The Jamaica-born duo of Stacey-Ann Williams and Charokee Young finished first and second for their respective universities in the women’s 400m at the Texas vs Texas A&M Dual track meet on Saturday.

Williams, the former ST Elizabeth Technical athlete, now competing for Texas, crossed the line first in a time of 51.24, comfortably ahead of Young who finished in 51.52 for Texas A&M.  Syaira Richardson, also of Texas A&M was third in 52.17.

In the women’s 100m, former Edwin Allen star Kevona Davis clocked 11.35 but had to settle for second place behind Texas teammate Kynnedy Flannel who took the top spot in 11.23.  Texas A&M’s Kaylah Robinson was third in 11.69.

At the same event, O’Brien Wasome, formerly of Jamaica College, took the top spot in the men’s triple jump.  Competing for Texas, Wasome recorded a distance of 15.83m, comfortably ahead of CJ Stevenson who was second with 15.19, and teammate Stacy Brown Jr who was third with 14.65m.

In the women’s high jump, the day belonged to Trinidad and Tobago jumper Tyra Gittens who leapt 1.90m to claim the top spot for Texas A&M.  Texas’ Marlene Guerrero was second with 1.73 and her teammate Trinity Tomlinson third with the same height.

A week after winning the triple jump competition at the Florida State Relays, Florida senior Clayton Brown won the high jump at the 2021 Florida Relays earlier today.

The 23-year-old former Jamaica College jumper cleared 2.23m to withstand the challenge of USC senior Ernie Sears who also cleared 2.23 but awarded second on the countback.

Jordan Wesner, a senior of Florida State was third with 2.20m.

Brown's was the ninth-best clearance in the world this year.

On March 26, Brown had produced a season-best 16.57m to win the triple jump.

The meet continues tomorrow.

Oregon’s Kemba Nelson continued to demonstrate how rapid progress at Oregon on Saturday when she ran a windy 22.79 over 200m to win at the 42^nd Annual Aztec Invitational in San Diego, California.

Jasmine Camacho-Quinn was shocked at the time she ran to win the 200m at the Florida Invitational “Pro Addition” meeting on Saturday.

Damion Thomas and Sparkle McKnight were winners on Saturday’s final day of the 93^rd Clyde Littlefield Texas Relays held at the Mike A. Myers Stadium in Austin, Texas.

Tennessee freshman Rasheeme Griffith ran a personal best time to win the 400m hurdles at the FSU Relays on Friday.

The 2021 Gibson/McCook Relays that was scheduled for March 27, have been cancelled.

The decision to cancel this year’s event was made at a meeting of the Gibson Relays Organizing Committee on Wednesday. They cited the “catastrophic rise” in the number of Covid-19 cases in the country in recent weeks.

Since its inaugural staging in 1973, the Relays were previously cancelled on four occasions - 1983, 1997, 1999 and 2002.

The news will be a blow to Jamaica’s track and field athletes many of whom are preparing for the Olympic Games in July as well as the Carifta Games and World U20 Championships in August as it follows on the heels of the Jamaican government’s decision to withdraw approval for the hosting of the Central Athletics Championships and Eastern Athletics Champions in the past few days.

The organizers said they are optimistic the Relays will resume next year.

“We look forward to hosting this event in 2022. Thanks to our many sponsors and other stakeholders for their continued support of this 48-year-old event which was planning its 45th staging.  Since its inaugural staging in 1973, the Relays were previously cancelled on four occasions (1983, 1997, 1999 and 2002).

“The Gibson McCook Relays Organizing Committee regret this decision but feel certain that fans of track and field in general and GMR fans will understand and support this decision.

“We would like to extend our condolences to the families of those who have lost loved ones and we empathize with those who are suffering from COVID-19. We implore all Jamaicans to follow the necessary protocols in order to stay safe and finally, we encourage the taking of the vaccine which will help to prevent further spread and hasten our return to a level of normality.”

Track and Field News on Sunday named Texas A&M’s Tyra Gittens Collegiate Athlete of the Year.

She is also on the Bowerman Watch List. The Bowerman is an annual track and field award that is the highest accolade given to the year's best student-athlete in American collegiate track and field by the U.S. Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association (USTFCCCA).

She believes the accolades are the fruits of hard work.

“Winning Athlete of the Year and staying on the Bowerman Watch List has been rewarding. It’s been a product of hard work and it's exciting, it’s motivating. It makes me want to continue to work hard. I am very honoured, I’m very grateful and I can’t wait to see what I can produce for the rest of the season,” she said.

The Trinidadian multi-event athlete recorded one of the best performances in collegiate history two weeks ago when she won the NCAA championship in the pentathlon and high jump and was third in the long jump to score 26 points.

The 26-point performance is the third-most all-time at an NCAA Championship meet where she also became the first woman to win national championships in the pentathlon and high jump in the same meet.

Gittens also set a collegiate record in the pentathlon with a winning score of 4,746 setting school records in the pentathlon, high jump (1.93m/6-4) and long jump (6.68m/21-11).

She also scored 23 points at the SEC Championships winning the high jump and long jump titles, while finishing sixth in the pentathlon.

She received the Cliff Harper Award for being the top point scorer.

She said self-belief enabled her turnaround from finishing sixth at the SEC Championships to breaking the collegiate pentathlon record two weeks later.

“I was very proud of myself! I trusted myself, I took a chance, and I had confidence in myself,” she said.

“I was not surprised though. Knowing how my training and my season has been going I knew I was going to have a good meet. I’m happy with how I executed everything I wanted to. I’m happy I was in control of my emotions and I’m happy I trusted myself enough to take a chance. It’s a great way to end the indoor season.”

The USTFCCCA also named Gittens National Field Athlete of the Year.

Janeek Brown, the 2019 NCAA 100m hurdles champion, has joined MVP International at the Florida base camp, the club announced today.

Following his world-leading 100-metre time set at the Tropical Elite Sprints Meet in Miami on Saturday, Antigua and Barbuda's CejHae Greene said he did not expect to go so fast so early.

He did say, however, that he intends to go a bit faster over the course of the season as the Olympic Games draw nearer.

Also at the meet held at the Tropical Park Stadium, Jamaica’s Akeem Bloomfield and Natalliah Whyte, Greene’s MVP International training partners, enjoyed impressive wins over 200m.

The 25-year-old Greene was second in his preliminary round heat in 10.27 behind the USA’s World Championship 400m medalist, Fred Kerley, who won in 10.15. However, he managed to turn the tables on his more celebrated American rival in the final, winning in 10.01.

Kerley was second in 10.11, the third-fastest time in the world this year, while Jeremy Bascomb was third in 10.51.

Greene said the time came as a bit of a shock.

“I was surprised to see 10.01 show up on the clock but coach been saying I am in good shape, I have been training well so once I executed a good race I should run fairly fast, but in my head, fairly fast meant 10.1/10.2, so it just shows that if you listen to your coach and do what you have been doing in practice you should be fine,” said Greene, who ran with a trailing wind of 1.2m/s.

He revealed that having Fred Kerley in the race also played its part in his fast season-opener that bumped China’s Bingtian Su’s 10.05 that was run earlier Saturday, from the top spot.

“Fred’s presence made me have to focus a little bit more because we all know Fred is fast so it kind of forced me to compete at a higher level,” Greene said.

“Fred’s presence really changed the game because I knew I had to execute a really good race because Fred is fast and he is strong, he is one of the best 400m athletes in the world so I know I had to execute the start very well to win the race.”

Realistically, it should not have been that much of a surprise for the 2016 Olympian given how well he says he has been training at MVP International’s base camp in Florida. He said the competitive nature of training has helped him bring out his best.

“My training group definitely helped me push a little harder this year. Being alongside Akeem Bloomfield, Nathon Allen and Teray Smith each day at practice, it gets really competitive and we push each other and we go at it. Every day is like a race so I think that really helped me to push myself to be in a lot better shape this early,” he said while revealing that he intends to dip below 10 seconds in time for the Olympic Games this summer.

“The goal is to go sub-10 and once we keep healthy and keep listening to the coach and keep executing races, getting race sharp, that should happen. So my goal is to keep improving each week in practice, stay healthy and go on to the Olympics and do great things.”

He said he is likely to race next in Clermont on April 4, where he could be running the 200m.

“I want to improve my 200 times. I know once I can improve over the 200m it should translate pretty good into the 100 so I’ll probably give it a shot down there.”

Bloomfield was also impressive at the meet seemingly exerting relatively little effort in winning the 200m in 20.75 over Teray Smith (20.90) and Zaza Wellington (21.05), respectively.

In the women’s event, Whyte, a sprint relay gold medalist at the 2019 World Championships in Doha, was the fastest Jamaican in the world with her winning time of 22.88.

In the time trial, Angela Tenorio was second-best in 23.06 while Ashley Kelly was third in 24.18.

Tokyo 2020 organisers have announced spectators will not be allowed to travel from overseas to watch the Olympic Games this year.

The measure has been taken as part of an effort to reduce the risks of COVID-19 spreading at the delayed Games.

The Games will run from July 23 to August 8, having been set back by a year due to the global health crisis.

Also affected will be the Paralympics, which runs from August 24 to September 5, with travelling spectators also barred from attending.

The International Olympic Committee (IOC) and International Paralympic Committee (IPC) have been advised of Tokyo's decision and are said by Games chiefs to "respect and accept this conclusion".

In a statement issued on Twitter, Tokyo 2020 said: "Today, on March 20, we reported to the IOC and IPC that we would not accept overseas spectators to Japan in order to realise a safe and secure event.

"We will continue to do our utmost to make this summer's event a safe and secure event so that it will be a light of hope for people all over the world."

In a further statement, Tokyo 2020 organisers said tickets purchased by those planning to travel from abroad would be refunded.

They said the coronavirus situation within and beyond Japan "remains very challenging" and pointed to travel across borders being "severely restricted", meaning entry to Japan could not be guaranteed.

"In order to give clarity to ticket holders living overseas and to enable them to adjust their travel plans at this stage, the parties on the Japanese side have come to the conclusion that they will not be able to enter into Japan at the time of the Olympic and Paralympic Games," said the Tokyo 2020 statement.

"This conclusion will further contribute to ensure safe and secure Games for all participants and the Japanese public."

Ackera Nugent showed her class on Saturday night, winning the 2021 NCAA Indoor 60-metre hurdles title for Baylor University title on Saturday night.

Oregon’s Kemba Nelson ran a collegiate-leading 7.05 to win the 60m title on the final day of the 2021 NCAA Division I Nationals on Saturday night.

In a final where three Caribbean nations – Jamaica, Antigua and Barbuda and Grenada – were represented, Nelson stormed to victory, pulling away from the stacked field to produce a massive personal best that is both a meet and championship record, eclipsing the 7.07 held jointly by Oregon’s Hannah Cunliffe and LSU Aleia Hobbs.

The time, a school record, was also just 0.03 off the 7.02 facility record set by Tiana Madison (Bartoletta) in 2012.

It was also the second-fastest time in the world this year behind the 7.03 set by Switzerland’s AJla Del Ponte at the recent European Indoor Championships in Torun.

USC’s Twanisha Terry, the pre-race favourite, who went into the final with the fastest time, 7.09, won the silver medal in 7.14s.

It was a Jamaican 1-3 as former Jamaica national junior record holder Kiara Grant took third in 7.16.

Antigua’s Joella Lloyd, who two weeks ago set a new national record of 7.15 was sixth in 7.23 while Grenada’s Halle Hazzard, a senior at Virginia, was eighth on 7.27.

Nelson, 21, attended Mt Alvernia High School in Montego Bay, Jamaica and transferred to Oregon in October 2020, having spent her first three years of college at the University of Technology in Kingston.

In doing so, she became the first Jamaican-born female athlete to attend the University of Oregon, having expressed a desire to compete in NCAA-level athletics.

Having fulfilled her desire, she expressed her delight on Instagram afterwards saying, “What a way to close out the indoor season.”

Damion Thomas ran a collegiate leading 7.51 to win the 60m hurdles at the 2021 NCAA Division I Championships today.

Jamaica’s Carey McLeod jump a personal best in the long jump on Friday to win a bronze medal at the NCAA Division I Championships in Fayetteville, Arkansas Friday night.