World Championship 100m silver medallist Michael Frater believes that Oblique Seville and Ackeem Blake will feature prominently at the National Senior Championships in June. Frater, who coaches Blake at the Titans International Track Club, expects both young men to continue to improve as 2022 progresses.

The 20-year-old Blake clocked his second personal best in two weeks when he won the 100m at the John Wolmer Speed Fest last Saturday inside the National Stadium with a time of 10.13 seconds.

The Racers Track Club coached Seville, 21, who won his Speed Fest heat in 10.29 seconds, despite a 1.8m/s headwind and skipped the final. In still air, that easy run would convert to 10.19 seconds.

Frater is optimistic for both young sprinters. “They’ll definitely be among the top half of the National Trials. I mean, these are young guys who have been improving rapidly because remember, no one knew Seville before he won the class 1 100 at Champs and he has just been improving steadily over the last few years”, Frater remarked.

In his last year as a schoolboy, Seville transferred from Holmwood Technical to Calabar High School for whom he won the 2019 Boys and Girls Championships class 1 100m in 10.13 seconds. He later took the Carifta Games Under 20 gold medal and the silver medal at the Pan-American Under 20 Championships.

Seville then joined the Racers Track Club and reached the Olympic semi-finals in Tokyo, Japan. “I think he got valuable experience competing at the Olympics”, Frater noted, “so he should use that to propel himself to even making the finals if he makes the team at this next World Championships.

A 2008 Olympic finalist himself, Frater says Blake is progressing well in training. “To be honest with you, it’s a bit surprising how far he is right now”, coach Frater admitted, “in terms of our preparation because I didn’t expect him to be this far ahead.”

Blake, who was the national under 18 champion during his days at Merlene Ottey High School, ran 10.17 seconds a week before the Speed Fest. “We’re pretty much expecting those times in maybe in May, thereabout”, Frater explained.

However, Blake was slow out of the blocks at the Speed Fest. “It’s not a perfect race. He still has a lot to work on, especially with his start, well, just getting his start consistently in the track meets, because he’s been doing very well in practice”, Frater noted.

Frater is using his experience to lead the young sprinter to success. “I know there is going to be a lot of pressure, especially on the next generation of good mens’ sprinters because of what we had done in the past”, Frater predicted, “but he’s just very receptive, just learning a lot and you know just going out there and just competing.”