CYCLE OF DOMINANCE

RETIRED Jamaican-born 100m Olympic Games and World Champion Donovan Bailey remains confident in Jamaica’s sprint future, despite America’s recent dominance, but believes some local athletes will face some tough career decisions in the years ahead.

His comments come after the recently concluded World Athletics Ultimate Championships in Budapest where Americans Melissa Jefferson-Wooden and Kenny Bednarek won the women’s and men’s sprint doubles, respectively. It continued the USA’s impressive run in the sprints, with Jefferson-Wooden completing the 100m and 200m double at the Tokyo Championships last year, along with Noah Lyles who won the men’s 200m. Four Americans, including Sha’Carri Richardson and Gabby Thomas, have now accounted for eight of the last 12 100m and 200m titles at the 2023 World Championships in Budapest, the 2024 Paris Olympics, and the 2025 World Championships in Tokyo. Bailey, who won Olympic and World Championship gold for Canada in 1996 and 1995 respectively, believes the prospect of the 2028 Olympics on home soil is providing extra motivation for the American sprinters. “There are cycles that happen all the time. Canadians, we had our own for a while; we dominated the Americans and then the Americans came back and they dominated. Then the Jamaicans came and just put the boots to them for such a long time. And right now the Americans are on an up cycle,” he said on

Leighton Levy’s Mr. Analyst

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BAILEY... right now the Americans are on an up cycle (Photo: AFP)

Melissa Jefferson-Wooden (left) of the United States celebrates winning the women’s 200m final during the World Athletics Ultimate Championship at Gyula Zsivotzky National Athletics Centre in Budapest on September 13, 2026. Also pictured is Jamaica’s Ashanti Moore. Photo: AFP

“[Year] 2028 is the LA Olympics. The last time the US hosted the Games was in 1996 so they are building towards [2028]. They’ve got some incredible young athletes, like Kenny and Melissa, but the Americans hate to not have two titles — heavyweight champion of the world and world’s fastest human beings. So, they are incredibly focused right now to make sure that 1996 never happens in 2028 in Los Angeles and so they are uber-focused now on making sure that these athletes are prepared.” However, former 100m world record holder Bailey says Jamaica shouldn’t be overly concerned with the USA’s recent success. Jamaica’s sprint star Oblique Seville broke America’s six-year World Championship streak across both sprints last year in Tokyo by winning the 100m. Kishane Thompson has also won consecutive silver medals at the 2024 Paris Games and the 2025 Tokyo Championships. Shericka Jackson, Tina Clayton and Bryan Levell have also made the podium over the past three major championships. Bailey, though, believes there needs to be a collective effort to maintain Jamaica’s successful sprint culture following the passing of legendary track coach, Stephen Francis. “[Jamaica] has some really excellent veterans, some extremely talented young kids, and then you have others that are right on the cusp to making it to this level,” he said. “I think that the consistency of the Jamaicans is going to continue. The loss of ‘Franno’ is a huge void, so I think that it’s probably a time where [the] politics of sport needs to be thrown out the window. Jamaica needs to be on top again, and for that, everyone’s got to come together.”

From left: Jonielle Smith, Tia Clayton, Tina Clayton and Shericka Jackson practise handovers in Jamaica’s 4x100m training ahead of the start of the World Athletics Relays in Gaborone, Botswana, in May 2026. Photo: World Athletics

Bailey, though, says some athletes may need to look for training opportunities overseas to ensure they reach their full potential. “I think that Glen [Mills] and Stephen proved that you can stay in Jamaica and become the very best on the planet, right, but as a business you have to look at all the options available to you. If there’s a coach that’s based somewhere else and that coach will invite you to his camp or you can negotiate a great deal where you can go and train with that coach, then you should,” he said. “There are small, tiny windows in an athlete’s career where you can do significant things, where your body is healthy and your body is at its best. Whatever the window is for anybody — whether or not you’ve been to the podium, been to the top of the podium or not at some point — father time wins at some point.” He added, “World Championships is next year, and then a year from that is the 2028 Olympics. So I think that, depending on who you are, where you’re going, what you can afford and your sponsorship and [so on], you have to go to a place where you’re going to get the very best right now to produce for right now.” “If there’s a coach or coaching environment that’s based somewhere else other than Jamaica, go find it. But if you can get great coaching in a great environment that’s going to allow you to flourish and become really good or the best at what you do, and you can do that at home, then absolutely do that.” The 2027 World Athletics Championships takes place in Beijing next September, with Jamaica’s trials set for June.