Nkrumie ‘very nervous’ ahead of season opener

At last year's World Under-20 Championships in Cali, Colombia, the top performance among Jamaican males came from Kingston College's (KC) Bouwahjgie Nkrumie.

He finished second in the 100 metres in a personal best and National Junior record of 10.02 seconds erasing the previous National Under-20 mark of 10.11 which was jointly held by Yohan Blake and Christopher Taylor. Nkrumie also helped Jamaica to silver in the 4x100m. The Jamaican quartet crossed the line third but were upgraded to silver after first past the post South Africa were disqualified.

On Saturday Nkrumie will make his first competitive appearance for the season when he lines up in the 100m at the 24th staging of the Youngster Goldsmith Classics at the National Stadium and the diminutive sprinter is a bit nervous for his opener. "I am very nervous going into my opening race but this is not something new as I am always nervous before my first race of the season," he told STAR Sports.

"However, despite being nervous I still want to put on a show for my fans," said Nkrumie. "Being the fastest Jamaica junior in the event comes with added pressure as it comes with a lot of expectation but the fans should not expect a 9.9 as I want to take it one step at a time."

According to the 18-year-old, he was very confident ahead of the Cali meet. " I went to Cali with the mindset of running 10.08 and it was a bonus for me to run 10.02 and I thought I could have gone faster," he stated.

He revealed that he was extremely disappointed after he stumbled out of the blocks and placed sixth in the Class One 100m at last year's Boys' Champs.

"That was the saddest moment for me in the past 10 years as I knew I was ready to do something special. I was working well on my execution ahead of the race," he said.

After his exploits in Cali, Nkrumie was approached by several individuals to go professional or to attend college overseas but turned them all down to return to high school.

"Several agents and sponsors approached me but I am still young and I wanted to go back to school and learn more about running the event and I have been getting great support from my principal, Mr Dave Myrie, my parents and coaching staff," he added.

At the 2023 Boys' Champs he will go up against the likes of Deandre Daley of Herbert Morrison Technical, Bryan Levell of Edwin Allen High and his teammate Adrian Kerr in what should be a hot Class One 100m and he spoke highly of the three athletes.

"All three athletes are my good friends and I want them to do very well. I am even more happy for my teammate Kerr who has shown great improvement this season. We are coming from far together and I am doing my best to motivate him as he is very talented,"Nkrumie said.