Jamaica’s fastest woman this season will not line up at the Jamaica National Championships this coming weekend in Kingston.
Newly crowned NCAA women’s 100m champion Shenese Walker, the former St. Jago High standout now representing Florida State, confirmed she will miss the trials after a standout collegiate season that included both indoor and outdoor national titles.
When asked whether she will be at Trials, Walker simply said, “no.”
Her absence is a major development ahead of one of the most competitive women’s 100m races Jamaica has seen this season. Walker leads the Jamaican list this year with 10.80 and recently captured her first NCAA Outdoor 100m title in 10.88.
That 10.88 is also the third-fastest time by a Jamaican woman this season, behind Tina Clayton’s 10.85 and Walker’s own 10.80. Tia Clayton, Tina’s twin sister, is next with 10.91, while two-time Olympic sprint double champion Elaine Thompson-Herah has run 10.92.
Walker’s rise has been one of Jamaica’s top sprint stories of the year. She also won the NCAA Indoor 60m title, showing her speed and consistency across the collegiate season before closing with the outdoor 100m crown.
Without her, the spotlight in Kingston shifts even more toward the Clayton twins, Thompson-Herah and the rest of Jamaica’s deep sprint group.
Walker leads a strong Jamaican women’s sprint list this season, with 11 athletes already under 11 seconds. Tina Clayton has run 10.85, Tia Clayton 10.91, Thompson-Herah 10.92 and Sabrina Dockery also 10.92. Brianna Lyston has clocked 10.94, LaVanya Williams 10.95, Gabrielle Matthews and Jodean Williams 10.97, Shanoya Douglas 10.98 and Jonielle Smith 10.99.
Gabrielle Matthews, who finished sixth in the NCAA women’s 100m and fourth in the 200m, will also miss the Jamaica Trials.
