Jamaica has produced many great sprinters. Among those who could be next in line is Andre Ewers, who represented Jamaica for the first time last year. A promising start to his international career and his speed this year has this newcomer looking ahead.

A third place finish in the 200 metres at the National Senior Championships took him to the Pan-American Games in Lima, Peru and to Doha, Qatar for the World Championship.

The Pan-Am 200 metres finalist approached Doha with a clear objective. “My whole main goal was not to go there and be a participant and get booted out the first round, despite the long season that I had. So being in the atmosphere of the World Championship, I tell myself that I work hard for this, so just go out there and execute and let God take care of the rest”, he remembered.

Lined up against eventual 200 metres winner Noah Lyles and 2017 bronze medal winner Jereem Richards in the first round, Ewers ran well. “To be honest, it shocked me a little bit that I came off of the turn first. I’m like, yow, this is the World Championship, where is everybody at?”, he wondered. Reaching the semis taught him an important lesson. “Really and truly, the World Championships and, I’m guessing, the Olympics is just who shows up and once your body, your training, you’re doing everything and you’re disciplined, there’s nothing you can’t do when you show up to the World Championship stage”, he analysed.

Born in St Elizabeth, he left Jamaica with his family at age 12 but he didn’t take up athletics until he was in the ninth grade at Piper High School in Florida.  In his senior year, Andre accelerated to 10.31 seconds.

His speed took him to Florida State University via South Plains Community College where he was outstanding. His best times – 9.98 and 20.14 – came in 2018.

Ewers ran just two 100 metre races this year but they were quick. “I opened up with my fastest season opener ever, 10.10. Then I came back two weeks later at 10.04 so that boosted my confidence through the roof and the fact that I didn’t lift weights for 2 and a half months, I did a whole bunch of plyometrics and grass training and stuff, it boosted my confidence to let me know that this year, I was going to go beyond the 9.98 I ran in 2018”, he recalled of his 10.04 on August 8 in Jacksonville.

A good start to background training has encouraged him. “I want to know that I can run sub-20 and sub-10”, projected the Ricky Argro coached Jamaican, “so I love the fall training to put in the strength training because I believe the foundation of the result you’ll see in the spring.”

With his mind on the future, Ewers said, “It’s good to know that I’m in the right direction and it also helps me to be grounded in terms of, hey, I’ve got to grind harder, I’ve got to go harder in order to get to that level and be on the podium because it’s one thing to be the 19th Jamaican to run sub-10 and be in that category. I feel like I would have done nothing until I actually get a medal”, concluded the 25 year-old, “and I don’t have any pressure on myself because I’m taking it one day at a time and one rep at a time.”