Russell-Love sees strong hurdling future
ATWO-YEAR wave of record breaking has 1998 Commonwealth champion Gillian Russell-Love feeling optimistic about Jamaica’s future in the sprint hurdles. She believes that the records indicate great potential. However, Russell-Love says the transition to the senior ranks can be tricky.
All seven of the Boys and Girls Championships sprint hurdle records and the national senior 110 metre hurdles marks have fallen in the last two years.
“Certainly, based on the records that have been broken, I expect us to; especially on the men’s side, to maybe make some more breakthroughs like we have done with Omar (McLeod)”, she said with reference to Olympic and World 110-metre hurdles champion Omar McLeod.
Adding a note on Olympic, World and Commonwealth medal winner Hansle Parchment, she added, “Hansle’s been in there and everything and I think we will still be able to produce those high calibre and on the women’s side as well.”
Gabrielle McDonald, Britany Anderson, Crystal Morrison and Danae Nembhard cleaned the records in all classes last year and DéJour Russell, Vashaun Vascianni and Neil Sutherland dusted the boys’ class one, two and three standards this year.
RECORD DIDNT LAST
Anderson’s 2017 record didn’t last, as it was cut at the ISSA GraceKennedy Boys and Girls’ Athletics Championships in March from 13.04 seconds to 12.95 by Ray-Donna Lee of Hydel High.
McLeod joined the record rampage at the National Senior Championships last year with a 110-metre hurdles mark of 12.90 seconds. That elevated him to fifth fastest of all time.
The 1995 World 100 metre hurdles finalist said today’s record breakers will find it harder to reach the top.
“It’s not just, ‘okay, they did well at Champs and it translates,’” she postulated. “It seemed to a lot easier for us when we came through,” she recalled of the era when Michelle Freeman, Russell herself, Lacena Golding and Brigitte Foster-Hylton won Commonwealth gold medals in 1994, 1998, 2002 and 2006 and others like the excellent trio of Dionne Rose, Delloreen EnnisLondon and Vonette Dixon all made their mark.
“It was like automatic, mostly on the women’s side anyway, and it’s gotten a lot more difficult”, she compared. “This all boils down to environment where they go, the support that’s there or not.”
Russell-Love, who won a silver behind Freeman at the 1997 World Indoor Championships, however, acknowledged that the speedy youngsters are bright hopes for the future.
“We have a nice pipeline of people coming through and we’ll continue to do very well in that event,” Russell-Love noted.
“Certainly, based on the records that have been broken, I expect us to; especially on the men’s side, to maybe make some more breakthroughs like we have done with Omar (McLeod)”