SHERONE SIMPSON GETTING CLOSER TO '06 FORM

Saturday night, running in a steady downpour Commonwealth Games 200 metre champion Sherone Simpson beat a decent field to record a 11.58-second win at the Utech Invitational at the National Stadium.
The time in of itself was not that impressive but there are some factors that have to be considered when looking at the relatively slow time for an athlete who four years ago ran 10.82 into a 0.7 m/s headwind and who clocked 10.98s for a silver medal in Beijing two years ago.
The first is that her clubmate Brigette Foster-Hylton, running on her inside screamed as she fell and skidded along the wet track. The petite but powerful sprinter admits she was thrown off by Foster-Hylton’s misfortune and those watching would have seen her slow down in reaction to the mishap. That interruption of her acceleration cost Simpson precious fractions of a second. And when you consider that she was running into a negative wind of -1.8m/s, that 11.58seconds could well have been 11.3x which is not a bad way to open a season given the prevailing weather conditions.
Jamaica is already blessed with powerhouses like Kerron Stewart, Shelly Ann Fraser, and Veronica Campbell, Simpson’s return to some semblance of form is not only encouraging it gives this little nation of ours considerable depth leading into the World Championships in Daegu next year. Providing everyone can remain healthy Jamaica will be even more awesome on the track.