Gayle, Seville, Clayton in spotlight

JAMAICA’S athletes will be hoping to make a strong impact on the second day of the inaugural World Athletics Ultimate Championship in Budapest, Hungary, today, with several of the country’s leading performers set to take centre stage.

The action will be highlighted by the women’s and men’s 100 metres, with Jamaica having a strong presence in both events.

Newly crowned Diamond League champion Tina Clayton will lead a five-member Jamaican charge in the women’s 100m, which will also include Jonielle Smith, Brianna Lyston, Lavanya Williams and Jodean Williams.

Clayton, who won the Diamond League title in Brussels last Saturday in 10.93 seconds, will renew her rivalry with world champion Melissa Jefferson-Wooden, Olympic champion Julien Alfred and American star Sha’Carri Richardson.

Clayton enters the event with a season’s best 10.85 and is ranked No. 3 in the world, while Smith is ranked seventh and Lyston eighth.

The women’s 100m semifinals are scheduled for 12:04 p.m. with the final at 1:38 p.m. local time.

Jamaica will also have two representatives in the men’s 100m, world champion Oblique Seville and Ackeem Blake.

Seville, the Diamond League champion after his impressive 9.90-second victory in Brussels, is the fastest man in the field this season with 9.82 and will be looking to add another major title to his outstanding 2026 campaign.

Blake, who has a season’s best 9.94, will also be looking to make the final in a field that includes Olympic and world-class performers such as Kenny Bednarek, Christian Coleman, Trayvon Bromell, Akani Simbine and Letsile Tebogo.

In the field events, Tajay Gayle will renew his long-jump rivalry with Olympic and world champion Miltiadis Tentoglou.

Gayle produced a spectacular 8.46-metre final-round leap to beat Tentoglou and win the Diamond League title in Brussels last weekend. The Jamaican, a former world champion, will be hoping for another big performance in Budapest.

Commonwealth Games champion Navasky Anderson will compete in the men’s 800m semi-finals. Anderson, the Jamaican national record-holder at 1:42.76, has a season’s best of 1:43.62 and will face a field headed by world leader Emmanuel Wanyonyi, Olympic silver medallist Marco Arop and Djamel Sedjati.

The women’s 400m hurdles will also have a strong Jamaican presence, with Rushell Clayton, Sanique Walker and Shiann Salmon contesting the semifinals.

Clayton, a former world medallist, has a season’s best of 53.05, while Walker and Salmon will also be seeking places in Sunday’s final.