EXCITING YEAR AHEAD

There are no major championships to look forward to next year but 2010 is expected to be an exciting year in track and field nonetheless.

Most of our major stars of track and field have not yet committed to the Commonwealth Games, which having been scheduled for October, looks certain to go ahead without many of the sport’s major draws who will by then be preparing for Daegu in 2011.

However, long before that are the indoor meets that will see at least two Jamaicans participating – Veronica Campbell Brown and Ricardo Chambers.

Campbell Brown under new coach Anthony Carpenter will be venturing back indoors after a six-year hiatus. For her it is as good a time as any to be back. She will need lots of time to adjust to whatever new programs Carpenter will have her on and there is nothing like competition to work out the kinks.

VCB knows she has fallen behind in the sprints and will have to refocus and relaunch to get back among the medal contenders in the 100 metre sprint.

Beset by injury thoughout the last season, VCB will be looking to rebound strongly, building momentum going into 2011.

Chambers, the national 400 metre champion, also had a challenging 2009 season. Allergies derailed any attempt he had planned to make at a medal at the world championships in Berlin.

His goals for this coming season include winning a world indoor medal at the World Indoor Championships in March and he also hopes to break Roxbert Martin’s 12-year-old national 400 metre record.

Armed now with the experience of how to control the allergies that messed him up this past season, Chambers should be a much stronger and better 400 metre runner when he emerges this coming season.

2010 is also a year when we expect to see Yohan Blake emerge even further as a world class sprinter. After his 9.93s clocking in Rome, the world waited to see what Blake was going to bring to the world championships in Berlin but that was not to be thanks to the Methyhexamine scandal that truncated his promising season.

Now that he has served his three-month ban arising from that situation, track and field fans will no doubt be eager to see what Blake brings to the track in 2010.

2010 will also witness the dawn of the new Diamond League that replaces the Golden League. We get to see just how it plays out, we get to see what happens with the lesser athletes and most importantly, we get to see what happens when the elite of the elite clash.

Usain Bolt, Tyson Gay and Asafa Powell will do battle at least three times this coming season and those races can’t come fast enough. Will Bolt break his world records in amazing fashion once more? Can Tyson Gay take Bolt, who has not lost in two years? Or, will Asafa Powell overtake them both and regain his place atop the heap of world’s greatest sprinters?

Yes, the Diamond League is going to be worth watching this coming season.

But the Diamond League is not only going to be about Bolt, Gay and Powell. The women are going to make some noise too.
Shelly Ann Fraser, Kerron Stewart and Carmelita Jeter are going to resume their electric clashes, and when you throw in a healthy Sherone Simpson, a determined Lauryn Williams, Muna Lee, and perhaps VCB into the mix, what you get are mother-watering battles in the female sprints like the world has never seen.

And how could I forget Melaine Walker aiming to break the world record in the 400 metre hurdles even while inflicting further mental damage to sore loser American Lashinda Demus.

The 400 metre battles between Jeremy Wariner and Leshawn Merritt are also sure to be tantaliszing.

Locally, Champs celebrates 100 years and that too is shaping up to be special as defending champions Kingston, Calabar, Jamaica College, Wolmer’s (under new coach Paul Francis), and St. Jago resume their intense rivalries at the national stadium the week before Easter.

We also get to see what surprises Jazeel Murphy is going to spring on us this coming season.

On the women’s side Holmwood, Manchester, Vere and all the usual suspects will be make Champs for this coming season, a must-see event.

And of course, there are going to be some real surprises as there are sure to be a handful of athletes who are going to raise eyebrows and grab the attention of the world of track and field.

So, what are we waiting for bring on 2010. Please.