Reporting By Gary Smith
Rising sprint star Daniel Bailey said he wants to put Antigua’s name prominently on the world athletics map.
While there has been significant improvement over the last few years in the country’s profile, the Olympic quarter-finalist is still a bit concerned with the overall status.
"I am tired of seeing my country down (on the athletics map)," Antigua’s national sprint record holder said.
"Jamaica has been doing it (winning medals), Trinidad and the Bahamas have be doing it also, so why can’t Antigua do it? I am going to try and bring (the country) up to the top and let the world know what Antigua is and how small it is."
Bailey also had an impressive brief indoor season where he posted a national record of 6.54 seconds twice, for the 60 metres dash.
His performance bettered the 6.57 seconds previously held by Brendan Christian who held the previous Antiguan 100 metres record at 10.11 seconds before Bailey lowered the mark.
Bailey said he is hoping to leave his mark at the upcoming World Championships in Berlin in August.
"I am looking for to making the finals (in Berlin). That’s the aim and anything can happen after that," said Bailey, who opened his Golden League campaign with a convincing win on the same track earlier this month.
"The track is fast, bouncy and has some speed under it so I am looking forward to running here again."
Bailey has benefited from training with Jamaican World record holder Usain Bolt at the Racers Track Club in Kingston, which saw him improving his 100 metres best to 9.99 seconds in a fine run last month.
Apart from his personal best which is the third fastest wind-legal timing this season, Bailey has also produced two other times faster than 10.05 seconds and a wind assisted 9.93 seconds in Jamaica at the start of the season.
Reporting by Gary Smith
