Walker ready to take over the reins

Sanique Walker’s remarkable transformation this season has placed her firmly in the conversation as the athlete who could take over the reins of Jamaica’s women’s 400m hurdles, following her recent performance at World Athletics’ Ultimate Championship in Budapest, Hungary.

Walker has gone from being a promising athlete on the fringes of Jamaica’s senior team to a national champion, Commonwealth Games gold medallist and now a world-class one-lap hurdler in the space of a few months.

And if her progression continues at its current rate, Jamaica could have another major force in an event in which the country has enjoyed tremendous success over the years.

Walker capped a breakthrough season with another personal best at the Ultimate Championship on Sunday, clocking 53.61 seconds to finish fifth in the 400m hurdles final.

It was her second personal best in quick time, having run 53.77 in the semi-finals a day earlier.

Remarkable progression

The 53.61 also completed a remarkable progression for Walker this season.

She began the year with a personal best of 54.94 seconds, but lowered that mark to 54.56 when she won her first senior national title at the National Championships in June.

She then produced another personal best of 54.00 to win the Commonwealth Games title in Glasgow, Scotland, in August, extending Jamaica’s dominance in the event at the Games to four consecutive championships.

Barely a month later, Walker has gone even faster, breaking the 54-second barrier and lowering her national-championship mark by almost a second.

Her latest performance also underlined her ability to compete against the best in the world. Walker finished fifth behind American winner Jasmine Jones, Slovakia’s Emma Zapletalova and American Anna Cockrell, among others.

Proud history

The country has a proud history in the event, with Deon Hemmings winning Olympic gold in 1996, Melaine Walker winning the 2008 Olympic gold medal in world record time, winning the 2009 World Championship title, and setting the Jamaican record of 52.42 seconds. Janieve Russell was a two-time Commonwealth Games champion and has a personal best of 53.08, while Rushell Clayton has also been a major international performer, including winning World Championship bronze twice.

What makes Walker’s rise particularly encouraging is the consistency of her improvement.

The 26-year-old is currently ranked 13th in the world by World Athletics, another indication of how quickly her status has changed.

Rather than simply being the latest athlete to carry the Jamaican colours over 10 barriers, she is beginning to look like someone capable of challenging for medals on the biggest stage.

There is still work to be done. The gap between 53.61 and the world’s very best is significant, with Jones winning the Ultimate Championship final in 52.45.

Huge improvements

But Walker has already shown this season that she can make huge improvements in a short period.

From national champion to Commonwealth champion, and now a 53-second performer and Ultimate Championship finalist, Sanique Walker has announced herself.

Walker, like Hemmings and Clayton, who are past students of Vere Technical High School, has made rapid improvement under the guidance of one of the greatest 400m hurdlers in history, Felix Sanchez of the Dominican Republic.

The two-time Olympic champion coaches Walker at the Academia Felix Sanchez, where she has continued to develop her technique and race execution.