Seville set for first national 100m title

TOKYO World Athletics Championships 100 metres champion Oblique Seville looks primed to capture his first national title when the men's 100 metres final gets under way on Friday at 9 p.m. at the JAAA/Puma National Senior and Junior Championships at the National Stadium.

The top three finishers will book their tickets to the July 23 to August 2 Commonwealth Games in Glasgow, Scotland. A new men's 100m champion will be crowned as back-to-back winner Kishane Thompson is out due to injury. Also sidelined through injury is Bryan Levell, the fastest Jamaican man in the event this season with 9.90 seconds.

Seville, who was second a year ago before going on to upstage Thompson in Tokyo, will be hard to beat. With Levell out, he is the leader in the event now with 9.96 achieved when he won in his first race of the season at a JAAA/Puma meet at the National Stadium.

Despite coming off a third-place finish in a wind-aided 9.91 behind the United States' Trayvon Bromell and Canada's Andre De Grasse at the Lone Star USATF Grand Prix in Texas,  he looks set to bounce back to winning ways.

With the absence of Thompson and Levell, it is wide open for the next two spots. Akeem Blake,  who has been very consistent in recent years, and Kadrian Goldson both have season-best times of 9.99 and look the likely candidates to battle for second place.

However, 2024 champion Rohan Watson, with a season's best 10.07, top junior athlete Gary Card, the collegiate champion at the Penn Relays in Philadelphia with a personal best 10.03, along with national junior record holder Bouwahjgie Nkrumie, Odaine McPherson, and Sandrey Davison should all be in the mix.