Mills confident about Seville prospects

With the National Championships taking place next weekend, Oblique Seville's coach Glen Mills is growing in optimism about his chances to make the World Athletics Championships team.

Seville, 21, is the second fastest man in the world this year, clocking a personal best (PB) time of 9.86 seconds to win the men's 100m at the JAAA/SDF Jubilee Series at the National Stadium on May 21.

Only Kenya's Ferdinand Omanyala, who clocked 9.85 seconds in Nairobi, Kenya, on May 7, has run faster.

Mills says Seville is not getting carried away by his recent performance and he is working hard in training.

"There is no pressure on him because the objective is the same in trying to make the team to the World Championships and that was his objective from the beginning of the season," Mills said. "He made the Olympic team the last time, so it is only natural that he would look forward to continuing making national teams, all being well.

"He hasn't changed and he has no reason to because the time is what it is. It is not like he won the World Championships gold medal or the Olympics, it is that he just ran a fast time and that's it."

However, Seville, formerly of Holmwood Technical High School and Calabar High School, has not competed since his PB, but this was part of Mills' plans.

"There were never any plans to send him abroad before the Trials," Mills said. "His performance that he did was just a part of the course, and there were never any plans to send him overseas whether he ran fast or not.

"My expectation is simple, I am expecting him to make the team and so far he is in the top three Jamaican times, so we are hoping that he can maintain it at the Trials and make the team."

Ackeem Blake (9.95) and Davonte Burnett (9.99) are the other Jamaicans who have done sub-10 times this season.

The National Championships will be at the National Stadium from June 23-26. It will be used to select Jamaica's teams to the World Athletics Championships, in Eugene, Oregon, from July 15 to 24, and the Commonwealth Games in Birmingham, England, from July 28 to August 8.