DESPITE ABSENCE OF BIG STARS, NATIONAL CHAMPS SHOULD BE ENTERTAINING

I hope it doesn’t rain on the National Track and Field Championships this weekend because I am hoping to see some good performances from some of our less famous athletes who now have a chance to make a name for themselves.

We all know by now that some of our biggest stars will not be at these championships that are being held to select teams to the NACAC Under-23 Championships in Mirmar, Florida, the CAC Games in Puerto Rico and of course, the Commonwealth Games in India this October.

Usain Bolt, Veronica Campbell Brown, Kerron Stewart and several other stars will not be there, but Asafa Powell will, and Sherone Simpson and perhaps Jermaine Gonzales, and Ramone McKenzie, who I am eager to see now that he has turned professional and training with Lance Braumann in Clermont, Florida.

Sometimes things happen for good reason and opportunities open up for athletes who need the work. Simpson, for example, the defending Commonwealth Games 200-metre champion, still not certain about attending the games which start in October. If she does well at the trials, however, she will at least have the option of delaying her decision but at least she would have qualified.

Simpson has been working her way back to the wonderful form she had in 2006 when she had the top eight fastest times in the world in the 100m including a world’s best 10.82s, and two of the fastest times over the 200 metres (22.00). Two knee surgeries though have destabilized the knee so she hopes to get it strong enough so she will be able to run like the wind at the World Championships in Daegu, South Korea next year.

She has recovered from an injury she picked up in Korea earlier this season and we hope we will see her at her best come Saturday.

McKenzie has shown much promise since his days at Calabar and we now get to see in what ways he has improved as he tries to make one of the teams being selected to represent Jamaica this season.

Of course, the biggest reason I want the rain to stay away this weekend is because Asafa Powell, former world record holder in the men’s 100-metre sprint, has announced that he wants to run a ‘complete race’ as he chases Bolt’s seemingly impregnable world record of 9.58s. It will be interesting to see if he can pull it off or at least get close.

With Bolt not at his best this season and just coming off an Achilles tendon injury and with Gay, the second fastest man all time, nursing a sore hamstring, Powell has stolen the spotlight so far this season, running incredible times including a speedy 9.82-second run in Rome after experiencing a horrible start.

Powell is leaner and stronger this season and as we all have come to know by now, runs his best races in the middle and near the end of the season.

The defending Commonwealth Men’s sprint champion could make a serious assault on Bolt’s record but how close he goes will depend on how agreeable the conditions are.

Last but not least, we hope we get to see Gonzales, who just over a week ago clocked a personal best 44.79 seconds at the Sotteville Athletisima in France.

It should be interesting to see if he can go even lower as he finally gets the chance to fulfill his immense potential.