"Last year I did not do well, so I said to myself that this year I am going to come out and break some records"

YOHAN BLAKE was in a no-nonsense mood on yesterday's opening day of the 36th Carifta Games, breaking the national junior 100m record at the National Stadium here.

Blake, who did not have the best of starts, recovered quickly and by the halfway point he was ahead of the field. He even eased up metres from the finish line and was still able to run 10.18 seconds in his heat, which erased Raymond Stewart's 23-year-old record of 10.19.

In an interview with The Gleaner, Blake said: "I told you before that I was going for the record in the heats and that was what I did.

"It was not difficult. I just got out of the blocks and held my form right through," he said.

Record break means a lot

He said breaking Stewart's record, which was achieved in Port-of-Spain in 1984, meant a lot.

"Last year I did not do well, so I said to myself that this year I am going to come out and break some records," added the St. Jago student, who ran 10.21 last week for the Class One record at Champs.

The final was due to run late last night, and he said: "If I have the push in the final, trust me, I will go 10.0."

His coach, Danny Hawthorne, said: "I told him the track is fast, there is no wind, so just go and break the record."He is going to break it in the final again, I can tell you that from now," he said.Meanwhile, up to press time, Jamaica had won 19 medals - five gold, eight silver and six bronze.

Bobby-Gaye Wilkins won the Under-20 girls 400m in 53.01, seconds ahead of her teammate KayAnn Robinson ( 53.98) while Oshane Berham (47.28) finished behind Trinidad and Tobago's Zwede Hewitt (47.14) in the boys' event.In the Under-17 400m, Jody-Ann Muir (54.71) and Dwayne Extol (49.01) were the bronze medal winners.

Jamaica swept the Under-17 1500m, taking one-two in both events. Kemoy Campbell ran 4:00.04 to break the Carifta record (4:00.78). He finished ahead of teammate Danahue Williams (4:00.73).

Natoya Goule took the girls' event in 4:36.26 ahead of Makcola Joseph (4:42.75).

Article source: hhttps://worldathletics.org/news/news/1011-sec-jamaican-junior-record-run-by-blake

Author: 08 April 2008 -  Anthony Foster