Class One 100m finals will be hot

Kingston College's Bouwahjgie Nkrumie, the man called Dr Speed, laid down the gauntlet for the Class One boys 100 metres while the three fastest high school girls in Jamaica are on a collision course for a potentially record-breaking Class One 100 metres final today.

Yesterday's first day of the ISSA/GraceKennedy Boys and Girls' Athletic Championships (Champs) saw no surprises in the sprints as the favourites progressed to the semi-finals of their respective events.

Hydel High School's Brianna Lyston and the Clayton twins from Edwin Allen High School, Tina and Tia, advanced to today's semi-finals which could see Veronica Campbell Brown's 11.13 seconds record shattered.

Lyston won her first-round heat in 12.01 seconds, with Tina clocking 12.03 for victory in her heat. Tia clocked 12.24 to win her first-round heat with relative ease. However, it was Petersfield High School's Alexis James who qualified with the fastest time 11.72.

Lyston has run closest to the Champs record this year, with her 11.14 at Central Championships last month. However, Tina has run 11.09 already as she marched towards an Under-20 World title last year in Nairobi, Kenya.

Nkrumie clocked 10.53 seconds to win his Class One boys heat with the fastest time among the qualifiers, a performance which he said sent a message to the field of his title intentions. Now he says he just needs to keep to his prescription for success for today's semi-finals and final.

"I just need to stay focused, execute and trust my talent that's all," Nkrumie told STAR Sports. "I felt quite comfortable and I just executed and kept calm."

His teammate Jeevan Newby had the second-fastest time in qualifying with 10.55 seconds while Ricquan Graham of Wolmer's Boys had the third-fastest time with 10.58. Herbert Morrison's De Andre Daley who was the number one ranked Class One sprinter entering Champs qualified with 11.00 to win his heat, despite having to restart his race after a false-start. Edwin Allen's Bryan Levell who is also among the favourites for gold also advanced. Levell won his heat in 10.73.

Another record that could be under threat is the Class Three boys 1500m as Kingston College's Nahashon Ruto clocked 4:14:16 minutes to win his first-round heat. His time was just two seconds off the Champs record of 4:12:50 and Ruto will have a chance to break it in today's final.

Among the 16 finals today three will be in the field including the Class Two girls shot put. Hydel's Natassia Burrell qualified with 13.81m far surpassing the 12.70 qualifying mark. Victoria Christie, the Corporate Champs winner from Camperdown High School, qualified with the second best distance, 13.56m.