Last week’s confirmation that the Carifta Games will return to Jamaica in 2022 brings back memories of 2011 when the junior track and field event was last held here. Those Games upheld the tradition of putting the future of Caribbean athletics on show. In fact, many of the young faces of 2011 are household names today.

The hosts won 66 medals overall, with 32 gold in front of a full Catherine Hall Sports Complex crowd in Montego Bay. Our individual winners were Omar McLeod, Traves Smikle, Simoya Campbell, Janieve Russell, Chanice Porter and Yanique Thompson, all of whom have since represented Jamaica in the Olympics and the World Championships. McLeod, the winner of the boys under 20 400m hurdles, went on to become Olympic and World Champion in the 110m hurdles.

The relays gave gold to the likes of senior internationals-to-be Shericka Jackson, Christiana Williams, Chris-Ann Gordon, Jonielle Smith, Jevaughn Minzie and Kemar Bailey-Cole. Second, in the under 20 100m, Bailey-Cole has Olympic relay gold medals from 2012 and 2016, with a gold medal for the flat 100 metres at the 2014 Commonwealth Games tucked neatly in the middle.

Like Bailey-Cole, Jackson, Williams, Gordon, Smith and Minzie all now have either Olympic or World Championships relay medals. Jackson is a major star, with podium finishes to prove it in the 100 at the 2021 Olympics and in the 400 at the 2016 Olympics and twice at the World Championships.

Carifta 2011 didn’t just unveil future Jamaican stars. Keshorn Walcott of Trinidad and Tobago took his first step to World Under 20 and Olympic gold with a record in the under 20 javelin in Montego Bay. His compatriot Jereem Richards helped the twin island republic to victory in the under 17 4x400m. Six years later, he did it again at the 2017 World Championships in London. Completing a terrific TTO trio was Machel Cedenio who did a 200/400m under 17 double in Montego Bay before winning a World Under 20 400m title of his own and later becoming one of the world’s best over the one-lap distance.

Bahamian Shaunae Miller, now Miller-Uibo, has recovered admirably from a false start in the under 20 400m final. In Tokyo, she won her second Olympic 400m crown in a row.

Notably, Akela Jones gave Barbados top honours in the under 17 high jump and long jump. Competing at Kansas State University, Jones won an NCAA indoor pentathlon title and competed at the 2016 Olympics in the heptathlon.

Others like the 2016 discus Olympian Kellion Knibb of Jamaica and Dominica’s Thea LaFond, a 2021 Olympic finalist in the triple jump, confirm that when Jamaica last hosted Carifta, fans got a glimpse into the future.

It’s a good bet that when Jamaica hosts Carifta for the 8th time next April 16 – 18, those present will get their own glimpse into the future of Caribbean athletics.