Despite our dominance at the recent Carifta Games, there have been unreasonable cries from certain quarters that we need to get our act together because we were outperformed by Bahamas in the sprints.

"For me, it says our sprint coaches need to start looking at what they are doing because we were outrun by The Bahamas," said head coach Michael Vassell, following the event.

I think Vassell and many other loyal Jamaica fans, who are worried, are pressing the panic button a bit too early, there is definitely no need to panic. Yes, we were outperformed by The Bahamas in the sprints as only Shauna Helps, in the girls' Under-17 100 metres, Yanique McNeil in the girls' Under-17 400 metres, and Jahzeel Murphy in the boys' Under-20 100 metres won any of the 100, 200 and 400 metres for Jamaica.

injuries

However, while The Bahamas should be commended for their fine performances, there are many reasons we were not able to dominate those events. The fact is that the team was not at its best, mainly due to injuries to key athletes who did not make the trip.

Remember that Helps, who won the 100 metres, could easily have taken the sprint double as she is our best in that event. At the Carifta Trials, however, she only competed in the 100 metres and therefore could not do the 200m at the Games.

Our senior boys like Odean Skeen and Julian Forte were absent, while our top females Christania Williams, Chris-Ann Gordon and Deandre Whithorn were all missing from the 100 and 400 metres events. If the above athletes were present, things could have been different despite the quality of The Bahamas and young Strachan, who was brilliant.

non-traditional events

It is so strange that a couple of years ago some of these same people who were blasting the poor performances of the middle distance and field events are now blasting the sprints. It was a welcome sight to see our fine progress in the non-traditional events as it shows that the authorities have done their best to develop a more complete team. That is good thing for upcoming athletes who will realise that there is hope in other events outside of sprints. Gone are the days when everyone thought that if they did not compete in the sprints at trials, they could not make the team and coaches like Julian Robinson of Calabar, Marlon Gayle of Edwin Allen and Vassell himself, along with Dean Tomlin of Bellefield and Milton Brown of St Elizabeth Technical, have done some fine work in the middle-distance and throwing events.

It must also be noted that the Bahamas athletes do not have a vigorous and competitive championships like we have and their athletes were well rested going into the Carifta Games. Come this summer when all the attention is on the World Junior Championships, in Barcelona, Spain, Jamaica juniors will prove who are the kings and queens of sprinting in the Caribbean.

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