Blake, Forbes headline World Indoor team
ACKEEM BLAKE and Shashalee Forbes are set to headline Jamaica’s 23-member squad for the March 1-3 World Athletics Indoor Championships in Glasgow, Scotland. The team will be competing at the three-day championships which is set to start next Friday.
Blake has started off his 2024 season in brilliant form in the men’s 60m and will be one of the event’s headliners.
He is currently ranked third in the world over the distance with an indoor season’s best of 6.45 seconds behind the American pair of Noah Lyles 6.43 and Christian Coleman 6.44. Blake will be the only Jamaican in the event.
On the women’s side, Forbes leads the way after her best time this season, 7.03, sees her ranked as the fastest Jamaican over 60m this year, as well as fifth fastest in the world.
Alongside her in the women’s 60m will be Briana Williams. Williams has seen a return to form this season, and her time of 7.11 at the Queen’s/Grace Jackson meet has been her fastest time in the event since 2022.
Megan Tapper will compete in the women’s 60m hurdles while the pair of Tyler Mason and Damion Thomas will vie for the men’s title.
Stacey-Ann Williams and Cherokee Young will be competing in the women’s 400m while Rusheen McDonald will be Jamaica’s lone competitor in the men’s event.
Williams and Young will also be joined by Junelle Bromfield, Stephenie-Ann McPherson, Andrenette Knight, Leah Anderson and Lanae-Tava Thomas to complete the pool for the women’s 4x400m.
Jamaica will be well represented in the jumps as 2019 world champion Tajay Gayle will be joined by Carey McLeod. Gayle and McLeod have been enjoying stellar starts to their 2024 seasons with both athletes ranked in the world’s top 10 so far.
McLeod’s jump of 8.20m puts him fifth on the global list while Gayle’s mark of 8.15m sees him ranked 10th.
Tissana Hickling will be opening her 2024 season in the women’s long jump while Kimberly Williams will be competing in the women’s triple jump.
Indoor and outdoor national record holder Natoya Goule-Toppin will be opening her season in the women’s 800m while Danniel Thomas-Dodd and Rajindra Campbell complete the list the women’s and men’s shot put respectively.
The team will be led by a coaching contingent of Reynaldo Walcott, Paul Francis, Orville Byfield and Mark Elliott with Dr Warren Blake as the team’s manager.