With good reason, Jamaica has been called the sprint capital of the world. The island of wood, water and speed may soon have a new name – Sprint Hurdles Central. With new stars like Britany Anderson and Rasheed Broadbell racing forward to join established heroes, Jamaica is becoming a pervasive force in the sprint hurdles.

Anderson set a national record of 12.31 seconds en route to silver in the 100m hurdles at the World Championships in Eugene, Oregon in July 2022 and while Broadbell lost there in the 110m hurdles semis, he has been speeding ever since. In August, he won the Commonwealth Games and on August 26, in Lausanne, Switzerland, he notched his second in a row over World Champion, Grant Holloway. His winning time made him the third Jamaican to break 13 seconds behind Olympic champions, Omar McLeod and Hansle Parchment.

Anderson isn’t alone. Her world under 20 record 12.71 was threatened by 17-year-old Kerrica Hill in Cali, Columbia. Hill tore through the World Under 20 Championships final in Cali, with a meet record of 12.77 seconds. Her victory ‘defended’ the title won in 2021 by Ackera Nugent.

At the Boys and Girls Championships in April, Hill smashed the world Under 18 mark down to 12.71 seconds, over hurdles set three inches lower than those used in class 1, under 20 and senior events.

The runner-up in Cali was the impressive Alexis James at 12.87 seconds. Even allowing for Cali’s 1007m altitude, those were stunning times.

Add 2021 World Under 20 finalist Oneka Wilson to the list after her Boys and Girls Championships class 1 record run of 13 flat and there is an incredible group bidding to achieve the levels shown repeatedly by 2015 World Champion Danielle Williams and 2021 Olympic bronze medal winner Megan Tapper.

Broadbell had 2018 World Under 20 runner-up Orlando Bennett and Parchment in the Commonwealth final with him. Later, at the NACAC Championships, Bennett won the bronze with a personal best of 13.18 seconds. To deepen the pot, 2018 World Under 20 champion Damion Thomas was in last year’s Olympic semi-final round.

Incidentally, Broadbell is the third Jamaican in a row to annex the Commonwealth title following victory in 2014 for Andrew Riley and in 2018 by Ronald Levy, the 2021 Olympic bronze medal winner.

His Lausanne landmark made him the 22nd hurdler to break 13 but no other nation has as many as 3 active athletes with those credentials. The USA with Holloway and Devon Allen has 2 and Russia, France and Spain have 1 each respectively.

The surge coincides with the emergence of Jamaican expertise in coaching sprint hurdlers. Lacena Golding-Clarke tutored Nigeria’s Tobi Amusan to the world title in Eugene, a world record of 12.12 seconds and two Commonwealth successes. Brigitte Foster-Hylton directed Levy to the 2018 Commonwealth men’s crown and last year’s Olympic bronze. Beyond that, Jamaican Lennox Graham coached Williams to the 2015 World title and a bronze in 2019. In addition, Jamaican Reynaldo Walcott advises Broadbell.

The 2008 – 2016 era saw Jamaican sprinters dominating on both sides of the gender fence. A similar scenario may soon arise in the sprint hurdles.