Thomas joins lofty company

Damion Thomas, winner last Saturday of the NCAA Indoor 60-metre hurdles title, has described his winning effort as a blur. His performance placed him in lofty company as he is the first Jamaican to win that crown since Omar McLeod.

Thomas, who won the 2018 World Under-20 110-metre hurdles, edged ahead in a very close contest to win in 7.51 seconds at the University of Arkansas in Fayetteville. That advanced the fastest time by a Jamaican this year from McLeod's run of 7.53 seconds on February 7 at the same venue.

Thomas is now the 4th fastest hurdler of the year.

Now a senior at Louisiana State University (LSU), he told www.lsusports.net, "The race was a blur to me. Honestly, that might have been one of the best starts of my career. I usually take a bit longer to get going but I came out smooth and everything clicked. I cleared a few hurdles and then did my best to get to the finish line."

Only 0.04 seconds separated first place from fourth. "It took a bit for them to get the results sorted, so those were anxious moments, but when I saw my name pop up first it felt unbelievable," he said.

The champion suffered through injuries in 2019 and last year's COVID-19 lockdown. Speaking to STAR Sports yesterday, a relieved Thomas explained, "I just had to stay patient and keep trusting God and keep trusting the process He would take me through and when this season came around, it just lit a fire in me."

Born in Florida to Jamaican parents, he now stands alongside 2014 and 2015 winner McLeod and 2011 victor Andrew Riley as Jamaican winners in this NCAA event. In addition, the title was won by Robert Foster in 1994 and Neil Gardner in 1997 while the event was run over 55 metres.

The 21-year-old has turned his attention to his final outdoor season at LSU and the NCAA Championships in Eugene, Oregon. "After how indoor season went and how I was able just to trust the process, and be patient and get better every week and it paid off for me at Nationals, I"ll just try to have the same mindset and do the same thing and take it each step on the way outdoors so I can have a great Nationals at Oregon as well,"he said.

His times steadily dropped during the indoor campaign, with clockings of 7.68 and what was then personal best of 7.60 seconds to win the Southeastern Conference crown two weeks earlier.

He lowered that to 7.56 in the NCAA heats.

His success on Saturday owed much in a change from his old eight approach to the first hurdle. "Indoor season was all about getting my start better and I used to be a eight stepper and I went over to 7, and that went really well," he revealed. "So I think I'm looking more to really working on my arms. That's the main thing."