JAAA yet to make final decision on aborted women's sprint hurdles

The local track and field fraternity is still awaiting the final decision by the Jamaica Athletics Administrative Association (JAAA) on Sunday's aborted women's sprint hurdles final at the JAAA Supreme Ventures National Championships at the National Stadium. The local governing body is yet to arrive at a final decision on which three athletes will be selected for the IAAF World Championships and how that will be done.

Following a lengthy meeting on Monday, the JAAA is yet to arrive at a final decision regarding the outcome of the event. An attempt to have the final contested was held up for more than 20 minutes after 2015 world champion Danielle Williams who was deemed to have false started, protested and refused to leave the track.

The race eventually got underway without Williams, but ended in chaos and controversy as a few athletes claimed not to have heard the gun of the starter while some reported that they did not hear the gun of the recall starter.

Between 16 and 18 officials were locked in a meeting for more than 8 hours on Monday in an attempt to reach a concensus on the method of selection to choose Jamaica's three representatives for the event at this summer's IAAF World Championships in Doha, Qatar. RJR Sorts understands that a recommendation was made at Monday's meeting to have a re-run of the event on Thursday at the National Stadium without Danielle Williams.

However, that proposal would not have been practical as some of the seven competitors would have departed the island by then for various bases in Europe. It's further understood that a second proposal was put forward on Tuesday morning to select three of the athletes who have already attained the qualifying standard for the World Championships.

However, that has not been agreed on by the local governing body which is expected to make an announcement soon. New national record holder Janeek Brown at 12.40 seconds, Jeanine Williams 12.72, Yanique Thompson 12.80 and Megan Tapper, 12.93, have already met the IAAF qualifying mark of 12.98 seconds. The other finalists were Amoi Brown, Shermaine Williams, and Shimayra Williams.

Reliable sources told RJR Sports that whatever method of selection is used for the women's sprint hurdles, Danielle Williams, who was disqualified for a false start, will not be eligible for selection to Jamaica's team to this summer's World Championships. The deadline for submission of entries is September 6. The IAAF World Championships will be held in Doha, Qatar from September 28 to October 6.