A day after Olympic Relay Gold Medallist Brianna Williams delighted fans in Kingston, Andrenette Knight, Ackeem Blake, Kimberly Williamson and Chris-Ann Gordon-Powell laid down personal best performances in Nashville, Tennessee on June 5.

Knight was the prime mover with a second-place run in the 400m hurdles that vaulted her up to number 5 on the all-time Jamaica performance list.

In a race where world record holder Sydney McLaughlin produced the third-fastest time in history – 51.61 seconds – Knight outran her own personal best of 54.39 seconds with a new lifetime benchmark of 53.39 seconds. Ahead of her are Melaine Walker, Kaliese Spencer, Deon Hemmings and Janieve Russell.

Speaking after the 54.39, she said, “As I said, I feel pretty confident about what I’m doing right now and where I’m at in my training. I know it’s a talented group of women that we have representing Jamaica in the 400m hurdles so I’m just excited to be a part of that.”

Her new personal best is the first time under 54 seconds by a Jamaican this year and places her only behind McLaughlin on the 2022 World Athletics performance list.

In the men’s 100m, Ackeem Blake of the Titans Track Club was triumphant in 9.92 seconds, the joint 10th fastest time by a Jamaican. Blake equalled his personal best of 10.08 in the heats before racing ahead of Antiguan Cejhae Greene, 10.02, in the final. Jelani Walker set a lifetime best of his own — 10.15 – to finish 5th.

Williamson cleared 1.93m to tie Sheree Francis in the number 2 position on the Jamaica all-time list. The 2019 Pan-American Games bronze medal winner skipped over 1.75m, 1.80m and 1.85m with no misses before needing two attempts each at 1.90m and 1.93m to win.

In the women’s 800m, Gordon-Powell combined laps of 58 flat and 61.5 to establish a personal best of 1 minute 59.52 seconds. The 2017 NCAA 400m champion is now 5th on the Jamaica all-time list and is the 10th athlete from this country to break the 2-minute barrier.

In the same meet, there was a 1-2 in the men’s 400m from reigning national champion Sean Bailey and 2017 World finalist Nathon Allen, with season’s best times for them both – 45.18 and 45.21 seconds respectively.

Similarly, Lloydrica Cameron launched the shot 18.01m for second place. Continued improvement could push her past her best ever mark – 18.33m – and the World Championships qualifying standard of 18.50m.

A day earlier at Jamaica College, Brianna Williams overcame a modest start to accelerate past a good field in the women’s 100m. With the win secure, the 20-year-old eased down but nevertheless stopped the clock at 10.97 seconds.