THIS WAS A GOOD YEAR FOR JAMAICAN MEN'S SPRINTING

Of this record-setting four, Michael Frater (second right) could find himself outside looking in next season

Nesta Carter is now number seven all time in the men’s 100-metre dash. When he ran 9.85s in Brussels on Friday, he put himself not far away from the elite-three Bolt, Gay and Powell, but he also now finds himself .01 seconds behind Donovan Bailey, who not that long ago – set a world record of 9.84s in Olympics finals in 1996. You know you are among the big guns when you start easing past world records set in the last 20 years.
However, despite his achievements over the past few weeks – 9.86s in Lucerne on August 8 and 9.85s in Brussels, there has been little fanfare. Maybe because we have been spoiled by Powell and Bolt who together have run below 9.80 14 times between them, we have come to expect the sensational from our other sprinters.
Whatever it is though, Carter joining the ranks of the world fastest ever men augurs well for Jamaica in the 2011 season.
Only six men have run faster than 9.90 seconds so far this season and four of them are Jamaican. If everyone can stay healthy and perhaps improve upon their performances come 2011, Jamaica is going to be truly awesome by the time the world championships come around next summer.
Beginning at the National Championships next June, the finals of the men’s 100 metres is going to be stacked. Bolt (9.58); Powell (9.72); Carter (9.85); and Blake (9.89) should all be vying for a spot to represent Jamaica in the men’s 100 metres. Bolt, as defending champion, gets an automatic bye, so those other three, plus Michael Frater (9.97), Steve Mullings (10.01); Marvin Anderson, Lerone Clarke (9.99); Mario Forsythe (10.09); plus a few others will all be contending.
But going forward to the World Championships in Daegu, South Korea, defending 4×100 metre champions could be going in with perhaps one of the deepest relay quads in history and could push their own world record of 37.10s to perhaps 36.6, or 36.7, perhaps even faster depending how how fast they can get that stick around.
That, as well as possibly having four men in the finals of the men’s 100 metres. Barring injury or other unforseen circumstances, Bolt and Powell should make the finals, and based on what we have seen from the likes of Carter and Blake, they could be joining their more celebrated countrymen there as well. This leaves spots for perhaps two Americans, Tyson Gay and Walter Dix (if he can overcome his demons), perhaps Richard Thompson from Trinidad and a healthy Donovan Bailey from Antigua. The latter two have both failed to run faster than 10 seconds this season but based on their pedigree, I expect them to be back to full speed by next season.
Based on the aforementioned field, Jamaica could have four men in the top 5 spots following the completion of that final. Here are my picks based on current form Gold – Usain Bolt; Silver Tyson Gay; Bronze Asafa Powell, fourth Nesta Carter/Yohan Blake; fifth Yohan Blake/Nesta Carter.
I cant wait.