THE ULTIMATE TEST

Technical Leader Maurice Wilson says Jamaica’s athletes will be ready for the inaugural World Athletics Ultimate Championships which starts tomorrow at the National Athletics Center in Budapest, Hungary. A 32-member team, with 27 athletes set to contest individual events for Jamaica, was named by World Athletics on Monday, based on world rankings for the first of what is set to be an annual end-of-season all-star competition. Wilson described the event as “a fantastic initiative”, which he said has the potential to take the sport to another level. “There are changes to the arrangements,” he told the Jamaica Observer , where athletes’ representatives will have “a more hands-on” duty, as national federations such as the Jamaica Athletics Administrative Association (JAAA) will only be responsible for naming relay coaches. WILSON...

this is something we need (Photo: Garfield Robinson) Wilson and Michael Frater have been named by the JAAA to take charge of the mixed 4x100m and 4x400m teams, with the athletes being able to have their personal coaches with them. “Every major professional sport has annual championships,” Wilson said. “So track and field should not be an exception, and this is something we need. ” Winners of the individual events will receive a bye to the 2027 World Championships as well as US$150,000 (over $23 million) while winning relay teams will share US$80,000 (just over $12 million). Just about every participant will take home a cash prize. There will also be a US$100,000 ($15. 5 million) bonus for breaking a world record, while the champions will get a trophy rather than the traditional gold, silver, and bronze medals. Newly crowned Diamond League 100m champions Oblique Seville and Tina Clayton have been included in Jamaica’s 32-member team that will…