KINGSTON — Talented young sprinter Oblique Seville isn’t getting carried away with his recent sub-10 seconds performance and remains a hard worker in training as he targets a spot on Jamaica’s team at this year’s World Athletics Championships 2022, according to his coach Glen Mills.
Seville flashed to an impressive 9.86 seconds personal best to win the men’s 100m at the JAAA/SDF Jubilee Series meeting in Kingston on May 21 to sit joint second-fastest man in the world this year.
The 21-year-old is Jamaica’s top male sprinter this season and heads into the National Championships as the favorite to win the 100m. Read more: Oblique Seville can run faster than 9.86, says coach Glen Mills
However, Mills said the Tokyo Olympian remains very calm and focused in his attempt to secure a spot on back-to-back Jamaican teams at major championships.
No pressure on Oblique Seville to run fast
“There is no pressure on him because the objective is the same. Trying to make the team to the World Championships, and that was his objective from the beginning of the season,” Mills said in The Jamaica Gleaner.
Seville clocked a then-personal best of 10.04 seconds to finish third at last year’s Jamaica national championships to secure a spot on his first Olympic team. He went on to match that PB in the heats in Tokyo before finishing fourth in his semi-final and missed out on racing in the medal race.
Seville, who has also clocked 10.00 seconds this season, has been making steady progress this year, and Mills, the man who guided Usain Bolt to the 100m and 200m world records and multiple Olympic and world titles, revealed that his athlete’s targets remain simple.
“He made the Olympic team the last time, and so it is only natural that he would look forward to continuing making national teams – all being well,” he said.
“He hasn’t changed, and he has no reason to because the time is what it is. It is not like he won the World Championships gold medal or the Olympics. It is that he just ran a fast time, and that’s it,” Mills added in The Jamaica Gleaner.
Seville heads into the 2022 national championships as one of only three Jamaicans who have run under 10 seconds this year.
He is joined on that list by Ackeem Blake, who recently clocked 9.95 seconds when finishing second to American world champion Christian Coleman at the 2022 USATF New York Grand Prix at Icahn Stadium on Randalls Island in New York City on Sunday (12).
NCAA Indoor Championships 60m champion Davonte Burnett is the other Jamaican who has gone under 10 seconds for the 100m this year after clocking 9.99 secs at Mt. SAC Relays 2022 in Walnut, California, on 16 April.
Meanwhile, only Kenya sprinter Ferdinand Omanyala, who clocked 9.85 seconds in Nairobi, on May 7, has run faster than Seville this season, while American Micah Williams has also posted a time of 9.86 secs for the 100m.
