KINGSTON, Jamaica — The track at the National Stadium witnessed an extraordinary display of youthful athletic prowess during Tuesday’s preliminary rounds of the ISSA/GraceKennedy Boys’ and Girls’ Athletic Championships. The stage is now set for an electrifying showdown in Wednesday’s Class 1 boys 100m semi-finals and final, following a series of performances that shattered expectations.
The day’s most stunning performance came from Edwin Allen High’s Romario Finnigan, who delivered a massive personal best of 10.19 seconds (1.5m/s wind) to surprise the entire field. His remarkable time established a new benchmark for qualification, with the cutoff for advancing to the next round standing at 10.54 seconds.
In a surprising turn of events, Calabar High’s Jamal Stephenson emerged as the most significant casualty of the preliminaries, failing to complete his first-round heat. Finnigan dominated his race from start to finish, decisively outperforming medal favorite Sanjay Seymore, who trailed considerably behind at 10.47 seconds.
The qualifying rounds revealed exceptional depth in sprint talent, with three athletes breaking the 10.30-second barrier: Holland High’s Johan-Ramaldo Smythe clocked 10.24 seconds (1.0m/s), while both Edwin Allen High’s Kenrick Austin and Excelsior High’s Malike Nugent recorded wind-aided 10.27-second times with 2.3m/s and 2.1m/s winds respectively.
Adding to the impressive performances, Excelsior High’s Riquelme Reid joined six other athletes who achieved sub-10.40-second times, demonstrating the exceptional competitive level across all heats.
The championship action extended beyond Class 1, with St Jago High’s Marquies Page leading Class 2 qualifying with a wind-assisted 10.47 seconds (2.6m/s), ahead of Vere Technical’s Ricardo Mann (10.57s) and Calabar High’s Joshua Ricketts (10.63s). In Class 3, Kingston College’s Kemanic Edwards topped the rankings with 11.06 seconds, followed closely by Wolmer’s Boys Joshua McWilliams at 11.10 seconds.