Jamaica’s sprinting tradition is legendary but it has produced few world class middle distance runners.

That will probably change in the next few years with the maturing of the brilliant 19-year-old Kemoy Campbell.

He took the 5,000 metre field apart from the first lap at the Truman Bodden Sports Complex on Monday.

Within a few circuits of the 12.5 lap race he was already lapping the stragglers and was so far ahead of the second place Mathew Wright of Barbados that it had become a time trial for Campbell.

Normally when someone is so far in front he conserves energy and cruises home. Not Campbell. Intent on beating his record set at last year’s CARIFTAs he sped on and shattered it by six seconds

As a measure of his supremacy he almost lapped Wright at the finish so won by an amazing 390 metres!

Howard Aris, president of the Jamaica Track and Field Association, said: “We did quite well but not as well in some as we’d like but better in others that we didn’t expect to do well in such as the field events and the throws.

“Kemoy Campbell was in his last year at CARIFTA and has done Jamaica very proud over the years. He’s a fantastic runner.

“And his counterpart in the girls races, Natoya Goule, she has never lost a CARIFTA Games and she too is a great athlete.”

Aris denied that Campbell is really a Kenyan with a Jamaican passport! 

Jamaica’s athletics programme is obviously flourishing. World renowned just for its sprinting is evidently no longer enough. Field events and middle distance running looks set to feature Jamaicans at major championships in the future.

Campbell and Goule are two of many likely to become big names.