Hubert Lawrence | 2019 - Big year in sport!

This year is going to be a big one for sports fans. Three monumental championships and one individual quest for greatness lie ahead. Not surprisingly, it could be a year when our women dominate proceedings again. The Reggae Girlz have already made history by qualifying for the FIFA Women's World Cup while the Sunshine Girls head for the Netball World Cup with their stocks rising after a silver medal at last year's Fast5 tournament. To top off a busy June-July period, Alia Atkinson swims solo into history with her target being the World Championships in Gwangju, South Korea.

In the sport where Jamaica has been more successful than in any other, the nation faces its first World Track and Field Championship since the retirement of the incomparable Usain Bolt.

It will be a year that brings the 2020 Tokyo Olympics into view. Sadly, we arrive without Colonel Ben Francis; the founding headmaster of Vere Technical, without boxing champion Bunny Grant; young Calabar track and field mentor Kashif Bernard; football icon Winston Chung-Fah; high speed hurdler Dionne Rose; and the two-time Olympic weightlifter Calvin Stamp. They all did their part to build the Jamaica sporting brand. Perhaps those who don the black-green-and-gold at those four World Championships can dedicate their performances to Francis, Grant, Bernard, Chung-Fah, Rose and Stamp, and all of those who paved the way to the forefront.

The Girlz will do battle with Brazil, Italy and Australia in first round group play at the World Cup in France this June. In July, the Girlz journey to Liverpool in pursuit of Jamaica's best-ever finish in a Netball World Cup. With players like Jhaniele Fowler, just voted the number two player in the world, and Shamera Sterling, Fast5 MVP, there is cautious optimism.

Now 30, Alia starts the trek to the only honour that has eluded her - an Olympic medal. World Championships success this year in July will build her confidence for Tokyo.

McLeod now the leader

Though the 'Tall Man' is gone, the track and field team that will assemble in Doha for the World Championships will be led by hurdler supreme Omar McLeod. He seeks a rare honour when the pistol cracks late this September. In all of World Championship history, only the American pair of Greg Foster and Allen Johnson have taken back-to-back titles in the 110 metres hurdles. Should he succeed, it would set the stage for another quest - to join Lee Calhoun and Roger Kingdom as the only men to defend Olympic titles in the same event.

Fedrick Dacres, who dominated the discus in 2018, double Olympic sprint champion Elaine Thompson, 'Mummy Rocket' Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce, and former World champions Yohan Blake and Danielle Williams head to Doha to embellish their rÈsumÈs.

Fraser-Pryce has nothing to prove after winning five major global titles in the 100 metres. Yet, her 2018 season's best of 10.98 seconds suggests that she still has the speed.

I can't wait.

For those who can go to all four World Championships, now might be a good time to check to see if those passports are valid. Neglect can lead to bad news when you dive into the document at the last minute, only to see the expiry date is upon you.

For those who will be at home, now might be the time to check out a big TV and a new reclining chair. You'll need them in 2019.

- Hubert Lawrence, who has made notes at trackside since 1980, has a valid passport.