashing year awaits

Following a year of brilliance from Christopher Taylor and Akeem Bloomfield in the 400m, all attention will now be turned on next year's World Junior Championships as Jamaica could do something special in the 4x400 metres relay.

The addition of Martin Manley and Jaheel Hyde to the duo of Taylor and Bloomfield and an injury-free year could mean the world record of 3:01.09 set by the United States in Grossseto, Italy, in 2004 could be in danger.

This year, Calabar's Taylor and Kingston College's Bloomfield stood tall.

Taylor easily won the one-lap race at the Inter-Secondary School Sports Association-GraceKennedy Boys and Girls' Championships in his first year in Class Two. He also won the 200m and played an important role in his team winning the 4x400 metres relay in a record time of 3:07.76.

Competing at the World Youth Championships in July in Cali, Colombia, he was just brilliant.

After posting 45.30 seconds in his semi-finals many thought he had gone out too fast and would pay the price in the final.

However, he was even faster in the final as stopped the clock at an astonishing 45.27 seconds, becoming the second fastest ever at this level.

Taylor clocked four sub-46 second times this year and was ranked number one the World Youth Top List and number six on the World Junior Top list.

Bloomfield was not far behind, creating history inside the National Stadium at Champs.

He dipped below 45 seconds in winning the Class One 400m in 44.93 seconds. In doing so, he became the country's first junior to go sub-45 seconds and shattered Davian Clarke's national junior record of 45.21 seconds, set some 20 years earlier.