Track And Field Zone

IS COLEMAN'S NEW SETUP WORKING?

𝐌𝐞𝐥𝐢𝐬𝐬𝐚 𝐉𝐞𝐟𝐟𝐞𝐫𝐬𝐨𝐧-𝐖𝐨𝐨𝐝𝐞𝐧 𝐭𝐨 𝐫𝐞𝐜𝐞𝐢𝐯𝐞 𝐊𝐞𝐲 𝐭𝐨 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐂𝐢𝐭𝐲 𝐨𝐟 𝐆𝐞𝐨𝐫𝐠𝐞𝐭𝐨𝐰𝐧

It has been more than 25 years since anyone was awarded a “Key to the City” of Georgetown, but that will change next month.

On October 7, a ceremony will be held at the new Georgetown City Hall to award the honorary key to Georgetown County native and Olympic champion Melissa Jefferson-Wooden.

The announcement was made during Thursday’s Georgetown City Council meeting by Councilmember Jessie Walker.

The last time a key to the city was awarded was in 1999 when it was given to entertainer LL Cool J.

Jefferson-Wooden, who graduated from Carvers Bay High School and Coastal Carolina University, has built an impressive résumé on the national, Olympic, and world stages.

𝐈𝐬 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐥𝐢𝐬𝐭 𝐚𝐜𝐜𝐮𝐫𝐚𝐭𝐞?

Citius Mag has released The Lap Count Year-End Power Rankings for the 2026 track season.

World Record holder Masai Russell takes the top spot after an undefeated 100m hurdles campaign, followed by Brazilian 400 m hurdles star Alison dos Santos at #2 and American sprint sensation Melissa Jefferson-Wooden at #3.

Top 10 Track Athletes of 2026:

Masai Russell 🇺🇸
Alison dos Santos 🇧🇷
Melissa Jefferson-Wooden 🇺🇸
Audrey Werro 🇨🇭
Josh Kerr 🇬🇧
Ja'Kobe Tharp 🇺🇸
Collen Kebinatshipi 🇧🇼
Kenny Bednarek 🇺🇸
Marileidy Paulino 🇩🇴
Julien Alfred 🇱🇨

“𝐈 𝐰𝐚𝐧𝐭 𝐭𝐨 𝐛𝐞 𝐚 𝐰𝐨𝐫𝐥𝐝 𝐫𝐞𝐜𝐨𝐫𝐝 𝐡𝐨𝐥𝐝𝐞𝐫.”

Melissa Jefferson-Wooden 🇺🇸 has spoken openly about aiming to break the 100m (10.49s) and 200m (21.34s) world records in the future.

Melissa currently holds personal bests of 10.61 seconds and 21.47 seconds, respectively, which place her fourth and third on the all-time list for both events.

𝐀𝐮𝐬𝐬𝐢𝐞 𝐎𝐥𝐲𝐦𝐩𝐢𝐚𝐧 𝐑𝐨𝐡𝐚𝐧 𝐁𝐫𝐨𝐰𝐧𝐢𝐧𝐠, 𝟐𝟖, 𝐚𝐧𝐧𝐨𝐮𝐧𝐜𝐞𝐬 𝐬𝐡𝐨𝐜𝐤 𝐫𝐞𝐭𝐢𝐫𝐞𝐦𝐞𝐧𝐭

Australian sprinter Rohan Browning has announced his retirement.

Browning competed at two Olympics and five World Athletics Championships.

Nicknamed the "sprint king", the 28-year-old track and field athlete's shock announcement comes off the back of a gold medal win at the Commonwealth Games in August.

🥇 His last race was anchoring Australia to Commonwealth Games 4x100m gold, holding off Andre De Grasse on the line. It was Australia's first gold in the event in 52 years.

🇦🇺 He was the first Australian man in an individual Olympic 100m since 2004.

⚡️ At Tokyo 2021, running from lane one, he beat former world champion Yohan Blake in 10.01, still the fastest 100m by an Australian at an Olympic Games.

🔥 He made the Olympic 100m semi-final, the first Australian man to do so since Matt Shirvington at Sydney 2000. That ended a 21-year wait.

🌏 He was Australia's first 100m representative at a World Championships in 12 years (Doha 2019).

🏁 He was the first Australian man in a Commonwealth Games 100m final since 2010, finishing 6th in Birmingham 2022.

🏆 Winner of four national 100m titles: 2019, 2021, 2023 and 2025, every odd year for seven years. Only Josh Ross (7), Paul Narracott (6) and Matt Shirvington (5) have won more in the metric era.

⏱️ He ran eight-plus legal sub-10.10s. Before him, only Patrick Johnson, Shirvington and Ross had gone sub-10.10 at all.

🏟️ He set the fastest time ever run on Australian soil (10.05), then broke it himself (10.02), and held it until the next generation arrived.

🤏 His career was bookended by thousandths. At Gold Coast 2018 he missed a Commonwealth final by 0.001. At Perth 2025, aged 27 and with the hype elsewhere, he beat Lachie Kennedy for the national title by 0.005.

🇦🇺 He made every Australian team from 2017 to 2026. That's his proudest stat, and it's rare for a sprinter.

𝐒𝐭 𝐋𝐮𝐜𝐢𝐚 𝐦𝐨𝐯𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐚𝐡𝐞𝐚𝐝 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡 𝐬𝐭𝐚𝐭𝐮𝐞 𝐭𝐨 𝐡𝐨𝐧𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐎𝐥𝐲𝐦𝐩𝐢𝐜 𝐜𝐡𝐚𝐦𝐩𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐀𝐥𝐟𝐫𝐞𝐝

Plans to honour Olympic champion Julien Alfred are advancing, with the Government of St Lucia confirming that a statue celebrating her historic 2024 Paris Olympic Games triumph is now in the advanced planning and design stage.

Alfred became St Lucia’s first Olympic gold medallist when she stormed to victory in the women’s 100 metres in a record time of 10.72 seconds. Her win placed the island nation on the global stage and ranks among the proudest moments in its sporting history.

Minister for Education, Youth Development, Sports and Digital Transformation, Kenson Casimir, gave the update during a pre-Cabinet press briefing.

He said architects, designers and technical officers from the ministries responsible for planning, infrastructure, tourism and sports have been working together on the project.

A site has been identified and purchased in the vicinity of the Julien Alfred Highway. Several artistic concepts have already been prepared and are being assessed as the Government seeks a fitting representation of St Lucia’s first Olympic champion.

“I believe Julien Alfred absolutely deserves it. I am very happy and excited about some of the designs I have seen,” Minister Casimir said.

𝐒𝐓𝐀𝐑 𝐀𝐓𝐇𝐋𝐄𝐓𝐈𝐂𝐒 𝐂𝐔𝐓𝐒 𝐓𝐈𝐄𝐒 𝐖𝐈𝐓𝐇 𝐒𝐀𝐌 𝐁𝐋𝐀𝐒𝐊𝐎𝐖𝐒𝐊𝐈 🚨

Following an internal review of resurfaced racist posts, Star Athletics has confirmed Blaskowski has left the training group in accordance with their code of conduct.

𝐒𝐭𝐚𝐭𝐞𝐦𝐞𝐧𝐭 𝐫𝐞𝐥𝐞𝐚𝐬𝐞𝐝 𝐛𝐲 𝐒𝐭𝐚𝐫 𝐀𝐭𝐡𝐥𝐞𝐭𝐢𝐜𝐬:

"Star Athletics does not condone racism, discrimination, or bullying of any kind.

We are deeply concerned by the comments made some time ago by a member of our club. We take this matter with the utmost seriousness.

The values of inclusivity, respect, and accountability are foundational to our organization.

We have actively reviewed this situation internally and have determined the appropriate next steps is to have Sam Blaskowski leave Star Athletics in alignment with our code of conduct.

We remain firmly committed to fostering a safe, diverse and welcoming environment for all athletes, staff, and members of the running community."

Sam Blaskowski has issued a statement following the resurfacing of content from almost seven years ago in which he expressed prejudice and used racial slurs.

𝐅𝐞𝐦𝐤𝐞 𝐁𝐨𝐥 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐁𝐞𝐧 𝐁𝐫𝐨𝐞𝐝𝐞𝐫𝐬 𝐡𝐨𝐬𝐭 𝐚𝐧 𝐨𝐟𝐟𝐢𝐜𝐢𝐚𝐥 𝐰𝐞𝐝𝐝𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐜𝐞𝐥𝐞𝐛𝐫𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡 𝐟𝐚𝐦𝐢𝐥𝐲 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐟𝐫𝐢𝐞𝐧𝐝𝐬 🇳🇱🇧🇪💍

After making their union official earlier this year, Dutch track star Femke Bol and Belgian pole vaulter Ben Broeders celebrated their special day with an official ceremony surrounded by family and friends.

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