O’HARA OR HYDE: WHO WINS SPRINT HURDLES AT CHAMPS?

Champs 2015 should be one of the most intense in years. Not that it has not been these past few where the excitement and energy have been incredibly high further raising its stock as one of the best events on the planet. This year, with many expecting Kingston College to come really hard at champions Calabar High, the air of expectancy and intensity is expected to ramped up to an even higher level.

The action will be really fast and furious over the five days and we all expect an incredible final two days when records could fall and legends born. But for all the hype surrounding the relays – can Calabar go closer to 38 seconds in the sprint relay, how fast with KC go in the mile relay and can St. Jago challenge them, can Edwin Allen’s Class Two girls team break 45 seconds – there is one event I have my mind on.

Two of Jamaica’s most talented sons – Jaheel Hyde and Michael O’hara – have over the past few seasons demonstrated that they will be among those leading Jamaica’s charge at the senior level in a few years time. They will be among the ones looking to continue on the great legacy left behind by Usain Bolt, Asafa Powell, Nesta Carter and Michael Frater. They will join ranks with Yohan Blake, Warren Weir, Hansle Parchment, and Andrew Riley to create that formidable force  that will take on and most likely conquer the rest of the world.

For Champs 2015 they will seek to get the better of each other over the sprint hurdles. Hyde has never beaten Ohara over the sprint hurdles. Hyde won last year but O’Hara was not present. Injury prevented him from matching speed and hurdling skill with the World Junior and World Youth champion.

With just a few days to go, both are healthy and we can only hope they remain that way.

O’Hara sped to 10.23 at GC Foster Classic recently and looks really fast this year. Hyde meanwhile, opened his sprint hurdling season with a 13.22 run at CARIFTA Trials,already two hundredths of a second faster than the existing Champs record set by Omar McLeod two years ago. Who will win?

I really don’t know. One of O’Hara’s weaknesses in the 100 metres is his start where he tends to pop up too quickly. In the hurdles that is an advantage. He is also faster than Hyde, at least, I believe he is. That speed between the hurdles will be critical. The question is, can he use it to his advantage?

Hyde has done a lot more hurdling at a global level in the past two seasons and has been unbeaten. His technique has improved and so has his speed. That he has opened up in a time faster than the Champs record, suggests that he has it in him to go 13.1 or faster; perhaps sub 13. That is where I believe he has the advantage. Hyde knows what’s it like to go that fast in competition, O’Hara doesn’t. However, his speed does give him a good chance of maintaining his winning streak against Hyde.

The way I see it, O’Hara gets to the first hurdle before Hyde but Hyde rallies and pulls up alongside him by mid-race, they hurdle in unison right up until the last hurdle, and then it all goes dark for me. I cant wait to see how it ends.