BREACHING BOLT’S RECORD AT CHAMPS 2014

It has been almost 11 years since a 17-year-old youngster from William Knibb did the unthinkable on a rainy day in Kingston and stopped the clock over 400 metres at 45.35 seconds. The time set by a certain Usain St. Leo Bolt obliterated the meet record of 46.22s set by Ardenne’s Michael Campbell seven years prior and set Bolt up to become one of, if not the best 400-metre runner of all time.

He didn’t but that’s another story, one we all know by now.

Bolt’s time wasn’t the only thing about that run that was outstanding. It was the first time that a Jamaican high school athlete had ever run below 46 seconds in the 400 metres at Champs and the winning margin was ridiculous. Bolt was more than two seconds ahead of Jermaine Myers of Holmwood Technical (47.53) and almost three seconds ahead of Mellard Brown of Glengoffe High (48.17).

Another point of interest is that the current national record holder, the only person from that race to eventually run faster than Bolt over the 400m, never finished the race. One needs not say that it would have been interesting to see what would have happened had Jermaine Gonzales of Tacious Golding had not pulled up lame on that wet afternoon.

Since that time, only one other – Leford  Greene  -  has run 45-seconds. That is, until now.

2013 was an interesting year for Jamaican high school quarter-milers. We saw the development of Javon Francis take on a whole new dimension. We all saw Francis the year before at World Juniors in Barcelona. He finished ninth overall but we saw him gradually improve each round and those paying close enough attention would have seen an athlete on the verge of a global breakthrough.

In 2013 we saw the continuation of that growth. He got faster and faster as the season progressed. He won at Champs as expected and then got faster still. He was spectacular at the Penn Relays with a 44.8 relay split, chasing down Munro’s superman Delano Williams to take Calabar to the mile relay crown by a hundredth of a second. At the national championships in June, Francis forced Javere Bell to pull out all the stops and run a personal best (45.08) to get the better of Donkey Man who was second in 45.24s.

At the very highest level in Moscow, Francis fell just short of the finals but found personal redemption when he unleashed an incredible piece of running in the mile relay, dragging Jamaica from fifth to second in just 44.05 seconds. He was easily the performer of the year as was validated at the RJR Sports Foundation Awards last month.

An early season outing of 45.95s this season at the Youngster Goldsmith meet, got the pundits salivating at the prospects of Francis not only becoming the first schoolboy since Bolt to go 45, but actually breaking Bolt’s 11-year-old record.

Can he? I don’t see why not.

Francis proved last year that he is a cut above the rest. On the occasions that I have seen him this season he has never looked uncomfortable. At the recent Camperdown Classic he looked like he was out for a stroll in running 46 seconds. A mile behind him was a bunch of pretenders fighting the bears on their backs, desperate for the finish line to appear before them.

The experience in Moscow would also have made Francis a better athlete. Running against the best in the world and doing well, makes running against schoolboys feel like light training days. It does raise a question though. If Francis is to break Bolt’s record will he need to be pushed? On the face of it, he will be.

Donkey Man wasn’t the only schoolboy to break the 46-second barrier last year. Let us not forget St. Jago’s Martin Manley’s epic run at the World Youth Championships in the Ukraine in July last year. He made 45.89s look easy as he secured one of Jamaica’s six gold medals at the championships where for the first time the island topped the medal table at a global athletic championship.

So far this season Manley has looked awesome. At the Camperdown Classic he literally sleep-walked a 10.45 100m, and he has looked effortless running relay legs for his school.

Persons I have spoken with, including coaches, believe Manley is showing the kind of form that will not only see him challenging Francis but possibly beating him. One coach even suggested that Manley could even be ready to break 45 seconds!  A few persons close to the Francis camp scoff at that idea. One of them actually admonished me. “Let this be the last time you make me laugh at you,” he said. He did acknowledge however, that Manley should not be overlooked but not as a possible winner. “Pushing Francis is only what he will do.”

As far as I am concerned this could be Cameron/Stapleton all over again.

There are others out there who will make this potential match up interesting. Jamaica College’s Devaughn Baker, who was second to Francis at Youngster Goldsmith is also a contender. Barring injury I am being told that the youngster should be a lot closer to Manley and Francis that people think. Okeen Williams from St. Elizabeth Technical, who should be doing the 400m/400mh double at Champs, as well as Manchester’s Lennox Williams, who pundits are saying should also be among those breaking 46 seconds this year, will all bring great value to this match up.

The respective work load each athlete will carry at Champs this year will be an important factor in what times they will be capable of come time for the 400-metre finals but with all things being equal and if each athlete is sufficiently fresh at the appointed time, the 400m finals at Champs 2104 could be one for the ages.