Parchment-McLeod Trials clash expected to be epic

ONE OF the events which will attract a lot of attention at this week’s National Senior Championships is the men’s 110-metre hurdles, as the country’s two most successful athletes at the international level in the event, Hansle Parchment and Omar McLeod, will go head-to-head.

Parchment, 31, the defending Olympic Games champion in the event, is also the 2012 London Olympic Games and 2015 Beijing World Championships silver medallist. On the other hand, 25-year-old McLeod won gold at the 2016 Rio Olympic Games and the following year at the London World Championships.

A year ago at the National Championships, Parchment, who came into the meet with little or no form after recovering from injuries, captured the event while McLeod, who was the pre-race favourite, had problems during the race hitting several barriers to finish last.

Both are the top two coming into the meet as Parchment, with a season’s best 13.09 seconds, done in May in Birmingham, is at number four on the World Athletics list, while McLeod, who finished second to Parchment in that same race in 13.17 seconds, is number six on the world list.

Definitely, it should come down between the two for the top spot here and Parchment, who normally has a bad start but finishes strongly, has improved. Once he gets a decent start, he will be hard to beat.

After seeing one of his earlier season’s victim Devon Allen of the United States clocking sub-12.9 a week ago, Parchment must be raring to keep pace.

McLeod will also be hungry for success after his mishap last year and, despite showing some flaws in his races this season, cannot be written off.

While Parchment and McLeod look set for top-two spots, another exciting battle is expected for the third spot.

After his second-place finish last year, it has been a disappointing season so far for Damion Thomas, whose season’s best is 13.40 seconds.

Ronald Levy, who was third at the National Championships and in Tokyo last year, has only competed once in the event and is not even ranked among the top 10 Jamaicans this season. He could struggle.

Rasheed Broadbell, who had a good season last year, producing a personal best of 13.10 seconds, failed to compete at the Championships due to injury, but could be the man to grab the third automatic spot here.

With a season’s best 13.31 seconds, he is the third-ranked Jamaican in the event, and it will take something special from the likes of Lafranz Campbell, who finished fifth at the recent NCAA Outdoor Division One Championships in 13.45 seconds, Phillip Lemonious and Orlando Bennett to finish ahead of him.