The signs are clear. Jamaica is coming back in the men’s 100 metres. The major achievement was the 4th place finish by Oblique Seville at the World Championships in Eugene, Oregon but there is more evidence of a revival.

The 2022 season saw Jamaica amass 4 men under 10 seconds for the first time since 2017. Led by Yohan Blake, the quartet scorched the 10-second barrier 17 times to bring back memories of an era when such an achievement appeared normal. In fact, the last time our men produced 17 sub-10 clockings was 2016, a year whose highlight was Usain Bolt’s third consecutive Olympic 100m gold medal.

Yohan leads the 2022 Jamaican performance list at 9.85 seconds, his winning time at the National Championships, with Seville next at 9.86, with Ackeem Blake and Davonte Burnett at 9.93 and 9.99 respectively. Seville battered the old barrier 7 times, with Yohan and Ackeem touching it 5 and 4 times each.

While Yohan is approaching 33, the age at which Britain’s Linford Christie won the 1993 World Championships, Oblique, Ackeem and Davonte are newcomers to the world scene at 21, 20 and 22 respectively. Encouragingly, the next two fastest Jamaicans of 2022, Conroy Jones and Jelani Walker, are 20 and 24 years old respectively.

Unfortunately, injuries hampered Yohan in Eugene, but the 2011 World Champion was pleased to see his young compatriots advance. Ackeem reached the Eugene semi-finals and then sped 9.98 seconds to win the NACAC Open title in the Bahamas. Earlier in the year, Davonte zoomed the NCAA Championships 60 metre final in 6.50 seconds before breaking 10 seconds outdoors.

“Seville, Ackeem Blake and we have many more coming up”, Yohan said in Eugene. ‘They’re great and this next one, Conroy Jones, they’re looking really good so the future of Jamaica looks good”, he added.

More new names may soon emerge. Bouwaghjie Nkrumie took the silver medal at the World Under 20 Championships in Cali, Columbia capping a season where Sandrey Davison, Deandre Daley, Bryan Levell and Jeevan Newby marked themselves as fine prospects.

In the sprint-friendly climes of Cali, Nkrumie lowered the national under 20 record first set by Yohan Blake at 10.11 seconds in 2007 to 10.02,

There is some way to go to attain the heights of 2012 when Bolt and Blake went 1-2 in the Olympic final to highlight a season when 9 Jamaicans combined to clock 32 sub-10s or, 2011 when 7 Jamaicans racked up 36 sub-10s between them or, 2013 when Bolt lead a 1-3-4-5 finish. However, 2022 represents progress for Jamaica in the 100m for men and hope for those who remember the glory days.