Kito Campbell
contributed
Individually and in relay teams, Kito Campbell displayed dominant form in his season opening competition and with time on his side, the future is bright.
In fact, if all goes according to plan for Campbell this season, then an Olympic Games appearance in Paris later this year, could very well be on the cards, especially if he continues his rapid improvements in the breaststroke events, under the guidance of legendary Jamaican swimmer Sion Brinn.
“I'm aiming for the Olympics this year, but I think I'm going to take that one step at a time. I am in collegiate season now, so I just want to focus on being good for college, and then after that, focus on being good for the Olympics,” Campbell told SportsMax.TV.
The former Calabar High standout made the declaration after he smashed his own 50-yard breaststroke record during a season-opening meet, which pitted his Indian River State College against Rochester Institute of Technology and Grand Valley State University.
Campbell, currently in his freshman year, proved too good for rivals, as he stopped the clock in 25.14 seconds. He was almost a second ahead of runner-up Andrew Goh (26.04) of Grand Valley.
That time bettered Campbell’s 25.19 set at the 2022 PST 32nd Speedo Winter Championships, while representing Azura Florida Aquatics. He continues lead the National Junior College Athletic Association rankings in the event.
The 20-year-old completed the sprint breaststroke double when he took the 100-yard event as well. Much like he did in the shorter event, Campbell went out hard and left the field in his wake, as he clocked splits of 25.93 and 29.39 on his way to a final time of 55.32.
Campbell, swimming the breaststroke leg, which he completed in 25.09, earlier assisted his Indian River team to victory in the 200-yard medley relay in 1:30.47. He also placed fifth in the 100-yard individual medley in a new personal best time of 53.19, lowering his previous best of 53.60.
Having firmly established himself as the best Jamaican breaststroke in the yard and Olympic-sized pools, Campbell is now hoping to build on his current momentum, as his coach, Brinn has put structures and strategies in place that have aligned him on the path to success.
“Things have been going well for me so far, I've dropped times in all of my main events for this year and training has been going well. I feel like I'm improving constantly since I've arrived at Indian River, and coach Sean has been really taking me under his wing. I wouldn't say I've improved in strength drastically, but the technical aspect of turns, underwater and dives are just right,” Campbell explained.
Campbell, who has represented Jamaica at numerous championships, to include the Pan American (PanAm) Games, Commonwealth Games and the FINA World Championships, knows that swimming can be a game of centimetres and milliseconds. As such, he admitted that he doesn’t boast too much in the expectations department.
“The details are what I have been fine tuning over the past couple months, and it's been getting better and better. I no longer go into seasons with expectations anymore, I just I race on the day, give of my best and the results will come,” he reasoned.
“But like I said, things are coming together, and I feel really good. I feel like I'm in a really good spot right now and I think the rest of this collegiate season is going to be great for me,” Campbell added.
Still, the former Kaizen Swim Club representative is well aware that it will not all be smooth sailing in the years ahead, as he pushes for longevity in his career, but the hope is to draw on experience to bring his Olympic dream to fruition.
“After the collegiate season, I have a few long course competitions that I'll have to contest, but I'm going to take that one step at a time. I usually don't like to mix too many things in my head, because I don’t want to be focusing on long course times when I'm only swimming short course. So right now, it's collegiate season and after that long course, and then we aim for the Olympics,” Campbell declared.
Sherdon Cowan is a five-time award-winning journalist with 10 years' experience covering sports.
Excelsior headlines finalists for Boys Championships of America 4x100m final at Penn Relays
A host of Jamaican schools will line up in the final of the High School Boys Championships of America 4x100m final, as they successfully navigated the qualifiers on day two of the 128th Penn Relays at the Franklin Field in Philadelphia on Friday.
Leading the qualifiers was the Excelsior quartet of Ryeem Walker, Damor Miller, Malike Nugent and Lennon Green, which clocked a brisk 40.62 seconds to top their heat.
They will be joined by local rivals Kingston College (41.30s), St Jago (41.35s), St George’s College (41.42s), Calabar High (41.70s) and Jamaica College (41.73s), and Wolmer’s Boys (41.84s). The other two lanes in the medal event will be occupied by Washington DC-based Archbishop John Carroll (41.49s) and Virginia-based West Springfield (41.77s).
Meanwhile, the High School Boys International final, also scheduled for Saturday, will see six Jamaican schools going up against those from Trinidad and Tobago, St Vincent and the Grenadines and The Bahamas, respectively.
St Elizabeth Technical (STETHS) headlines that field, after they posted the fastest qualifying time of 42.26s, followed by Cornwall College (42.53s) and the Bahamian school Queens College (42.61s). St Benedict’s, of out the twin island republic, and Munro College, both clocked 42.83s, while St Vincent Grammar (43.11s), Petersfield (43.14s), St Catherine (43.26s) and Vere Technical (43.55s), are the other qualifiers.
Frazsiers Whip to represent Jamaica in inaugural Concacaf Women's Champions Cup
As expected, Frazsiers Whip will be Jamaica’s representative in the inaugural Concacaf Women’s Champions Cup, a new annual tournament that includes the best clubs from North America, Central America, and the Caribbean and crowns the region’s women’s club champion.
The tournament is also the sole path through which clubs in Concacaf can qualify for the new FIFA Women’s Club World Cup, which FIFA has committed to launching in the near future.
By virtue of winning the 2022/23 Jamaica Women’s Premier League, Frazsiers Whip booked their spot for the first edition of the competition, which will feature 11 clubs from seven Member Associations.
The other confirmed participants are Canada’s 2023 League One Women’s Inter-Provincial Championship winners Vancouver Whitecaps FC, Costa Rica’s LD Alajuelense, Mexico’s Tigres UANL Femenil, as well as the United States trio of Gotham FC, San Diego Wave FC and Portland Thorns FC.
El Salvador and Panama are yet to confirm their representatives for their solitary spots, while Mexico’s two other representatives will be known at the conclusion of the Liga MX Clausura.
Interim Reggae Girlz Head coach Xavier Gilbert, who guided Frazsiers Whip to league honours, welcomed the move by Concacaf, which he believes will offer some exposure for local players, despite the gulf in class between other leagues around the region and Jamaica's Women's League.
"It's important for local football, however, I don't think any of our local teams will be able to match up with the teams from Mexico or United States. Those clubs are professional clubs playing in a fully professional leagues, while ours is nowhere close to their standard," Gilbert told SportsMax.TV in a recent interview.
"But it is good, it is more football and more exposure for our local players. At the same time, I think it sends a signal of how important it is for us to look at what we are doing in terms of resources and surfaces for our local teams. So, it is good move by Concacaf, and I think it's for us now here in Jamaica to look at what we are doing and try to improve the quality of our league," he added.
The official draw for the tournament is scheduled for June 6.
Action in the Concacaf Women’s Champions Cup is expected to get underway in August, with a Preliminary Round, followed by Group and Knockout Stage play. The Preliminary Round Play-in will be a single-leg match between two clubs, with the winner advancing to the Group Stage.
The Group Stage will feature 10 clubs divided into two groups of five clubs each. Each club will play every club in its group once, for a total of four matches per club (two at home and two away). At the conclusion of Group Stage play, the group winners and runners-up (four clubs) will progress to the competition’s final four.
The semifinals, third-place encounter, and final, where the first-ever Concacaf Women’s Champions Cup winners will be crowned, will be centralized in a venue to be announced.
Hughes targets Olympic glory; expects Racers Grand Prix to offer taste of potential Paris test
Winning a first global individual medal at last year’s World Championships whetted Zharnel Hughes’s appetite for more success, and so it comes as no surprise that the Anguillan-born Great Britain sprint sensation is strongly optimistic about clinching a medal at this summer’s Olympic Games in Paris.
In fact, if Hughes’s confidence to top his performances from last year is anything to go by, then he could very well accomplish the feat, provided he maintains a clean bill of health throughout the season.
During last year’s electrifying campaign, which ended with his World Championships bronze in the men’s 100m final, Hughes broke Olympic champion Linford Christie’s 100m British national record when he clocked a personal best 9.83 seconds at the New York Grand Prix, in June.
A month later, at the UK Athletics Championship, Hughes ran a brisk 19.77s, which is faster than John Regis’s national 200m record, but the time was wind-aided and, as such, was recognised as a record. However, Hughes, with his superb form, inevitably established a new record when he clocked a wind-legal 19.73s at the London Diamond League.
With that in mind, coupled with his relentless work ethic and resolute pursuit of excellence, Hughes is poised to make another significant impact on the world stage this year. Whether or not it will be an Olympic gold medal triumph is left to be seen.
“It's the Olympic year, so obviously you want to better what you did last year. I'm happy with how last year turned out for me, and this year is very much more exciting. I'm preparing myself nicely. I'm feeling fit and ready to go. Obviously as an athlete, you want to lower your personal best every year, but unfortunately, sometimes it doesn't work out like that. But I'm definitely aiming to lower my personal best both in the 100m and 200m,” Hughes declared.
“I'm in good shape and I’m excited. I've definitely counted myself as one of them (athletes) to be reckoned with (for an Olympic gold medal). I'm never going to count myself out now because you've seen what happened last year, and I'm excited to top my performance from last year,” he added.
Though he 48.25s in a 400m run in February, followed by a 20.40s-clocking in March, the 28-year-old pointed out that he is yet to really hit top gear in preparation for the upcoming Olympic Games, but is aiming to do so at the sixth edition of the Racers Grand Prix, on June 1, at Jamaica's National Stadium.
At the Racers Grand Prix, Hughes will line up alongside Racers Track Club teammate Oblique Seville and American World champion Noah Lyles in the 100m, which he considers a good prelude for what could come at the Paris Games.
“I'm looking forward to it, I was listening for who was going to be there; Oblique and I have been training pretty good and I know both of us representing coach Glen Mills, will be bringing it on the day. So, I look forward to who's in the field, especially with Lyles being there,” Hughes said.
“This race is to get you prepared for what's to come later in the summer. So, to have great competition like that at the Racers Grand Prix is just a great indicator to see where we're at, and what we can tweak going into our national trials, because my trials will be the latter part of June. So, for me, I'm looking forward to this race and the following week I'll have the European Championships as well. So, it'll be a great indicator for me,” he shared.
Working tirelessly under the watchful eyes of decorated coach Mills, Hughes, a four-time European Champion, has upped the ante in the gym to improve his strength, as he is leaving no stone unturned in his quest for Olympic glory.
“My training has been going tremendously well. I'm excited to open up properly (at Racers Grand Prix) because my first race wasn't so good because I had a little niggle, but I've overcome that now and I'm very excited to see what's there. I've worked on my strength a lot, physically, I'm a lot stronger and I just want to keep on top of my mental health as well,” Hughes revealed.
“Those things are very crucial going into an Olympic year, so you have to be very focused. You have to ensure that your body is properly fit as well in order to go there to give the best that you're looking for. So, I'm pretty sharp on keeping my mental focus up and ensuring that I'm properly recovered,” he ended.
SportsMax is the Caribbean sports channel of choice, committed to providing sporting content of the highest quality to the Caribbean, delivered by a team of highly innovative, passionate and qualified professionals.
(876) 619-7629
digitalmedia@sportsmax.tv
