分类： sports

SEATTLE, Wash. – Co-host nation the United States has booked its place in the FIFA World Cup knockout stage one match ahead of the end of group play, turning in a polished 2-0 performance against Australia on Friday that has ramped up already soaring expectations among the home fanbase. The U.S. becomes the second co-host, following Mexico, to secure progression out of the group stage, and could lock in first place in Group D should Turkey drop points against Paraguay later the same day.

Buoyed by a dominant opening win over Paraguay the previous week, American anticipation for the clash had been building for days. The sunny matchday in the Pacific Northwest delivered every bit of the excitement the thousands of red-and-white clad fans packed into Lumen Field – and the crowds that spilled out into surrounding streets and sports bars – had hoped for. Long known as the home of the NFL’s championship-winning Seattle Seahawks and a longstanding hotbed for club soccer via the MLS Seattle Sounders, the venue shook with pre-kickoff chants of “USA” long before the first whistle.

Missing star winger Christian Pulisic, who was unable to recover from a nagging calf injury in time for the fixture, head coach Mauricio Pochettino adjusted his tactics, shifting to a 4-4-2 formation and bringing in second striker Ricardo Pepi to fill the gap in the attack. For the second consecutive match, the U.S. grabbed an early opening goal, this time from an 11th-minute Australian own goal. Star American striker Folarin Balogun made a run down the left flank, cutting a low pass back across the goal line from the byline. Under heavy pressure from the waiting Pepi, Australian defender Cameron Burgess accidentally redirected the ball into his own net to put the U.S. up 1-0.

Australia, who surprisingly opted to leave both of their goalscorers from the opening upset win over Turkey on the bench to start the match, struggled to create meaningful attacking opportunities for most of the first half. The U.S. dominated possession and looked sharp on the break, with midfielders Weston McKennie and fullback Sergino Dest building consistent dangerous chemistry down the right wing. The Americans doubled their lead in the 44th minute on what was actually their first on-target shot of the entire match.

Taking a right-sided free kick near the byline, Antonee Robinson passed up the crowded penalty box to find an unmarked Dest at the top of the 18-yard box. Dest’s initial shot was blocked and looped high into the air, where young midfielder Alex Freeman – the son of former Super Bowl-winning NFL wide receiver Antonio Freeman – rose first to nod a header past Australian goalkeeper Patrick Beach. The offside flag initially went up to rule the goal out, but a VAR review overturned the call, sending the home crowd into a second celebration of the half.

Australia made three halftime substitutions, bringing on Connor Metcalfe and Nestory Irankunda – the two goalscorers from their opening win against Turkey – and pushed their defensive line higher to press for an equalizer. The move nearly backfired immediately, when Balogun broke through on a through ball for a one-on-one chance, only to miscontrol his touch and see his shot blocked by a recovering defender. Australia’s clearest chance of the match came in the 62nd minute: attacking playmaker Cristian Volpato, who switched his international allegiance from Italy to Australia just before the tournament began, skied his shot over the bar after a perfect cutback pass from Irankunda.

As the U.S. dropped back to protect their lead in the final 20 minutes, Australia turned up the pressure: Metcalfe saw a long-range shot saved by U.S. goalkeeper Matt Turner, Irankunda was fouled by U.S. center back Chris Richards while breaking into the box, and defender Jason Geria had a close-range effort blocked by a last-ditch American tackle, making for a tense closing stretch for the home side. Despite late scuffles between players from both teams, the U.S. held firm to secure a clean sheet and all three points.

The result means the U.S. can enter their final group stage match against Turkey next Thursday with no pressure, already guaranteed a spot in the round of 32. With the advantage of playing on home soil and two strong wins to open the tournament, U.S. supporters are already daring to dream of a deep run, with the team targeting a spot in the quarter-finals – a stage the country hasn’t reached since 2002 – and potentially further.

KINGSTON, Jamaica — On a warm Friday evening at Kingston’s iconic National Stadium, Shericka Jackson delivered a masterclass in competitive running to secure the women’s 100m crown at the Jamaica Athletics Administrative Association’s annual national championships, clocking a well-calibrated season-best time of 10.81 seconds against a gentle -0.3m/s headwind.

Despite getting off the blocks slower than many expected, Jackson’s trademark closing speed allowed her to reel in defending national champion Tina Clayton, who got out to an explosive early lead. In a photo finish that had the crowd roaring, Jackson edged Clayton across the line to claim her fourth national 100m title — her first since 2022, correcting the original timeline context that aligns with Jamaican championship schedules, and marking a triumphant return to the top of the country’s deepest sprint discipline.

Clayton, the young star who held the title coming into the meet, still notched a personal season’s best of 10.85 seconds to take home second place. Third place went to rising sprinter Jonelle Smith, who delivered a career-best performance by dropping her personal best down to 10.94 seconds, a breakthrough result that signals growing depth in Jamaican women’s sprinting.

Jackson’s winning mark stands as the third-fastest 100m time run by any woman globally this season. It trails only the 10.63 seconds clocked by Adaejah Hodge of the British Virgin Islands and the 10.80 seconds recorded by fellow Jamaican sprinter Shenese Walker. Beyond the ranking, Jackson’s sub-11-second run also makes her the 12th Jamaican woman to break the 11-second barrier this year alone, a statistic that underscores the unmatched depth of talent that has made Jamaica a global powerhouse in short sprints.

Reporting by Paul A Reid

On the third day of Jamaica’s premier domestic track and field competition, the JAAA national championships held at Kingston’s National Stadium, Ackelia Smith etched her name into the event’s history books by securing a rare and impressive double victory. Fresh off securing her fourth senior national long jump title just two days prior on Thursday, the Jamaican jumper turned her attention to the triple jump on Saturday and delivered another standout performance to claim the top spot.

Smith landed a best leap of 13.95 meters with a legal tailwind of 2.0 meters per second, which earned her the first senior national triple jump crown of her career. The victory also reinforced her position as one of Jamaica’s top jumpers heading into the upcoming 2022 Commonwealth Games, a qualification she locked in earlier in the week after posting a 6.81-meter winning jump in the long jump.

While the women’s triple jump field only featured four registered competitors, a noticeably small size for a national championship final, the competition more than made up for low numbers with high quality performance across the board. Jade-Ann Dawkins, a former standout athlete from St Jago High School now competing for Kansas State University, took the second spot on the podium with a 13.67-meter jump, recorded with a 0.9m/s wind.

Rounding out the top three was Shantae Foreman, the reigning NCAA champion representing Clemson University, who posted a wind-aided mark of 13.49 meters with a 5.0m/s tailwind that pushed the jump outside of the legal record range. The fourth and final spot went to Texas A&M University’s Machaeda Linton, who also recorded a wind-aided result of 13.11 meters with a 4.0m/s wind.

Smith’s rare double win cements her status as one of Jamaica’s most consistent and versatile jumpers heading into the international championship circuit, with the Commonwealth Games set to be her next major test on the global stage.

On a charged Friday evening at Kingston’s National Stadium, newly crowned world champion Oblique Seville delivered a career-defining performance to claim his first Jamaican national 100m title, clocking a blistering 9.82 seconds with a legal 0.6 m/s tailwind that pushes him to the top of the 2025 global rankings.

Seville arrived at the Jamaica Athletics Administrative Association (JAAA) National Championships already in exceptional form, having wrapped up his semi-final heat earlier in the day with a solid 9.95-second run. That momentum carried into the final, where he left the rest of the elite field in his wake. Behind Seville, 19-year-old rising star Gary Card turned in a shockingly fast run to take second place in 9.93 seconds, a new Jamaican under-20 national record that rewrote the country’s junior record books.

Rounding out the podium was Ackeem Blake, who crossed the line third with a competitive season’s best time of 9.94 seconds, proving the depth of sprinting talent Jamaica continues to produce. Seville’s 9.82-second mark topples the previous world-leading time of 9.84 seconds set by Nigerian-American collegiate sprinter Kayinsola Ajayo, who earned that ranking after winning the NCAA Division 1 Outdoor Championships just weeks ago.

For Card, his 9.93-second run does more than just earn him a silver medal at the national level: it breaks the previous Jamaican junior record of 9.99 seconds set by Bouwahjgie Nkrumie back in 2023. It also ties him for the third-fastest under-20 100m time in history, level with American sprinter Christian Miller. To date, the global under-20 record remains held by Botswana’s sprint star Letsile Tebogo, who ran 9.91 seconds back in 2022, with American Maurice Gleaton holding the second spot with a 9.92-second run set earlier this year.

KINGSTON, Jamaica — On the third day of the Jamaica Athletics Administrative Association (JAAA) National Championships held at Kingston’s iconic National Stadium, former world long jump champion Tajay Gayle delivered a standout performance to secure his first national men’s long jump title in three years. Competing in Saturday’s final, the Jamaican star notched a season-best leap of 8.37 meters with a legal wind assistance of 1.6 meters per second, a result that has immediately lifted his standing in global long jump rankings. This winning mark catapults Gayle into a tie for seventh place in the world rankings, arriving at a critical juncture as athletes around the globe battle for limited qualifying spots at the sport’s highly anticipated inaugural World Athletics Ultimate Championships. Alongside his winning legal jump, Gayle also recorded an 8.31-meter effort that fell outside wind allowance rules, with a reading of 2.6 meters per second behind that attempt. He outpaced the rest of a competitive field to take the top spot on the podium, with Louisiana State University’s Jordan Turner claiming second place after hitting a wind-aided 8.22 meters (3.2 m/s). Rounding out the top three was Nikaoli Williams, who registered a wind-assisted 7.89-meter jump with a 2.3 m/s wind reading. The victory marks a key turning point for Gayle, who had not claimed a national title since 2021, and signals that he is finding top form at the right time ahead of the upcoming global championship event.

KINGSTON, Jamaica — In a story of persistence that culminated in long-awaited victory, Lloydricia Cameron secured her first-ever Jamaican national women’s shot put title Saturday at Kingston’s iconic National Stadium, breaking a six-year streak of second-place finishes at the country’s top track and field competition.

Competing at the Jamaica Athletics Administrative Association (JAAA) National Championships, Cameron delivered a winning throw of 17.57 meters to claim the gold medal, outperforming a field of young, rising talent from top collegiate programs across the United States. The hard-fought win marks a career milestone for the thrower, who has finished as runner-up at every national championship dating back to 2019, each time falling short of the top spot behind national record holder Danniel Thomas-Dodd.

Born in the United States and a former athlete for the University of Florida, Cameron now trains full-time in Kingston as she builds toward major international competitions later this year. Among her upcoming goals is improving on her fourth-place finish at the 2022 Birmingham Commonwealth Games, a result that already cemented her status as one of the region’s top shot put talents.

In the final standings of Saturday’s competition, Kimeka Smith, a representative of Clemson University, took home the silver medal with a best throw of 16.03 meters. Rounding out the top three was Britannie Johnson of Purdue University, who claimed bronze with a throw of 15.55 meters.

KINGSTON, Jamaica — The Jamaican Athletics Administrative Association (JAAA) National Championships delivered exciting semi-final action in the men’s and women’s 200-meter events on Saturday, with defending women’s champion Ashanti Moore and 2023 men’s runner-up Christopher Taylor emerging as the top athletes to advance to the upcoming final.

Moore, who already secured a spot in the women’s 100-meter final a day earlier, delivered a dominant performance to win her semi-final heat, crossing the finish line in 22.88 seconds against a -1.2 meters per second headwind. Behind her in the same heat, Lavanya Williams clocked a new personal best of 23.06 seconds, while Jodean Williams notched a 23.05-second season’s best to also move on to the final.

In the second women’s semi-final, contested into a much stronger -4.0 m/s headwind, Alana Reid finished second in 23.74 seconds, and Niesha Burgher took third in 23.82 seconds, both earning their places in the final round.

On the men’s side, Taylor turned in a standout showing to win his semi-final, posting a new 2024 season’s best time of 20.49 seconds despite a challenging -2.9 m/s headwind. He outpaced Roshawn Clark, a former national 400-meter hurdles champion, who finished second in the heat with a solid 20.63-second run to claim his spot in the final.

Other men’s athletes advancing to the 200m final include Jevaughn Powell, who topped the first round of qualifying earlier in the competition and notched a 20.73-second run in the semi-finals against a -4.5 m/s headwind, Adrian Kerr, who finished just behind Powell in 20.76 seconds in the same heat, and Kadrian Goldson, who sealed his spot with a 21.00-second run against a -4.0 m/s headwind. The 200m final is scheduled to take place in the coming days of the national championships, where athletes will compete for Jamaican national titles and qualifying spots for upcoming international competitions.