JAAA /PUMA NATIONAL SENIOR AND JUNIOR CHAMPS The women's 100m will be hot

WHEN the country's top female sprinters line up for the 100 metres final at 8:53 p.m. on Friday's second day of competition at the National Senior and Junior Championships at the National Stadium, fans are in for a treat.

Places will be up for grabs for the Commonwealth Games scheduled for Glasgow, Scotland, July 23 to August 2 and, besides that, there will be a lot of bragging rights at stake. While the likes of Shenese Walker, the newly minted NCAA Outdoor champion, Brianna Lyston and Gabrielle Matthews, who have all gone sub-11 seconds in the event, will be missing, history could be in the making as seven other ladies who have gone sub-11 seconds will face the starter in the preliminary round.

  Defending champion Tina Clayton, who went on to win a silver medal at the Tokyo World Championships, has  a season's best 10.85. Her twin sister, Tia, who failed to finish last year due to injury and has a season's best 10.91, will be hungry for success here and will be seeking to steal the limelight from her sister.

The likes of  two-time World 200m champion Shericka Jackson and double double Olympc sprint champion Elaine Thompson-Herah are very dangerous here. Jackson, who was second a year ago and won the title in 2024, is yet to make her debut in the event this season, but based on her 21.87 seconds at the Diamond League meet in May she looks primed here and, with a good start, could steal the show.

After her fifth-place finish in 2023, Thompson-Herah is back after injury and the fastest woman alive with 10.54 seconds, has shown that she is getting back to good form with a season's best 10.92. If she is at least 90 per cent fit, she will be hard to beat.

Others such as 19-year-old   Sabrina Dockery  with a personal best 10.92 in winning at the  USA TF Lone Star meet  in Texas  a few weeks ago, along with breakout sprint sensation, Lavanya Williams, who has gone 10.95, Jodean Williams with 10.97 and the experienced Jonielle Smith, who recorded her first sub-11 second performance of 10.99 this season, will be hoping to upset the favourites.

The event should have fans on the edge of their seats as something very special looks in store. The recent world-leading 10.63 set by British Virgin Islands athlete Adaejah Hodge to win at the recent National  Collegiate Athletics Association Division 1 Outdoor Championships in Eugene, Oregon, could be in danger as for the first time at the National Championships could witness all eight finalists going sub-11 seconds.