Brown chases world junior record

Darrel Brown is gearing to break the world junior record of 10.06 seconds and also to prove himself among the “big guns” at the ninth IAAF World Track and Field Outdoor Championships which get underway today at the Stade de Francein Paris, France. He was the youngest athlete in the history of the International Association of Athletics Fed-erations (IAAF) 8th World Cham-pionships at Edmonton in 2001 to medal when he anchored the Trinidad and Tobago’s 4x100 metres relay team to third spot. The team also established a new national relay record. Now Brown is definitely on course to enter his name indelibly once again in the history books.

At Edmonton, he propelled the TT quartet of Marc Burns, Ato Boldon and Jacey Harper to the relay bronze when he was 16 years and 305 days old. Less than two years later, the speedy world Under-18 record holder will bid for individual honours in the 100 metres race. In his first professional race earlier this year, the Nike-sponsored Brown displayed his awesome speed and clocked 10.08 secs to finish second in a world class field at the PreFontaine Classic in Oregon on May 26, in Eugene, Oregon. With a legitimate wind speed of 0.05 metres per second, he clocked a new personal best of 10.08 seconds and was narrowly edged out by Kittitian Common-wealth champion Kim Collins who returned 10.00 seconds flat. Brown beat American Bernard Williams (10.10 secs), Great Britain’s European champion Dwain Chambers (10.17), Americans Olympians Coby Miller (10.19), Jon Drummond (10.23) and Shawn Crawford (10.26).

His compatriot, former world 200 metres champion Ato Boldon, was the other finalist but failed to finish. He eclipsed his previous world Under-18 best of 10.09 at the World Junior Championships in Jamaica last year August. Brown has whipped all his rivals at the World Youth and Junior levels, CAC Juniors, Carifta Games age groups over the last four years. Since the PreFontaine outing, he raced twice among the world rated stars. He won the second race and was caught “off guard” by a buzzing sound at the starting line and had to fire on all cylinders to catch Great Britain’s Jason Gardener on the line for a third place finish although both were credited with a 10.17. The experienced Namibian World and Olympic silver-medallist Frankie Fredericks pulled off the victory with a time of 10.14 secs at Linz, Austria on July 27. 

Brown has not raced in any individual race since but anchored TT to the Pan-American sprint relay gold and a new senior national record. The 18-year-old looked in awesome form in the semi-final and final in the Dominican Republic’s stadium and had it not been for the “foul up” by Boldon in the third leg, TT would have copped the coveted gold in a new record time. His parents, Winston Brown (father) and Marilyn Jack Brown, travelled to France on Thursday. They want to be there for him and to lend as much support to the TT team. His father is also his manager and has been travelling with him to all major regional and international meets. They are both optimistic of their son’s chances in Paris.