FACEY
Paul A. Reid, Staff Reporter
WESTERN BUREAU:
JAMAICA'S HOPES for a female sprint gold medal at next month's IAAF World Junior Championships (WJC) in Italy suffered a major blow last night after Champs Class One double gold medal winner and record setter Simone Facey failed to finish her 100m heat at the Supreme Ventures National Senior Championships at the National Stadium.
Facey was wheeled off the track on a stetcher clutching her right leg and appeared to be in a lot of pain.
Minutes after she was wheeled off a concerned looking Dwayne Jarrett, Facey's coach, told The Gleaner they were awaiting word from the doctors but the injury appeared to be a slight strain.
"At this point she has not yet been assessed so we are not sure what the problem is, it would seem to be a slight strain. I hope it is," Jarrett said.
Facey had missed a number of meets including the recent National Junior Championships held at the G.C. Foster College in Spanish Town with an injury but Jarrett said this new one was unrelated. He said she had got a medical exemption for the Junior Championships due to a quad injury while this one was to the back of the thigh.
A fit Facey, who has a gold and silver medal from the last World Junior Championships held here in 2002, is expected to take the 100m gold and lead the defending champion Jamaican 4x100m team. All this is now on hold until the extent of the injury can be assessed.
INJURY
Facey is the second top Jamaican junior to be affected by injury as Usain Bolt has not raced competitively since late April after he suffered a hamstring injury in training. Bolt and national 400m champion Lorraine Fenton are the two top no shows at the three-day meet, both requesting medical exemptions.
Jarrett said last night that Facey had responded well in training.
"She did some starts and exploded up to 60-70 metres and so there were no concerns at all going into this meet," Jarrett said.
However, JAAA youth programme director and team manger to the WJC Alfred Francis said he was disappointed when he saw Facey go down and said he thought she should have been rested.
"She has been hurt for some time and she has missed both the Junior Trials and the Lasco Club championships and if she is hurt seriously, I think she should rest. Simone is a fantastic runner and I think we should give her some time to mend and come again at the top of her game," Francis said.
