KINGSTON, Jamaica, Sporting Alert – The Starting heat list and event schedule for day 1 of the Jamaica Olympic Trials at the National Stadium in Kingston, on Thursday.
Watch Jamaica Live Streaming Of Olympic Trials | Click Here For Day 1 Starting List
Top Competitors Ready Go
Several Olympic Games hopefuls will be in action on the first day of competition, including Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce, Elaine Thompson, Veronica Campbell-Brown, Kaliese Spencer, Janieve Russell, Usain Bolt, Yohan Blake and Asafa Powell.
The morning session will get underway at 10:00 am CT with the qualifying heats of the men’s 100m dash, which will include athletes who didn’t meet the seeding standard.
There will be six heats contest in the morning session, with the top seven fastest athletes= advancing to the quarter-finals to join the likes of Bolt, Blake and Powell.
Following those qualifying races, the organizers will then publish the quarter-final heats.
The evening session will start at 5:30 pm with the men’s Javelin final and Triple Jump final.
The Olympic standards for these events are 83.00m and 16.85m, respectively.
Is Fraser-Pryce Toe Ready?
Beijing 2008 and London 2012 Olympic 100m champion Fraser-Pryce will race from heat 3 of the women 100m dash and she will come up against former training partner Natasha Morrison, a finalist at the 2015 IAAF World Championships in Beijing.
Former NCAA star Remona Burchell will also race in heat 3.
World Championships 200m silver medallist Elaine Thompson, who trains with Fraser-Pryce at the MVP Track Club, will go in heat 5, with former NAIA and Oklahoma Baptist star sprinter Jura Levy racing from that heat as well.
Veronica Campbell-Brown, who has been in great form this season, will start in heat 4 against Gayon Evans.
Other notable starters for the women’s 100m heats at the Jamaica Olympic Trials on Thursday are veteran Kerron Stewart, the 2008 Olympic 100m silver medallist, Audra Segree, Christania Williams, Schillonie Calvert and Simone Facey.
One well-known absentee from the starting list, though, is 2008 Beijing Olympic silver medallist Sherone Simpson.
Russell Is The One To Beat
The women’s 400m hurdles heats will also get underway on the first day, with Janieve Russell, a strong medal contender leading the way.
The 22-year-old holds the second-fastest time in the event this season with 53.96 seconds and has produced personal best times in her last three outings.
Her main challenges should come from Kaliese Spencer, despite her not enjoying her most productive season thus far, Ristananna Tracey, Rhonda Whyte and Yanique Haye-Smith.
On the men’s side, Roxroy Cato, the fastest Jamaican this season, and the only sub-49 second runner on the turn, will start in heat 1, with junior Jaheel Hyde, Annsert Whyte, Romel Lewis, Leford Green and Isa Phillips also starting in the heats.
The top 2 athletes in each heat, plus the next 2 best times will advance to the final.
Watch Jamaica Live Streaming Of Olympic Trials | Click Here For Day 1 Starting List
Gary Smith is one of the leading writers for World-Track.org. He has over 10 years of running experience, as well as eight-years of coaching while covering several events, from the international to college level. Smith, who has covered events for publications such as Caribbean Net News, Cayman Net News, AFP and Caribbean Media Corporation (CMC), is also a frequent contributor of SportingAlert.com and TrackAlerts.com.
