One of track and field’s most exciting young multi-discipline talents, Roshawn Clarke, is making a bold change of pace at Jamaica’s 2024 National Junior and Senior Championships. The 21-year-old Swept Track Club athlete, who holds the global World Under-20 record in the 400m hurdles—his signature event—has opted to sit out his specialist race this year to test his speed over the 200m distance.
Clarke’s career to date has already marked him as one of Jamaica’s brightest rising stars. He claimed a bronze medal at the 2022 World Under-20 Championships in the 400m hurdles, followed by a fourth-place finish at the senior World Athletics Championships in 2023. His personal best of 47.34 seconds in the event stands as the fastest time ever recorded by a Jamaican hurdler, making his choice to skip the national 400m hurdles field all the more surprising.
In comments after his 200m semi-final run, Clarke explained that the strategic shift was planned months in advance, in coordination with his coaching team. “Me and coach, we have been communicating about this season from the end of last season,” he said. “We just want to try something new, have a little bit of fun. Getting our body recovered from the hurdles. Over the years, we’ve been doing hurdles, you know, 400m hurdles takes a lot out of the body. So, we’re just trying to experience something new.”
Far from being an entirely new challenge for the versatile athlete, a return to short sprints is actually a homecoming. Before specializing in hurdles, Clarke cut his teeth as a flat sprinter, and his range of personal bests across distances confirms his all-round talent: 10.46 seconds for the 100m, 20.41 seconds for the 200m, 44.98 seconds for the 400m flat, and 6.62 seconds for the 60m indoor sprint. He has also represented Jamaica at the international level in both the men’s 4x400m and mixed 4x400m relays, adding further to his decorated resume.
Clarke originally considered contesting the 400m flat at this year’s national championships, but adjusted his plans after inconsistent training results early in the season. “I wanted to do it at this year’s championship, but it wasn’t connecting because earlier in the season I was so fast and then carrying it over into the 400m, I wasn’t getting the best execution,” he explained. “So, we just follow through with that and go for the 200m.”
In his 200m semi-final, Clarke delivered a promising performance to secure his place in the event final. Running into a stiff headwind of -2.9 m/s, he crossed the line second in 20.63 seconds, behind World Championships relay medalist Christopher Taylor, who clocked 20.49 seconds to take the top spot in the heat. Clarke held the lead coming off the final curve before easing off the gas slightly in the final 80m, a strategic choice that he said left him comfortable with his second-place seeding for the final.
“I came off the curve in the lead. I was just conserving a bit because we both planned the race before we ran. So, he [my coach] said I should check for my competitors at 80m,” Clarke recalled. “I didn’t see him [Taylor]. So, actually, I came off the turn, and I didn’t anybody. So, I tend to step off the gas a little bit and then I see him come by and I’m like, okay, he’s here. So, I went through for a second. So, it’s nothing that I couldn’t manage.”
Entering the 200m final with the second-fastest qualifying time, Clarke has already proven he can hold his own against Jamaica’s elite sprinters. Analysts and fans alike are now watching closely to see if the decorated hurdler can pull off an unlikely national title in his new event, capping off his experimental season with a historic win.