Preparations are underway to welcome Jamaica’s track and field team back to Birmingham as they prepare for the IAAF World Athletics Championships next month.

The team – who were based in the city before the 2012 Olympics – will bring 50 athletes to the University of Birmingham for a pre-competition training camp.

Yohan Blake. Pic: Nick Webb
Yohan Blake. Pic: Nick Webb
Among those involved will be former world champion sprinter Yohan Blake and double Olympic champion Elaine Thompson.

They will make use of a new eight-lane athletics track and a £55million sports and fitness club which opened in May.

The university’s director of sport Zena Wooldridge OBE said: “We are very excited to have the opportunity of the World Athletics Championships in London to share our new track and indoor facilities with our Jamaican friends.

“We know how important this championship is to Jamaica, and we hope we can contribute in some small way to their success in London by creating an ideal preparation environment here in Birmingham.”

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3 Comments

  1. Won’t the biggest box office draw of them all Usain Bolt be with them? He is conspicuous by his absence from this piece which makes me think he will not be with them or that the person who wrote this piece knows nowt about athletics……?????

  2. I’d loike some of dat Jamaican lurve as I work at the University of Birmingham in the Medical School and a chance to meet the greatest athlete of all time Usain Bolt would be fantastic….who knows he could be eatin’ his rice and peas in the Med School Cafe like me……#BrumBid2022…..#BackBrumfortheCommonwealthGamesin2022….

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