Tracey: Nkrumie’s 100m run was ‘awesome’
Published:Saturday | April 1, 2023 | 1:21 AMOrane Buchanan/Staff Reporter
FORMER national 100 metres champion Tyquando Tracey has hailed the return to normality at the annual ISSA/GraceKennedy Boys and Girls’ Athletics Championships.
Speaking to The Gleaner at the National Stadium yesterday, Tracey said COVID-19 took a hit on the country’s track and field but he is glad to see real excitement return to the National Stadium.
“So far it has been really good, COVID-19 had certainly taken a toll on the championships and it wasn’t really what Champs was previously but this one has been going well and going forward, it will only get better,” he stated.
Tracey, a former Glenmuir High student athlete, hailed the performance of Kingston College’s Bouwahjgie Nkrumie, the first high school athlete to run sub-10 seconds following his 9.99 seconds clocking to win the Class One boys’ 100 metres final on Wednesday night.
“He was looking around, so to me he could have run faster but he’s young and enjoying himself. I loved it and it was just an awesome race,” Tracey stated.
The former Glenmuir athlete said when he competed at Boys’ Championships, he listened to music to calm himself ahead of his events.
“ In my time, my way of holding my nerve was to just find a song that I know and just sing it because once you’ve done all the training, it’s now only to focus on what you have to do and that’s just to run,” he said.
Tracey, a member of the 2012 World Junior Championships 4x100m team that won a silver medal in Barcelona, Spain, believes that the country has a very good young crop of athletes and it augurs well for the future not only in the sprints but overall.
“With proper nurturing and guidance, the sky is the limit for these young athletes. We’ve dropped back quite a bit in the last couple years on the men’s side, but we know that every tree doesn’t bear fruit right through the year. You have (good) athletes coming up now,” Tracey said.